TheAgitator.com
Polly’s Folly
Sunday, May 30th, 2004The Guardian’s Polly Toynbee posits the absurd argument that obesity is the result of income inequaity, and does so without so much as a desperation swing at any sort of supporting evidence.
Scott Burgess then lays waste to Polly Toynbee.
Hat tip: Catallarchy.
According to McDonalds, “no single factor is responsible for obesity. Rather, the causes are complex and fueled by many factors. Among these are genetics, cultural issues, economic factors, excess food consumption and today’s increasingly sedentary lifestyles.” http://164.109.33.187/usa/eat/health/facts_about_overweight.html
I am not blaming McDonalds for obesity, but it’s a little funny that it blames genetics, cultural issues, and economic factors, among other things.
What I find amusing is that it blames those things ahead of overeating and laziness.
Oh I’m sorry, the correct terms are “excess food consumption” and “sedentary lifestyles”. Wouldn’t want to offend.
[gag]
And as for Polly’s piece - I had to stop reading about half-way through. I was getting too angry to continue.
“Every woman alive has spent her life obsessing over body size, perusing every diet in magazines and daytime TV shows.”
Is it just me or is that a bit demeaning? Do any of the women here find that offensive, insulting, and untrue?
Jeb, I can honestly say I have not spent my entire life obsessing over such things. 5 or 10 minutes here or there, maybe. Certainly not my entire life.
Like I said, the woman peeved me so much, I couldn’t finish reading her piece.
If there’s one thing I never understood it is how poor people can get so fat. I mean food costs money right? If you have little money then how is it you can afford to eat so much? Just like those morbidly obese people that Jerry Springer has on his show, they weigh 700 l.b.s. and can’t get out of bed. If you can’t get out of bed you can’t work. Somehow though, they can afford to eat a pound of bacon a dozen eggs and a loaf of bread every day for breakfast, and they have their wife/husband there serving it to them. Yeah, I figure that is McDonald’s fault.
Didn’t it used to be that the biggest worry for a poor person was that they’d starve to death before they reached adulthood?
And now their biggest health risk is supposedly that they’re too fat? Shouldn’t that be a sign of just how WEALTHY our poor actually are? Especially in relation to the rest of the world, where the poor still wonder where their next meal is coming from.