For your Monday morning reading enjoyment I present:
How Japan Defines "Fat"
I don't really have much to crack wise about on this story. The article, and its comments, are an interesting discussion that shed a oddly-restrained light (for a comment thread anyway) on an important topic; you know, the one about America leading a world wide obesity epidemic that's spearheading a global recession and increasing the division between rich and poor that, essentially, could lead to the entire planet living in a third world state until we figure out how to colonize a new resource base to ruin.
Bravo to Japan for taking such a pro-active response to the problem. And before you write them off as being draconian and un-realistic, consider that the punishment is education. We'd do well to follow suit. Unfortunately, I think the only way our lobbyist driven government will allow that to happen is if Conagra, Monsanto, and Coca Cola are allowed to do the educating. And as we've seen from the way these people do business, that's hardly going to lead to a more enlightened public.
So, what exactly happens to the people who have a waist that's bigger than what they're trying to mandate? Do they go to jail, have to pay a fine? I don't understand... It's great that they're trying to limit obesity (or even being overweight), but 'causing people to be so obsessed about their weight that it causes eating disorders isn't the right way either.
ReplyDeleteThe get to this in the comments. All they get is education as to why being thin is healthier.
ReplyDeleteScrewdestiny makes a good point. Yeah, it's a bold move, but I could see where eating disorders might become part of the equation. One could say that it's a person's right to be obese, but at the same time, when that person starts burdening our medical system, it comes out of my pocket, and that's not fair at all.
ReplyDeleteAnd, for the record, before anyone claims this is a flaw of "socialized" medicine, keep in mind that "Obamacare" would help this problem because these people would be held responsible for their own insurance instead of burdening the system.
And, frankly, if that's the case, if people need to pay for their own healthcare no matter what, that means their premiums will probably go up if they're too fat, thus creating an economic motivation to lose weight which, in America, is probably a better solution than waist measurement penalties.
Oh, and BIG MAN JAPAN rocks! I love that movie.