nzlegend 1 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 Anyone else noticed how the local media (TV specifically)latches onto and mocks obese Americans? there are many shows and news items parading obese people, often variety shows with a panel going ehhh! aare! eek! and derisively commenting. They seem to be a dime a dozen. Today on the newsbreak there was an American news story about flash flooding and a car that was stranded with a very large woman driver. The rescuers smashed the drivers side window and tried to yank her out but she was so fat she jammed ( no Dukes of Hazzard for her).Would it have made the news if she had been a normal sized woman? probably not. I can almost bet that clip will end up on a variety show with a good dose of Schadenfreude thrown in for good measure. It doesnt really bother me that much in itself, Obesity is becoming a massive problem, undoubtedly so, but its the underlying attitudes that propel this fascination, the "lets laugh at the silly fat Americans", "look at them living in debauchery and turning themselves into pseudo sumo wrestlers" attitude. The "we know better" side of it. Anyone else noticed this fascination? Link to post Share on other sites
Bowler 0 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 dunno, but sometimes i cant help but look at some people and think '... WOW ...!' what happened? Link to post Share on other sites
fantastic 0 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 Yes, and so they should!! Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 I haven't noticed it to be honest...... Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 I haven't noticed it either in Japan. But on any news item that covers the US, there are always some very round people in shorts wobbling along in the background. I remember the Dook of Edinburger getting in trouble for telling some fat kid in England that he wouldn't realize his dream of becoming an astronaut if he didn't lose weight. Hell, if these people haven't noticed that they're on the road to diabetes, they need to be told. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted November 22, 2003 Share Posted November 22, 2003 I didn't know that's what Japanese TV was up to these days, but over here in Walled Lake we look at grossly obese folks the same way. Around here, one out of five people must weigh about 350 lbs. It's astonishing. Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Why? Do they just eat and eat? Do they not care???? Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 I really don't have a clue what is going on in their minds. I read books like "Fast Food Nation" and "Fat Planet", which give interesting information and views on fast food ingredients, culture and marketing...and weird but pervasive additives like high fructose corn syrup. That gave me a sort of psuedo-intellectual grasp of certain phenomena, and made me feel somewhat superior and well-informed. I saw some TV shows where they still try to pin it on "gland problems", but then other shows pull out charts to show the alarmingly steep changes in body weight and fat etc. over the last 20 years, proving that glands aren't the cause. That made me feel both lucky to have no gland problems, and lucky to have been raised in a house where the culture of food was more healthy, as opposed to pizza- and takeout-based. But in the end, I have to put all this tripe aside. What's really going on here is, these people are eating way too much food, and way too much of the food they eat is full of sugar, fat, chemical additives the long-term effects of which are simply not known, growth hormones and antibiotics, etc. You should see some of the horribly distored bodies waddling around down at Wal-Mart and Costco. Not just big or round or flabby, but bizarrely shaped: stick legs supporting an obscenely giant, bobbling belly; giant rectangular rhino-like women lumbering slowly up and down the aisles; 400-lb jellyguts riding around the store in electric carts because they can't even be bothered to walk, or their hips have worn out from the massive extra weight... My Japanese wife is as thin as a rail and I am pretty thin too. When we go to these places, it is surreal. Like moving among a herd of rhinos. What you see on Japanese TV is probably only the very tip of the iceberg. The things I could show a Japanese camera crew if they came to Walled Lake, MI! Link to post Share on other sites
I_HATE_CHEESE 0 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Are there any hotties in Walled Lake badmig? or are they all heiffers? Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 Obesity certainly is an issue. You can point to diets and portion sizes, sedentary lifestyles and genetics, but the fact is there is a lot we don't know about what makes some people gain/keep weight and some people not. I predict in the near future this will be better understood to the point of making this conversation meaningless. Methods will be developed for people to easily lose or not gain weight in ways we can't now comprehend. How much would McDonald's pay to capture the market share of people that would eat their food (or eat it more often) if not for the worry of gaining weight? Unhealthy food isn't going anywhere, but I would bet in my lifetime we see the technology for it to no longer be such a problem. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted November 23, 2003 Share Posted November 23, 2003 A pill or additive that prevents excess food intake from being converted into fat...food just gets turned into excrement straight away... Then we could all wear feed bags and eat constantly! I like it. Everyone, from agribusiness to factory farms and especially toilet paper companies--becomes a winner. The great destiny of this planet is to be pooped out through American guts. Ironically, Americans themselves seem to be among the few people still generally unaware of this fact. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 Maybe if they employed snipers to drive around in the trunks of cars casually shooting fat people dead, it might have a salutary effect. Link to post Share on other sites
badmigraine 0 Posted November 24, 2003 Share Posted November 24, 2003 That may not be necessary. They might be taking themselves out of the reproductive game as it is. Link to post Share on other sites
rachael 0 Posted November 28, 2003 Share Posted November 28, 2003 The "gland issue" always makes me laugh. Just one look at many people in a self-service eat-all-you-want restaurant will surely tell you why so many people are obese. Link to post Share on other sites
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