Hey, Fat Bastards

Sweary.  Bewarey.

I was about to start lunch when I saw this article on the BBC.  'Oh,' I thought, 'this'll be good for a laugh.'

I still haven't eaten my lunch.

The problem isn't that people don't understand.  There's not a human alive in England who would be surprised to find out they're fat because they eat shit all day, and don't exercise.  Just because the BBC trot out the occasional obese moron to comment on how everything in life is just too difficult to understand, how life is too hard, how everything is just impossible.  Oh, life, woe is you.

No one really thinks it's too difficult to understand.  No one really thinks that they have metabolic syndrome, or their genes are at fault, or their hair colour is wrong for dieting.  Deep down no one believes any of that tripe.

They just don't care.  Fine, I say.  It is an absolutely legitimate response for you to not care.  I don't care about carrots.  Some people are mad about carrots.  I was told every single day during my formative years that carrots were the answer to every problem in life.  I didn't care then, I don't care now.  Fine.  That is an okay response.  Everyone knows the risks of smoking, yet they do it anyway.  Everyone knows the risks of eating your own body weight in fried chicken every day, but they do that too.  Let them do it.  If it gives them momentary happiness, fine.

The problem comes with things like medical expenses.  In certain regards, the tax people pay on cigarettes off-sets the expense of caring for their medical needs.  Lung cancer is expensive, but so are cigarettes.  Theoretically speaking, that extra expense would go towards their care (of course, in reality it just goes towards buying a dozen houses for MP's, and moats to put around them).  Fat people don't pay a tax on their weight, which means they take from the system without giving anything based on their usage.  Health insurance would be a good way of mitigating this; overweight people would pay higher premiums and things would balance out.  This, of course, is too obvious, too easy in fact, to implement, so it will never be done.  (Good luck reading that sentence).

What about class.  As indeterminate as class is these days, the northerners are definitely fatter than the southerners.  This is obvious to all those who go to somewhere like Hull.  It's a mighty fine place, in fact I have a near-infinite amount of time for the place - but it's still mired in poverty.  Fatties abound, I'm afraid.

Now, this raises the possibility of a two tier nation - one based on health rather than income.  It is perfectly possible for those on lower incomes to be healthy, in which case they will have every advantage in life (studies consistently show that healthier people are more likely to be offered jobs, versus equivalent fatties).  Now, this means the naturally sedentary middle class of today will fall by the wayside, and the healthier individuals, the 'go-getters,' as it were, will carry the torch of tomorrow.  So I absolutely advocate the continuing trend of obesity increase.  If you can't be bothered to keep healthy then it's a choice you made, just don't complain when you're judged by the actions you have chosen to take.

Alas, a trick is being missed.  While education is seen as the defacto exit strategy for the poverty stricken, increasingly health should be too.  This is a missed opportunity.

When you involve kids, people seem to think the equation changes.  It really doesn't.  A child depends on its parents for learning, behaviour, interests, values and the like.  If a child is born in Somalia, he/she/it will not have the same values/advantages as one born in Brazil.  If a child is born to a healthy family, it will have an advantage over a child born to a fat family.  If you are going to have a child, give it every advantage you can.  Do not feed it family chicken every day.  Do not bemoan the lack of vegetables in a school dinner, when it goes home and eats chips every day.  It relies on you to raise it; there is no one else.  It is not the governments job, nor a schools, nor a teachers.  It is your responsibility.  If it is fat, it is your fault, parent.  Do something about it.

I guess to summarise I would say this.  I don't care if you're fat.  I don't really care if your children are fat.  I do care if you blame someone other than yourself.  The fact that there are some extremely fit and healthy people around, shows that it's entirely possible to be such, if you just have an iota of self-control.

I do care if you're fat, if I have to harness you up to go climbing though.  That shit is just not on.

#EDIT#  I was just trawling through the fatties on the BBC website making excuses for their obesity (of course no one is blaming someone with physiological conditions, just like no one blames bulimics or anorexics - but that accounts for what, 1% of fatties?) when I found this
quote:

'The fattest people in my town are the Doctors and Nurses in my local Hospital (sic).  Hippocrasy?'

Best.  Line.  Ever.