To try to get the point across and stand out from the crowd, many articles start with a ridiculous statement. In order to get our attention they start out with something outrageous.
The problem is that the article then looses credibility, and then the often good content gets the “yeah right” thought, and is not given serious consideration.
Here is a good example. The current Best of Third Age lead article is Facts about Fat. The 10 points in the article are good and pertinent, but the lead paragraphs are ridiculous.
Dr. Roger Unger, 84, considers himself something of an anomaly: He’s old enough to remember the novelty of seeing a fat person. Of, if he so desired, paying a dollar to peek into a tent at the circus fat lady.
Now, he says, he can stand on a street corner and see hundreds of dollars worth of fat people.
“Most of the people alive in the U.S. have never experienced life in a non-obese country,” says Unger, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
So 70 to 80 years ago there were no obese people. Give me a break.
There were less people who were obese, but they were not exactly rare and in a freak show. The circus fat lady was probably 500 lbs or more.
The increase in obesity is certainly a worrying problem. But when I was a kid and there were lots of people who were of Dr Unger’s generation, and there were certainly some obese people. There have always been obese people. Look at some of the old paintings in art galleries.
Dr Unger has rose tinted glasses, a selective memory or most likely is using exaggeration. I understand that there are really important points in the article, but by straining our credulity makes this article have less authority.
The lead to this article detracts from what is a reasonable article about fat.
[tags]obese, fat[/tags]
One Comment
Doctors today want people to believe that obesity is a death sentence and that it is the new scourge of humanity. The facts of the matter is the propaganda machine driven by big pharma, the government and the insurance industry are just shifting there focus on obesity as the latest cash cow. The funny part in this whole thing is unlike the anti smoking propaganda and the ensuing anti smoking campaigns the anti obesity efforts aren’t working. The more the anti-obesity forces cry for control over your life with there anti-fat message the fatter the global population gets. Now granted there have always been obese people but it is a fact that the frequency of extreme obesity is rising. Case in point back in the late sixties and early seventies when I was a young supersized girls were a rarity. I know this because I am very fond of the larger female form and back then finding a pretty fat chick was a real chore. Fortunately I actually had a serious relationship with and traveled with a woman who was one of the last fat ladies to be seen in the circus and carnival entertainment industry. Peggy as we will call her was in her early 20s and weighed in at a little over 650lbs at her peak weight. Although Peg was very fat for her time and considered a freak she wasn’t the only fat person in society. The opportunity to travel with her gave me a unique view of middle class America of the time and let me tell you while bellies have grown radically over the last twenty years there were still plenty of big bellies and asses back then as well. The difference I mainly see is society’s view of the human roundness that permeates our world compared to back then. Back 40 years ago fat people were just considered people with a weight problem. Nowadays fat people are considered pariahs and are blamed by our vast propaganda machines for just about every social or environmental ill you can imagine. It’s almost comical how the powers that be have elicited so-called experts to push the anti-fat agenda. Recent articles containing dubious claims have appeared in various so called journalistic publications blaming fat people for the rising cost of healthcare to global warming to our dependence on foreign oil. This showcase just how unscrupulous our government and the special interests that control it are because anyone with a brain can recognize that it isn’t fat people’s fault; it’s our uber consumerist society that has caused most of the afore mentioned issues. In fact the rise in fat people is just a side effect of the root problem and they are actually victims of it.
Unfortunately all this anti fat propaganda has it effect and the effect is mainly on people who cannot think for themselves and need big brother to tell them how to think and act. These sheeple are the government’s storm troopers and are the first line of attack in the fight against obesity. The government will use the controlled anti fat attitude of their mindless minions to influence social behavior so that they can pass the repressive legislation they will need to further control people just like they did with the anti-smoking campaigns of twenty years ago. We live in an age where the government views people as not being able to take personal responsibility for their own actions and to prove this they will point to the obese for the poor lifestyle choices that the government claims the obese make. They will use this to further strip away our personal rights and freedoms because the issue really isn’t about how much you eat; it’s about control and those who play along with this are the real problem we face.