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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 378 responses total. |
jep
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response 101 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:32 UTC 2006 |
It could be considered a religious freedom in some cultures(some
Pacific Islanders) to be overweight.
So could smoking tobacco. Drinking alcohol has religious connotations
for some as well.
I can also see folks like the fast food lobby being against anything
that would cut into their revenues.
So was the tobacco industry, remember?
Also, if we're going to talk about being at risk..why not require
everyone to drink a glass of red wine on a daily basis otherwise
they should be penalized?
No proven effect. If there was, maybe we might see that as well.
How about mental health? Should we penalize people for not having a
healthy sex life or for not having a sex life at all?
What are you talking about?
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scholar
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response 102 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:39 UTC 2006 |
Your mother.
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tod
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response 103 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:49 UTC 2006 |
re #101
It could be considered a religious freedom in some cultures(some
Pacific Islanders) to be overweight.
So could smoking tobacco. Drinking alcohol has religious connotations
for some as well.
That's why its legal to smoke in Indian casinos where otherwise a state
has made smoking in public illegal.
Also, if we're going to talk about being at risk..why not require
everyone to drink a glass of red wine on a daily basis otherwise
they should be penalized?
No proven effect. If there was, maybe we might see that as well.
Nobody is forced to eat apples.
How about mental health? Should we penalize people for not having a
healthy sex life or for not having a sex life at all?
What are you talking about?
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mens_Health_Watch.htm
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scholar
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response 104 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:52 UTC 2006 |
jep is a vagina and todd (who is a penis) is fucking him.
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nharmon
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response 105 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:55 UTC 2006 |
and scholar is an asshole, who needs to be fucked before he shits all
over everything.
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tod
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response 106 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:57 UTC 2006 |
re #104
Can I used that or did you copyright it?
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scholar
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response 107 of 378:
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Mar 7 17:59 UTC 2006 |
Re. 105: Dude. Seriously, I was just putting things away and saw the
Christmas card you sent me and wondered what you would think of all this!
But, uh, equally seriously, uh, I have perfectly fine bowel control, though
that might change if someone fucks me.
Re. 106: You're welcome to use it, though I'm pretty sure I at least derived
it from some other source. I'm not sure, though.
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slynne
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response 108 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:03 UTC 2006 |
resp:83 Perhaps fat people cost society money. But so what? Men (as a
group) weigh more than women (as a group) but I dont see you bitching
about men externalizing their jet fuel costs on to women.. Why is that
do you think? Is it because you are a man? Poor people probably cost
society a lot of money, should we shame people for being poor? There
is no way that every group is going to cost the same as every other
group. And there are people who save society money and people who cost
society money. The truth is that you have no idea how much money fat
people are costing you. You don t even know if there is a net cost. You
give one example and it turns out to be a very small amount. For all
you know, fat people might be saving you money in other ways. But even
if it turned out that fat people cost thin people some money, so what?
Do you really want to live in a world where people run around worrying
about how much some other group is costing them?
Resp:84 The main reason is that things like wearing seatbelts and
wearing helmets and smoking, etc are all behaviors and not a state of
being. Fat is a state of being. Eating a poor diet is a behavior. Now,
granted most people who eat a poor diet end up being heavier than they
otherwise would be. But that doesn t mean that every fat person eats a
bad diet. There is natural size diversity in our species. If you take a
group of people and feed them the exact same diet and make sure they
get the exact same amount of exercise, there will still be a range of
weights within that group. Now, if you are suggesting that we ban junk
food, I might not agree with it but at least that is something similar
to requiring someone to wear a seat belt.
I think that a lot of people have a way of thinking about fat people
that often is not based on fact. They think that fat people are lazy
and weak and could be thin if they wanted to. All it takes is a little
will power, right. I have yet to meet a person who says this who has
any kind of facts to back it up other than anecdotal evidence (Oprah
did it, anyone can do it). I also have yet to meet a person who has
actually lost a large amount of weight and kept it off who makes
comments like all it takes is a little will power because those
people know the effort that goes into sustained weight loss. The same
people who often believe that people are fat because of bad behavior
usually seem to believe that obesity is a terminal illness and is
costing everyone tons of money. Are there health risks associated with
obesity? Yes. Are people s reactions to those probably out of
proportion with the actual risks? Almost definitely.
The media feeds all of this by using scare terminology like Obesity
Epidemic and writing articles like the one Cyklone linked to about how
fat costs millions just in jet fuel alone. The article never mentions
how much that cost is per airline ticket purchased because it simply
wouldn t be as sensational. I get very frustrated with the media and
their coverage on anything that has anything to do with obesity. They
seldom include meaningful statistics. They use language designed to
frame the issue in a way that scares people.
Believe it or not, there is a lot of fat hatred in our culture. A lot
of good people have a strong bias against fat people in the same way
that a lot of good people are prejudiced against black people or gay
people or whatever other group. I think that a lot of people use the
health risks of obesity and any other costs they can dream up to
justify discrimination against fat people in the same way that people
use AIDS and the increased costs of that disease to justify
discrimination against gay people.
I am not saying that anyone on here is necessarily doing that but
people do that all the time. I have read editorials that were published
in major newspapers that said that things like having stores that sell
fashionable clothes for fat people or having resorts that cater to fat
people is wrong because it encourages people to be fat. Never mind the
thousand comments a day that I hear just from people I know. Honestly,
as a fat person, I am very thankful that I live in a city that bans
discrimination against a person based on their weight and that I live
in a state that considers weight a protected class of employment.
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scholar
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response 109 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:06 UTC 2006 |
I like fat people and don't think they should have to pay extra and feel bad.
:(
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slynne
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response 110 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:08 UTC 2006 |
Well, thank you scholar.
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scholar
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response 111 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:13 UTC 2006 |
You're welcome!
You can repay me by teaching me how to dance like John Travolta did in Pulp
Fiction!
Then I'd be cool!
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richard
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response 112 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:14 UTC 2006 |
re #108 the bias against fat people is because too many people just assume
that a person has gotten fat out of bad habits. They don't take into account
that not everyone's metabolism works at the same rate and that fatness can
be tied into genetics. Notice how many fat parents have fat kids. Sometimes
there is nothing you can do about it
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nharmon
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response 113 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:20 UTC 2006 |
Scholar, have you seen "Team America: World Police" ? If not, you
probably misunderstood my joke ;)
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tod
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response 114 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:21 UTC 2006 |
Watch a platoon of Marine recruits from beginning to end. You won't see one
fatbody on graduation day yet many of them started off as such. The behavior
change made all the difference. Sleep, exercise, nutrition, the whole 9
yards play integral parts. Its also a proven fat that being obese is bad for
mental health.
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slynne
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response 115 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:26 UTC 2006 |
resp:112 Indeed. And it doesnt help that most fat people do have bad
eating habits and dont exercise. People just selectively dont notice
that most thin people also have bad eating habits and dont exercise.
resp:114 The Marines wont take people above a certain weight in the
first place. And what happens to Marines who fail to get into shape in
boot camp? I will say that the lifestyle of your average Marine isnt
something that most Americans have the time to do. But hey, if the life
of a Marine really is good for weight loss, they might want to use that
when they try to recruit new people.
Also re resp:114 - Yes, there is a strong correlation between certain
mental disorders and being fat. But is that because fat people have to
deal with people constantly telling them that they are worthless, lazy,
disgusting people or does the extra body fat actually cause a change in
brain chemicals. Or maybe, depression can cause a person to overeat.
Who knows?
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scholar
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response 116 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:27 UTC 2006 |
I believe that some people have a tendency to be fatter than other people
(based on what foods they were fed as children, their metabolism, how strong
their urges to eat are, where they live, depression, anxiety, availability
of exercise, etc.), but that everyone knows how to lose weight and it's really
actually pretty simple, and so it's merely a battle of will-power and being
able to supress the possibly severe discomfort, but that due to the
environment in which we evolved, this can be very difficult and probably
impossible for some people.
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edina
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response 117 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:40 UTC 2006 |
Re 115 Ok - who is constantly telling you that you are worthless, lazy or
disgusting? Because I'm not hearing it, and I know at one time I was bigger
than you.
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richard
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response 118 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:41 UTC 2006 |
re #116 it is not always simple to lose weight, because everyone's metabolisms
work at different rates.
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edina
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response 119 of 378:
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Mar 7 18:42 UTC 2006 |
Really Richard? Really? do you think?
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scholar
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response 120 of 378:
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Mar 7 19:09 UTC 2006 |
All I'm saying is that there were strong evolutionary advantages to people
eating as much food as possible, and that this was good when food would
sometimes be scarce but is a disadvantage now when we're producing food much
faster than we can eat it.
One thing that I think might happen: Since people who are obese have less
healthy babies and fewer sexual partners (probably), will less voracious genes
become more plentiful? I'm not sure how to go about analyzing that
scientifically, but it seems sort of plausible to me!
To sum up: take up nicotine or cocaine for a few months to lose weight.
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edina
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response 121 of 378:
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Mar 7 19:12 UTC 2006 |
I need some cites on your info of less healthy babies - and fewer sexual
partners.
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scholar
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response 122 of 378:
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Mar 7 19:17 UTC 2006 |
Fuck.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/e_txtbk/ratnl/22111.htm for the
foetus thing.
The fewer sexual partners thing is just a guess, though I might be able to
find a study or whatever if I dick around a bit!
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edina
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response 123 of 378:
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Mar 7 19:24 UTC 2006 |
No pun intended.
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bru
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response 124 of 378:
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Mar 7 20:14 UTC 2006 |
it used to be that men of larger size had more sexual partners since size
indicated wealth.
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richard
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response 125 of 378:
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Mar 7 21:03 UTC 2006 |
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