WHO: Governments should regulate fast food to slow obesity
Replies
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that's called survival of the fittest.
Except that makes zero sense in the context of a modern first-world society where the poor and obese reproduce at rates significantly higher than the rich and fit.
Well, that's government-supported, because the majority of those people are the ones who are votiing for them. If you keep them uneducated and unhealthy, they'll do pretty much whatever you tell them to do.
So the "fittest" in the context of our society are actually the uneducated and unhealthy.
So what do we do?
I know. <sigh> I've had a lot of debates about this. I posted much earlier in this thread that I'd take money and put it into the educational system, starting at the earliest of elementary years, and building from there. Nutrition and physical fitness should be mandatory every year, and finances should be added when children can understand the basics. When they graduate into adulthood, people should understand nutrition and fitness and finances so they start their lives healthy and be able to manage their own money. Our current system allows so much ignorance. People tend to resist this very idea because they don't like the idea of being told what to do, but then the alternative is the government stepping in when they're ignorant adults and putting regulations in place telling them what they can eat and do.0 -
That's very nice in theory. In practice, governments have never shied away from infringing on individual responsibility in order to encourage, or sometimes force, their citizens to behave in a certain way.
Actually, the United States is based on individual responsibility. Do as you will, as long as you don't violate anyone else's rights to do as they will. (...)
Maybe I should give a somewhat less flippant answer.
I think they're in Avalon. I know Self Control crashed on Fae Vivian's couch for awhile.
They're apparently gone. Now what?
Bingo.What happened to individual responsibility and self control?
Should people be responsible for their diets? Absolutely. Should people refrain from committing crimes? Again, absolutely... but any government which would base its policy towards crime on moral platitudes would be irresponsible.
Does this mean governments should try to regulate their citizen's diet to a certain extent? I don't know. I've never cared enough about politics to have a precise definition of what the government's role in society should be, and I can see plenty of valid arguments both for and against. However, "It's up to individual responsibility" isn't one of them.
Like I said, the question isn't "Is this in the domain of personal responsibility?" but rather "Is obesity serious enough, and controllable enough, for the government to intrude on personal responsibility?". I'd actually be tempted to say no, but I haven't thought at length about it.0 -
So here is an interesting article.
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/2/2/who-tighter-economicregulationneededtoreverseobesityepidemic.html"Unless governments take steps to regulate their economies, the invisible hand of the market will continue to promote obesity worldwide with disastrous consequences for future public health and economic productivity," said Roberto De Vogli of the University of California, Davis, who led the study.
Thoughts??
Yes that's exactly what we need, more government intervention. Hey how'd the centrally planned green energy pushg go in europe?
^^ This
Government needs to stay OUT!!! My body, my choice!0 -
Cigarettes have put the risks on the pack for years. People still smoke. Hell, I just quit and I'm fit and eat 100% whole food diet.
People do what they want. Blaming advertising is a joke. Blaming fast food is a scapegoat for fat lazy ****s.
/thread
Not as much as they used to. Years and years of taxes, campaigning, and demonization have paid off to some degree.
Preventative education has made the difference, NOT regulation.0 -
Well we have seen how well out-lawing drugs has worked.....
We don't have any on the streets here in the USA.
RIP Phillip Seymour Hoffman
To be fair, I've never heard the argument that legalizing hard drugs would decrease their use.
It's called the "Adam and Eve Effect." Forbidden fruit is tastier and sexier.0 -
Cigarettes have put the risks on the pack for years. People still smoke. Hell, I just quit and I'm fit and eat 100% whole food diet.
People do what they want. Blaming advertising is a joke. Blaming fast food is a scapegoat for fat lazy ****s.
/thread
Not as much as they used to. Years and years of taxes, campaigning, and demonization have paid off to some degree.
Preventative education has made the difference, NOT regulation.
What do you think was the impetus for the "preventative education?" If the tobacco industry wasn't regulated then they'd still be out there today talking about T-Zones and how their products are "safe" and the easily led still wouldn't know any better. It takes the power of big government to fight corrupt industry.0 -
What do you think was the impetus for the "preventative education?" If the tobacco industry wasn't regulated then they'd still be out there today talking about T-Zones and how their products are "safe" and the easily led still wouldn't know any better. It takes the power of big government to fight corrupt industry.
You're wasting your effort. WendyTerry420 is basically against government in general.0 -
The foundations of fascism.
You just can't argue with a statist who "knows better."
Yup, and you can't advertise to them either!
Jesus, this thread took a turn for the dumb.0 -
How is our government doing with the War on Drugs
Or the War on Poverty?
And how much money has that cost us??
^^^ BINGO! Every time the US government declares war on a *thing* we end up with more of it.
People should be left to pursuit happiness, even if they are failing at it. It is natural right that was once considered self-evident.
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Bingo.What happened to individual responsibility and self control?
They're apparently gone. Now what?
1984. Big Brother is coming.
Nope. Big Brother is here.
NSA
TSA
DEA
IRS
ATF
DHS
CIA0 -
What do you think was the impetus for the "preventative education?" If the tobacco industry wasn't regulated then they'd still be out there today talking about T-Zones and how their products are "safe" and the easily led still wouldn't know any better. It takes the power of big government to fight corrupt industry.
You're wasting your effort. WendyTerry420 is basically against government in general.
I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.0 -
I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.
We do need regulation in education, otherwise you have idiots trying to foist off creationism as legitimate.0 -
I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.
We do need regulation in education, otherwise you have idiots trying to foist off creationism as legitimate.
Fo Sho.0 -
I really don't see how the fast food industry is deceptive or insidious in this era. Every ingredient, every calorie, every macro is made available for the consumer to review at corporate restaurants, whether online or at the restaurant itself.
40 years ago, no one was asking about the ingredients in their fast food, and yet people weren’t nearly as obese. The issue isn’t necessarily food content, it is food portions. Controlling portions is the consumer’s responsibility, not the restaurant industry’s, and certainly not the government’s.
Don’t be so quick to think the government has the answer to every problem in society. This isn’t second hand smoke, asbestos, lead paint, etc., some toxin that is threatening public health. This is food that many people are eating in dangerous quantities. I think it is best controlled by the healthcare industry, in imposing higher insurance rates on people that suffer health issues that are lifestyle related.0 -
I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.
We do need regulation in education, otherwise you have idiots trying to foist off creationism as legitimate.
:laugh:
Wow!
ETA: Statists are so paranoid! Yeah cuz religious folks are the ones causing obesity. Yeah, people are so stupid that people need to govern them. :laugh: :laugh:0 -
Dear lord, you just went full retard. Don't go full retard.
Or are you a creationist?0 -
just make the mandatory health insurance so expensive for obese people that they cant afford to eat. as they lose weight, it gets cheaper. self solving problem.0
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I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.
We do need regulation in education, otherwise you have idiots trying to foist off creationism as legitimate.
:laugh:
Wow!
ETA: Statists are so paranoid! Yeah cuz religious folks are the ones causing obesity. Yeah, people are so stupid that people need to govern them. :laugh: :laugh:
When did anyone try to connect religious zealots with obesity?0 -
No one did, it was just a derpy misdirection tactic for being called on their calls to de-regulate everything. Since that works as well as prohibition does.0
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Let the sheep follow themselves to oblivion.
Let the gluttonous eat themselves to an early grave.
Let the humorless butthurt themselves to unhappiness.
That's called natural selection, natural consequences.
And we are running out of space/water/clean air/resources/time...
F'em. i will advocate no abdication of personal responsibility. thinking and choosing are the most important personal responsibilities we have.
Yes, please teach your children to think and learn. We are pushing too much "act and do".0 -
I'm all in favor of education. Knowledge is power. Education can be done without regulatory bodies sucking our public coffers dry.
We do need regulation in education, otherwise you have idiots trying to foist off creationism as legitimate.
:laugh:
Wow!
ETA: Statists are so paranoid! Yeah cuz religious folks are the ones causing obesity. Yeah, people are so stupid that people need to govern them. :laugh: :laugh:
When did anyone try to connect religious zealots with obesity?
No one talked about "zealots" at all. I said "folks." :laugh:
Why would anyone bring religion into this discussion at all? This discussion is who controls what we eat, either we control our own bodies or the Master Government controls out bodies. That has nothing to do with religion. So yeah, derpy connection is derpy, which is why I was cracking up laughing at the nonsense.0 -
Let the sheep follow themselves to oblivion.
Let the gluttonous eat themselves to an early grave.
Let the humorless butthurt themselves to unhappiness.
That's called natural selection, natural consequences.
And we are running out of space/water/clean air/resources/time...
F'em. i will advocate no abdication of personal responsibility. thinking and choosing are the most important personal responsibilities we have.
Yes, please teach your children to think and learn. We are pushing too much "act and do".
Yep!
Thinking and learning > fear-mongering and control0 -
No one did, it was just a derpy misdirection tactic for being called on their calls to de-regulate everything. Since that works as well as prohibition does.
LOL @ "De-regulate"
Statists, whether progressive or conservative, hate it when they can't control others. "De-regulate" from the mouth of a progressive-type is just as nonsensical as "libertine" from the mouth of a conservative. The only difference between the prohibitionist and the regulator is what part of my life they seek to control.
Enough is enough! I own me!0 -
I think people need to just be more accountable and stop making excuses.
^^^This. People need to stop looking to the government to make their choices for them. It has gotten out of control on so many levels. Use your head people..... start thinking for yourself.0 -
I do have a problem with the quantity that restaurants are giving. Just an example, the medium soda currently at McDonalds was a large soda 20 years ago. There was no extra large.
But people need to be held accountable for there own actions. We do not need government in our lives any more than they are now!0 -
I do have a problem with the quantity that restaurants are giving. Just an example, the medium soda currently at McDonalds was a large soda 20 years ago. There was no extra large.
But people need to be held accountable for there own actions. We do not need government in our lives any more than they are now!
I don't remember a "large" being 20 ounces at McD's in 1994. Maybe I'm mistaken, as I was 13 then.0 -
I do have a problem with the quantity that restaurants are giving. Just an example, the medium soda currently at McDonalds was a large soda 20 years ago. There was no extra large.
But people need to be held accountable for there own actions. We do not need government in our lives any more than they are now!
I don't remember a "large" being 20 ounces at McD's in 1994. Maybe I'm mistaken, as I was 13 then.
I actually do remember that. The current small was the same size as a medium back then. And as the other poster said, the current medium was a large back then. I used to always order a medium, but now I always order a small. I asked a cashier a long time ago, "What happened to the sizes?" and the poor thing was dumbfounded. Sonic changed their sizes close to the same time.
ETA: I'm not sure if it was '94 though because it seems like it was before I got married, like back in high school, so I'm thinking late 80s. (Getting old sucks as the years seem to blend together. lol)0 -
I do have a problem with the quantity that restaurants are giving. Just an example, the medium soda currently at McDonalds was a large soda 20 years ago. There was no extra large.
But people need to be held accountable for there own actions. We do not need government in our lives any more than they are now!
I don't remember a "large" being 20 ounces at McD's in 1994. Maybe I'm mistaken, as I was 13 then.
I worked at McD's in 1988, and we had small (12 oz), med (16 oz) and large (20 oz). By the early 90s they had introduced Super Sizing and the Extra Large was the mammoth-sized cup that came with the jumbo sized box of fries. So, yeah, 20 years ago, there was an extra large soda at McD's. After Super-Size Me came out, they did away with the Super Size meals because of all the negative hype.0 -
Fast food doesn't hold a monopoly on high calorie, unhealthy foods anyway. Most any restaurant is going to have similar offerings in that regard, and people can and will make their own junk food.
^this
I've eaten a lot of calories in some really nice restaurants the past week.
Isn't is possible that an obese population eats more often, so that leads to more "fast food transactions"? Perhaps they have the causation backwards from their observed correlation?0 -
I'm for policies that work and against those that don't work.
The only legitimate reason to be against these regulations is if they do not work.0
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