When I read this article on the BBC website, I wasn’t sure whether to be amused or simply amazed.
People are campaigning in Britain to make it illegal to discriminate against anyone who is overweight, on the same grounds as race, age and religious discrimination.
Apparently such a law is already in effect in San Francisco, which bans “Fat-ism” in housing and employment and stops doctors from pressing patients to slim down.
I can to a certain extent, sympathize with anyone that has a weight problem, but the fact of the matter is, if you are overweight you are taking in more calories than your body is burning. The only cure is eating less and exercising more.
I consider it ludicrous to suggest a doctor should not tell a patient to lose weight; he would be failing in his job if he did not do so. I have known several people who were diabetic and after they started exercising and lost weight, their diabetes disappeared.
The campaigners, who belong to the Size Acceptance Movement, say surveys show 93% of employers would rather employ a thin person than a fat one even if they are equally qualified.
Well, duh. An employer would also rather employ a non-smoker over a smoker, a healthy person over a less than healthy person.
It’s why people have to take a drug test to get a job. Not because employers are into law enforcement; it’s because junkies do not make good workers. And is not a morbidly obese person a food junkie?
Statistics have also shown that employers will choose a tall person over a short person; why not a law to protect short people. After all an overweight person can do something about their weight, but a short person can do absolutely nothing about his height.
Maybe we should stop telling people who abuse drugs and alcohol that they are ruining their health. No more interventions for friends and loved ones, just allow them their right to kill themselves slowly.
Of course I am being facetious, but really. People should be encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle, and movements like these are counterproductive. This wide spread obesity epidemic has only materialized in the last twenty or thirty years, it is a lifestyle problem.
Like all such problems, it will only change when attitudes change, and lifestyles change. You cannot do that by laws and legislation, only by education and encouragement.
Please feel free to weigh in on this subject; I would be interested to hear your views
People are campaigning in Britain to make it illegal to discriminate against anyone who is overweight, on the same grounds as race, age and religious discrimination.
Apparently such a law is already in effect in San Francisco, which bans “Fat-ism” in housing and employment and stops doctors from pressing patients to slim down.
I can to a certain extent, sympathize with anyone that has a weight problem, but the fact of the matter is, if you are overweight you are taking in more calories than your body is burning. The only cure is eating less and exercising more.
I consider it ludicrous to suggest a doctor should not tell a patient to lose weight; he would be failing in his job if he did not do so. I have known several people who were diabetic and after they started exercising and lost weight, their diabetes disappeared.
Well, duh. An employer would also rather employ a non-smoker over a smoker, a healthy person over a less than healthy person.
It’s why people have to take a drug test to get a job. Not because employers are into law enforcement; it’s because junkies do not make good workers. And is not a morbidly obese person a food junkie?
Statistics have also shown that employers will choose a tall person over a short person; why not a law to protect short people. After all an overweight person can do something about their weight, but a short person can do absolutely nothing about his height.
Maybe we should stop telling people who abuse drugs and alcohol that they are ruining their health. No more interventions for friends and loved ones, just allow them their right to kill themselves slowly.
Of course I am being facetious, but really. People should be encouraged to live a healthy lifestyle, and movements like these are counterproductive. This wide spread obesity epidemic has only materialized in the last twenty or thirty years, it is a lifestyle problem.
Like all such problems, it will only change when attitudes change, and lifestyles change. You cannot do that by laws and legislation, only by education and encouragement.
Please feel free to weigh in on this subject; I would be interested to hear your views