Fatties.

[Allen]

I can't believe the attitude of some people in this thread...

All these arguements about overweight people adding to the strain of the NHS are pointless, you might as well crusade against drinkers, drug users, drivers, cyclists, people walking down the road, people doing DIY at home... heck, pretty much everyone as we can all need hospital services at one point in our lives regardless of our lifestyle choices.

I wonder, if this thread was about homosexual people and was entitled "Homos" or something similar, would it have been locked/deleted? After all, that's a lifestyle choice up to the individual and not affecting anyone else directly as well.

[Georgy291]

this thread has split in to 2 classic parts.......politicians vs scientists/ engeneers

politicians apply their usuall rubbish off equility peace anti bullying etc etc

scientists / engeneers see it the way it is and try to change / fix it


its not hard to see where i stand. once again the way i see it is bullying someone about weight is wrong, but more importantly at the same time just accepting it is worse since its a form off encouragement

[peterb]

<---snip


its not hard to see where i stand. snip--->

Political science?

[Biscuit]

All these arguements about overweight people adding to the strain of the NHS are pointless, you might as well crusade against drinkers, drug users, drivers, cyclists, people walking down the road, people doing DIY at home... heck, pretty much everyone as we can all need hospital services at one point in our lives regardless of our lifestyle choices.

Drinkers - taxed heavily

drug users - there is a constant fight to prevent drugs being used in this country and i think if we had a thread about people taking drugs the general attitude of the people would be similar to here... Drugs are an illegal activity so they do not correspond to the discussion imo.

Cyclists/drivers/DIY in the home etc - Accidents are very different to somebody becoming insanely obese to the point of no return where you need constant medical attention and expensive operations to survive. Yes most people didnt deliberately get themselfs into that position, which is why I still think these people deserve medical attention should they require. I just think more needs to be done to prevent it in the first place.

More strict rules on advertisement would also be nice.

[IBM]

I am officially the 'troll without trying' on this thread.

'Roid rage anyone?

As for Biscuit's point about food containing Monosodium Glutamate....MSG was invented by the Japanese and employed extensively within China & Japan....two countries with the some of the lowest obesity rates in the world. It's about diet & education - can't blame it on the food, can't blame it on the government...can blame it on the parents, but only to a certain extent...

[IBM]

I wonder, if this thread was about homosexual people and was entitled "Homos" or something similar, would it have been locked/deleted? After all, that's a lifestyle choice up to the individual and not affecting anyone else directly as well.

Que?

[finlay666]

'Roid rage anyone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oCnqy8Klaw

[Allen]

Que?

The OP created a thread filled with hate against overweight people calling them names like "fatties" and "lardarses". I'm simply pointing out that if a thread was made about homosexual people, calling them names, it would be locked or possibly deleted. OK, so they may not be the same, but I can choose to be overweight or to lose weight. I can choose to sleep with women or to sleep with men. None of these choices affect the OP directly, so why does he have the right to insult people depending on the choices they make?

So there may be a few people who are severly overweight and need help from the NHS... As long as they pay their taxes they are entitled to that help (be it help with a medical condition that causes their weight problem or a psychological issue resulting in overeating and gaining weight).

I agree that the article is a bit OTT, I don't think it should be a hate crime. However I think that it shouldn't be acceptable to insult and belittle people who might already be feeling pretty down about their weight already.

Physical assault, no matter what the reason, should never acceptable.

[IBM]

OK, so they may not be the same

I think you miss my point - the que was to the statement to do with sexuality being a lifestyle choice...

I can choose to sleep with women or to sleep with men.

Interesting. As a hetrosexual male, I couldn't possibly sleep with men. Trying to tell us something?

[finlay666]

Interesting. As a hetrosexual male, I couldn't possibly sleep with men. Trying to tell us something?

Prison 'loving' ftw?

[Allen]

I think you miss my point - the que was to the statement to do with sexuality being a lifestyle choice...

Perhaps "lifestyle choice" was the wrong term I was looking for. My point is, it's not socially acceptable to discriminate against people who are gay or lesbian, so why is it acceptable to discriminate against those who are overweight?

[finlay666]

Perhaps "lifestyle choice" was the wrong term I was looking for. My point is, it's not socially acceptable to discriminate against people who are gay or lesbian, so why is it acceptable to discriminate against those who are overweight?

Because sexuality, race etc are not seen as things that you can control

Weight is stereotypically seen as something that can be controlled. Saying that in ye olden days larger people were seen favourably, as a larger woman was indicative of fertility, and a larger man it was indicative of wealth e.g. Henry 8th

[Knoxville]

Because sexuality, race etc are not seen as things that you can control

Weight is stereotypically seen as something that can be controlled. Saying that in ye olden days larger people were seen favourably, as a larger woman was indicative of fertility, and a larger man it was indicative of wealth e.g. Henry 8th

Just to play devils advocate for a second... religion however is a matter of choice for most and an attack on someone, be it verbal or physical because of their religion is defined as a hate crime isn't it? As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm not sure I support the campaign to have the name calling etc. fat people recieve defined as a hate crime but not everything that comes under that heading is something you have no choice over.

[Perfectionist]

Religion is just a chain of thinking, it has no more right to be protected from criticism than people who advocate the earth is flat or that the world or that the entire world and everything on it was created in 6 days - saying bad things about a religion is not a "hate crime" in most countries.

But yes I think there was a law quietly passed in the UK fairly recently due to a lot of pressure from political religious groups...
I could see the same thing happening with obesity yeah, it would become like it is now where any kind of debate can be suddenly criminalised as hate speech if anyone decides they don't like the content, e.g. "fat acceptance" pressure groups get their way and in a beautiful absurd kneejerk reaction (no one's agreeing with the disgusting violence in the news, but what next, big ears hate speech?) even doctors won't be able to recommend to patients they should lose some weight until it becomes the norm (there was a study I remember reading a while ago on how the more fat people around the less encouraged people are to lose weight themselves - especially when it comes to parents). Reminded of the film Idiocracy...

[Biscuit]

It's about diet & education

can't blame it on the food, can't blame it on the government...can blame it on the parents, but only to a certain extent...

Wouldnt it be so much easier to help people with getting better diets if the companies where penalized for making foods as bad as they do though? Maybe if these things which are so unhealthy came at a higher cost to the consumer, more of them would look for a recipe and get some good fresh ingredients instead?

You cant force people to do things you can only either teach them at a younger age or make it more difficult for them to do it at all. I admit education would be better but schools cant teach kids how to cheat their way through a cooking exam like they do maths or science

[finlay666]

Just to play devils advocate for a second... religion however is a matter of choice for most and an attack on someone, be it verbal or physical because of their religion is defined as a hate crime isn't it? As I said in one of my earlier posts, I'm not sure I support the campaign to have the name calling etc. fat people recieve defined as a hate crime but not everything that comes under that heading is something you have no choice over.

I didn't say religion for 2 reasons
1. It's a grey area as to it being chosen/forced
2. I think religion is pretty stupid and pointless