4 ms·

A culture that promotes health and well-being sounds great to me. Here in the West any criticism of someone's health gets you sent to HR, or accused of hate spe

A culture that promotes health and well-being sounds great to me. Here in the West any criticism of someone's health gets you sent to HR, or accused of hate speech (ok I'm exaggerating a little but I don't think we're far off from that). Perhaps after covid people will take their health more seriously? Edit: by health I meant fitness, obviously many people have health issues that they cannot help.

yowlingcat 6y ago
> Perhaps after covid people will take their health more seriously? I'm not hopeful of it. The problem is that it's just such good business to keep people in poor health. Consider all the products that can be sold to them: - addictive junk food to exacerbate the cycle - type 2 diabetes medication - plus-size clothing - plus-size identity media - weight loss programs and medications Now, I'm not saying that all of this is done intentionally. But what I am saying is that strong incentives exist to keep selling these products and keep demand for them high, unless society as a whole agrees that it's wrong to do so, (as it eventually did with tobacco) at least without warning.
- CodeGlitch 6y ago
  Possibly, although the "healthy living" industry is also pretty large - think about all the vitamins, self-help books / media, non-GM food, etc.
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  It’s unlikely the problem will be solved until we can get some agreement on what is causing it. There isn’t consensus on this one. Why are people now overweight in many countries when they weren’t 50 years ago? What changed?
  - mensetmanusman 6y ago
    Your using it. The computer. All the interesting things in the world compressed into a device that you mostly use while immobile. Also, cost per calorie has never been lower, so technology has made it super cheap to feed us.
    - CodeGlitch 6y ago
      Are you sure? I would put it now down to the increased usage of cars.
whoknew1122 6y ago
I'm not sure why people think it's their duty to fat-shame people into losing weight. I'm 6'2" and weighed 220 lbs when I was working out three hours a day 5 times a week. You'll notice that's considered 'overweight' and nearly obese. I'm about 100 lbs. heavier now. I know I'm too heavy. And I need to work on it. Incidentally, a large part of my weight problem stems from an anxiety/PTSD problem. Sugary junk food makes me feel better when I'm not doing well mentally. Yet somehow attempt to make me feel guilty is going to make me more healthy? It's more likely to cause me to have an eating disorder and further hurt my mental health. I've had co-workers who binge drink regularly and smoke daily try to tell me my lifestyle is unhealthy. I do neither. It's crazy how entitled people feel to be rude to overweight people.
- CodeGlitch 6y ago
  Yes you are right - but something has to be done about Western health (I live in the UK, so the populations' health is a concern to me as we have a national health-service - the more people who are sick means fewer resources to go around). As you say, fat-shaming people is unhelpful - but on the flip-side we have "progressive"-types who claim images of skinny-people in the London underground are "offensive" [1]. [1] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/body-shaming-adverts-banned-london-undergound_uk_575e8141e4b014b4f253fcca https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/body-shaming-adverts-...
  - whoknew1122 6y ago
    I'm not saying that I agree with the idea that that ad is offensive. But the issue isn't that the person is skinny. The issue that it's a very skinny model is pictured alongside the words "Are you beach body read?" This implies that the only people who have 'beach bodies' are those as skinny as that model. The idea isn't 'OMG, skinny people are offensive' The idea is 'The implication of this ad is that only people who look like that very skinny model are beach body ready. Meaning, only incredibly skinny people are welcome at the beach.'
    - CodeGlitch 6y ago

yowlingcat 6y ago

> Perhaps after covid people will take their health more seriously? I'm not hopeful of it. The problem is that it's just such good business to keep people in poor health. Consider all the products that can be sold to them: - addictive junk food to exacerbate the cycle - type 2 diabetes medication - plus-size clothing - plus-size identity media - weight loss programs and medications Now, I'm not saying that all of this is done intentionally. But what I am saying is that strong incentives exist to keep selling these products and keep demand for them high, unless society as a whole agrees that it's wrong to do so, (as it eventually did with tobacco) at least without warning.

CodeGlitch 6y ago
Possibly, although the "healthy living" industry is also pretty large - think about all the vitamins, self-help books / media, non-GM food, etc.
amanaplanacanal 6y ago
It’s unlikely the problem will be solved until we can get some agreement on what is causing it. There isn’t consensus on this one. Why are people now overweight in many countries when they weren’t 50 years ago? What changed?
- mensetmanusman 6y ago
  Your using it. The computer. All the interesting things in the world compressed into a device that you mostly use while immobile. Also, cost per calorie has never been lower, so technology has made it super cheap to feed us.
  - CodeGlitch 6y ago
    Are you sure? I would put it now down to the increased usage of cars.

whoknew1122 6y ago

I'm not sure why people think it's their duty to fat-shame people into losing weight. I'm 6'2" and weighed 220 lbs when I was working out three hours a day 5 times a week. You'll notice that's considered 'overweight' and nearly obese. I'm about 100 lbs. heavier now. I know I'm too heavy. And I need to work on it. Incidentally, a large part of my weight problem stems from an anxiety/PTSD problem. Sugary junk food makes me feel better when I'm not doing well mentally. Yet somehow attempt to make me feel guilty is going to make me more healthy? It's more likely to cause me to have an eating disorder and further hurt my mental health. I've had co-workers who binge drink regularly and smoke daily try to tell me my lifestyle is unhealthy. I do neither. It's crazy how entitled people feel to be rude to overweight people.

CodeGlitch 6y ago
Yes you are right - but something has to be done about Western health (I live in the UK, so the populations' health is a concern to me as we have a national health-service - the more people who are sick means fewer resources to go around). As you say, fat-shaming people is unhelpful - but on the flip-side we have "progressive"-types who claim images of skinny-people in the London underground are "offensive" [1]. [1] https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/body-shaming-adverts-banned-london-undergound_uk_575e8141e4b014b4f253fcca https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/body-shaming-adverts-...
- whoknew1122 6y ago
  I'm not saying that I agree with the idea that that ad is offensive. But the issue isn't that the person is skinny. The issue that it's a very skinny model is pictured alongside the words "Are you beach body read?" This implies that the only people who have 'beach bodies' are those as skinny as that model. The idea isn't 'OMG, skinny people are offensive' The idea is 'The implication of this ad is that only people who look like that very skinny model are beach body ready. Meaning, only incredibly skinny people are welcome at the beach.'
  - CodeGlitch 6y ago