Obesity is on the rise

[CosmicPathos]

I agree with all you have written here. But denying somebody a free second seat on an airplane is not making fun of them. It is demanding that they pay their way like everybody else. If you take more space you should pay for that space. If you can't fit in one seat and need two seats, I have no problem with that, but you should pay for that seat. Why should the airline pay, and thus the rest of us pay with higher prices for our tickets, for the obese person's second seat?

This is special treatment for obese people and it embarasses me that it is happening in my homeland. :hiding:
Now, if we ALL got two seats for the price of one, that'd be different.

And no, I really don't have much empathy for the vast majority of fat people. It is true that some are that way due to a glandular or genetic flaw (I do have empathy for those select few), but far far more are that way by choice, which is reflected by the growing numbers of such people. Would anybody seroiusly argue that glandular and genetic issues re obesity got so widespread so fast? No. It is more and more people eating badly and sitting on their bums. And the more that do it and the more it becomes socially taboo to criticize it, the more will follow them into it. We shouldn't make fun of them or hate on them for being obese, but we shouldn't praise or reward them for it either, and we shouldn't stop people from expressing concern for it. No, it really isn't healthy and it really isn't good.



For smoking tobaco? Yes, I'm pretty sure we can blame them. I am not aware of anybody being born needing to smoke tobaco. They can do their smoking away from non-smokers and not pollute the airspace of the rest of us. And they can pay a premium for it, that the rest of us should not subsidize. I don't make fun of smokers or hate them for smoking. But I do expect them, as I expect voluntarily obese people, to take some personal responsibility for their poor choices and to not demand special treatment or subsidizing so they can continue in their chosen path.



Yes I agree. They need help getting OUT of these patterns, not coddling within these patterns. Giving fat people a free second seat doesn't encourage them to eat better or exercise. If anything it does the opposite.

well so are you saying that blind people must pay for special services they receive in governmental institutions? If so that would be very immoral. Are you saying that a child born with down syndrome should not be provided additional facilitative services free of cost if he/she cannot afford it? Are you saying that a person with no legs should not be provided prosthetics free of cost if it enables their life? Seems to be quite an immoral worldview. Fat people, by virtue of their disease, need more space. They must pay what everyone else pays. They are not taking more space because they want to for luxurious purposes. They are taking more space because their very existence demands so. To deny the rights of their hefty existence, which is not by their free choice, is denying them their right to be treated as respectable persons.

 

[Little_Lion]

mad, you know there's a great difference between being blind, having Down's Syndrome, and being obese . . . two are not options, the third is. And when the third is not, such as in cases where there is a true underlying medical condition, then the disability is not in the obesity but the disease that caused it.

Smokers choose to smoke - it's easy to start, and tough to quit, but it is still a CHOICE. Overeaters choose to eat excessively and not exercise - it's a lot easier to be lazy, and Doritos sure taste better than celery, but allowing themselves to gain the weight was still an avoidable CHOICE. A disease or disability is not a choice, and there's a lot of people with true disabilities and illnesses who take GREAT exception to things like smoking or overeating being lumped in with cancer, or multiple sclerosis, or amputation.