I'm all for Warnings, but for Professors, not Clothes
Dave at the Crisper blog discusses an article from the Daily Mail about a professor who proposes putting obesity warnings on clothes:
I propose, instead, that we sew warning labels on professors who spout totalitarian ideas that seek to take away personal autonomy and replace it with government dependence. That is my preferred easy healthier choice. What about you?
Oversize clothes should have obesity helpline numbers sewn on them to try and reduce Britain's fat crisis, a leading professor said today.
And new urban roads should only be built if they have cycle lanes, according to Naveed Sattar, Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Glasgow.
He is calling for more government intervention with a central agency set up to deal with the problems of obesity.....
"People clearly have some responsibility for their health, but society and government have a responsibility to make the preferred, easy choices healthier ones," he said.
I propose, instead, that we sew warning labels on professors who spout totalitarian ideas that seek to take away personal autonomy and replace it with government dependence. That is my preferred easy healthier choice. What about you?
posted by Helen at 12:40 PM
39 Comments:
But, Helen, you don't understand. These professors are smarter, better educated, etc., etc. than the huddled masses. It's only right that they should ridicule us, force us to live our lives as they see fit, and bow to their superior intellect.
Of course, one of the most intelligent men to ever live, Thomas Jefferson, realized the value and importance of individual freedom. To bad the modern "intelligentsia" aren't half as smart as he.
Hmm, I wonder if I am overweight--better check my tags. Nope, no hotline number. Oh wait, there is a size listed, maybe that could be a clue.
If only I had a hotline number so I could find out that I should eat less and exercise more.
Darn government failed me again.
Dadvocate,
I realize you are being sarcastic but it does bring up the point, why does anyone really care much what professors think? I guess I grew up around them and saw how utterly ridiculous some of their views and opinions were and how hypocritical at times. I realize they teach our young people and that is a problem if professors teach only one way of viewing the world.
I have never understood why anyone really cares much about a "superior" intellect (and really, many "average joes" have higher IQ's than many professors). It is just one kind of skill. Give me someone who works well with their hands, build things, has good emotional and practical sense as well as intelligence and that person is much better rounded. I think one of the problems with people who are "smart" is that they often mistakenly believe that intellect is the answer to the world's problems when in reality, it can also cause misery and suffering--just like stupidity.
As a real estate developer in California I can say that his ideas about bike lanes and sports facilities in new construction are already in place. In fact, it has gotten so bad that City Planners are trying to dictate exactly how we live our lives, how we interact with our neighbors, etc.
Try Googling "New Urbanism" and "Traditional Neighborhood Design". You can't get a permit to build anything (I'm talking larger scale developments) that doesn't incorporate these rediculous mandates to "activate the streets" and to "ensure that the neighborhood provides housing for people from all economic walks of life, and through all phases of life; from young singles to new families just starting out to move-up buyers to empty nesters to retirees in need of living assistance." Last week I was at a hearing where the idea that "all houses within the development must have yards of adequate size for a father to play a good, old fashioned game of catch with his son" was seriously discussed.
While reading about "New Urbanism", keep in mind that it is the latest academic fad, that very few New Urbanist projects have actually been built, that the designs are about twice as expensive as typical tract housing, and that none of these ideas have been tested for economic viability through a full economic cycle.
Regarding fat: As a frequent traveller outside the country, I have to say that I am always shocked when I get off the plane and see how fat everyone here is. It is an eyesore; but if people want to go around looking like that, it's their business, not mine. And if being so fat that you can hardly walk isn't an incentive, in and of itself, to pull back from the feed bag, I don't think a label will be.
I can't take it anymore. I guess I will get my shotgun, my kid and my dog, and we will go out and shoot a bunch of tasty quail, ignoring the lead warning label on the box of shells we will use, as well as the label that says we could get hurt using guns in the first place. We might be risking catching the bird flu, but we'll ignore that risk as well.
Then I will go to the store and buy a bottle of wine, and ignore its warning label by drinking it.
When we clean the guns, I will obey the warning label on the solvent that says not to drink it. I will also obey the label on the gun cleaning rod that says not to stick it in your eye.
While driving to the field where we will hunt, we will obey the California law which requires to wear seat belts, as well as all the warning labels in the car reminding us of our obligation to do so. Our dog, however, will ignore the labels; she just likes her freedom too much to be bothered by them.
Well sheesh Dr. Helen, why didn't you just say that in the FIRST place?
If you put that right next to Dr.Sanity's Guide To Victimhood and come up with a suitable icon, I'd be willing to introduce it as a MENSA sig.
"average joe"
Dr. Helen:
You are Wrong, Wrong, Wron !
"Sewing" warning labels onto spouting professors --- so 80's
They should be TATOO'ed on their foreheads and both cheeks, in the uniform format of Cigartette Warning lalbels, with the Union Jack prominently at the end of the warning.
(Along with a Tatooed message on the their chest "Do Not Resusitate"
In a "Just" society, the price of "Spouting with Tenure"
Econ-Scott
Helen,
Definitely being sarcastic. I grew up around professors also. Many times I enjoyed listening to and being involved in the discussions. Other times, I thought "I can't believe these are the people teaching us at our highest level of education. The world is surely doomed."
I agree strongly with your valuing those who work with their hands, etc. Good mechanics probably save many more lives than good doctors. And, we need them both.
George Bernard Shaw said it best: "Those who can, do, those who can't, teach."
Dr. Helen-
I propose, instead, that we sew warning labels on professors who spout totalitarian ideas that seek to take away personal autonomy and replace it with government dependence.
Yes. There's hope for you yet, doc.
drj-
You have to be careful quoting George Bernard Shaw, he advocated killing people that didn't go along with the totalitarian socialist system he wanted to set up. Beware of his followers, because he and the other Fabians wanted to enact their agenda through dishonesty and deception. The "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" is one of their symbols. And they targeted a lot of their rhetoric towards women, see Shaw's "The Intelligent Women's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism".
Thanks for the advice, Anonymous @ 11:05.
It is a good idea to be careful with what we say and who we quote. Rest assured I thought before posting that quote, especially since Dr. Helen's husband is a law school professor. The last thing I want to do is insult good teachers, but I have faith in Dr. Helen and her readers. The ones I know have more sense than to fall hook, line, and sinker for every comment posted in an internet forum, let alone to embrace socialism based on one flippant quote.
I guess this means I should be wary of using my Wodehouse quotes, too. More's the pity. P.G. had a witty way about him.
being fat and male are the only 2 types of discrimination that are applauded.
I just bought some new silverware...all the forks were labeled "do not put in eye" ;->
Dr Helen,
How dare you expect people to watch what they eat when they don't have clothes to tell them what they should do...
What's next? Coffee mugs that don't tell us that the liquid inside giving off steam is hot?!?!
The Humanity!
I think the bike lane idea is a good one. When one lives in a place that has no sidewalks or bike lanes then one can't effortlessly go outside and exercise. One must drive to a gym or park. I am sure someone could probably find a correlation between obesity rates and easy access to exercise. Oregon is the only state where they aren't getting fatter. Obesity costs every taxpayer with increased for Medicare, Medicaid and health insurance.
" being fat and male are the only 2 types of discrimination that are applauded."
Agreed. It's the new racism. You can't call a black man the "n" word any more (can't even type it), but you can ridicule people for their weight and for being male. And if you're a fat male you are required to take the blame for it.
OTOH it is not prejudice to dislike professors like the one proposing the labels -- after all, no one is born an asshole. It has to be achieved through hard work and effort.
OTOH it is not prejudice to dislike professors like the one proposing the labels -- after all, no one is born an asshole. It has to be achieved through hard work and effort.
I am male and not what you'd call svelte - and people mostly tend to leave me the hell alone, probably because I look homicidal most of the time.
I think most of us know when we're obese. Most of us know that eating excess fat and sugar and not getting enough exercise is bad for us. And most of us are attuned to society's current incessant bitching about our naughty overweight lifestyle choices. It's just the current journalistic fashion. An "issue" for them to run into the ground.
Not wishing to feel left out, our well-meaning Glaswegian metabolism-wallah is simply jumping on the bandwagon. Five minutes and he's gone.
As Donovan said, "Everybody's hustlin' just to have a little scene." That's public discourse in a nutshell.
the ideas are nice, they just shouldn't make federal laws like this due to the precedent it sets
...then one can't effortlessly go outside and exercise.
I thought exercise was all about effort. Reminds me of when I worked at at health club. One of the most common complaints from members was that they couldn't find a parking space close to the entrance. For years I road my bike all over town without bike lanes. Even road from Knoxville to Chattanooga twice (about 100 miles).
Bike lanes are nice but may give a false feeling of security. As for the cost of obesity, I wonder if it really does cost more. Does an obese person who dies at 65 cost us more than a slim person who lives to be 85? I hate the cost benefit analysis approach. What's more important individual freedoms or our "cost" to society? Maybe we should just euthanize everyone whose "cost"to society gets too high.
I agree with Cham. Expecting developers to put in bike lanes is in the same league as expecting them put in sewers or sidewalks. It's not a matter of their freedom to build whatever the buyer wnats when botht the developer and the buyer are going to expect water, roads, police protection, schools , etc, etc, blah blah from the rest of society. If they don't like it; good - they can go build any kind of housing developement in South Dakota. If people want the protection of society, they can live by its rules or go find a new one - they might try Mexico, where you can do anything you want for the right payment.
I think that there's at least some merit to the idea of bike lanes, but I'm admittedly looking at it with American eyes. Remember, this article is talking about Britain, where real estate is at a premium; there's only so much square footage that you can devote to housing, roads, yards, bike lanes, sidewalks etc. On the other hand, the Europeans are generally much more used to living in close proximity, with much shorter commutes. The automobile doesn't occupy the same space in their cultural life that it does in the US. Even considering our love affair with the automobile, considering the amount of space we lavish upon yards and wide streets (I'm thinking of the typical new housing development here in Calif.), we can still afford to set aside some space on the roads for bike lanes without undue hardship.
I'm probably being a bit contradictory with my above point but if you think about it, easy access to exercise isn't a matter of gyms, parks or sidewalks. All it takes is two square yards of floorspace in your livingroom, and most importantly the WILL to get up off of the couch, put down the oreos and do something as simple as walking in place for 30-40 minutes while watching Oprah.
Freedom to be fat is not free. The totalitarian impulse runs deep and dark in our species,
Expecting developers to put in amenities such as parks, bike paths, roads, sewers, and schools is of course reasonable, and developers are happy to contribute their fair share to these items, what we in the business call "offsite infrastructure".
I love bike paths, and the more of them and the further separated from lanes traveled by automobiles the better. But to suggest them as a cure for any nation's obesity problem is idiotic.
My problem is this: When the government starts mandating that new constructon contain characteristics which will determine how people live their lives, I find it intrusive. For example, the "New Urbanist" model assumes that we all want to spend our evenings on our front porches interacting with our neighbors as we watch the activities in the street in front of our homes. If you want a front porch, great, but i dont think you should be required to have one. In my city there is a requirement to have front porches "of an adequate size to be furnished an used as a living area" in all new housing development.
If you want a big back yard, great, buy a house on a big lot, but many cities are now mandating that every development have a certain ratio of large lots, medium sized lots, and small lots; ignoring any studies that suggest what is actually marketable or what buyers want.
And all of these mandates for so-called "Smart Growth" are ultimately coming from academic "experts" who have never venture out of their imaginary, idealistic worlds to see what people really want.
jim-
I agree with Cham. Expecting developers to put in bike lanes is in the same league as expecting them put in sewers or sidewalks. It's not a matter of their freedom to build whatever the buyer wnats when botht the developer and the buyer are going to expect water, roads, police protection, schools , etc, etc, blah blah from the rest of society. If they don't like it; good - they can go build any kind of housing developement in South Dakota. If people want the protection of society, they can live by its rules or go find a new one - they might try Mexico, where you can do anything you want for the right payment.
It IS a matter of their freedom when someone is using the government to force them to do it.
Also, this raises the price of entry to being a builder/developer, making the market less free, raising prices, keeping smaller companies and start-ups out of the market, consolidates the business into the hands of the larger players, etc. You know - everything that a lot of critics of capitalism claim is a "failing" of capitalism. It's not a failing of capitalism, its the meddling of government in the market.
And by the way - South Dakota is part of "society" as well.
as a common visitor to america i have noticed there are more cars yes, but there are no foot paths, you dont walk, if you have to walk your dog etc.. it has to be in the road, and how dangerous is that..
(this is mostly the south i visit)
yes have bike lanes, i dont have a problem with them, but also footpaths as well, the other thing i think increases obesity is that you have to drive everywhere, the local walmart is usually miles away from where a lot of people live. bike paths are ok, if you dont live in a dangerous neighbourhood, but if you are on a bike in a bad area, its not very wise to ride.
"armchair activist said...
as a common visitor to america i have noticed there are more cars yes, but there are no foot paths, you dont walk, if you have to walk your dog etc.. it has to be in the road, and how dangerous is that..
(this is mostly the south i visit)"
If it is motly the South you visit, the lack of footpaths is the least of the reasons people don't walk. Do you ever visit in July or August? You sound European - you might last 20 minutes or so walking outside at that time of year. Obviously people used to walk when they had to go any place, in the same way people live in unheated houses in northern China if they can't afford fuel, but it's not something one would willingly do if there is any alternative.
i know to avoid certain months.. i may be european, but i aint daft ;-)..
there is a phrase thats used, mad dogs and englishmen go out in the midday sun. they couldnt afford to be prostrated due to heat..
but even in the winter months, you would think there would be paths.
There are quite a few bike paths in my neck of the woods, but one rarely sees bicyclists on them. Instead, the bikers prefer riding in the roads, sometimes two abreast.
I'm not sure if this is narcissism ("look at me! I'm a cool bike rider!") or if there is some other explanation, but there's no point in building these things if they're not going to be used.
"but even in the winter months, you would think there would be paths. "
You're right, of course. And don't think I am picking on you because you are European - I am from the West Coast, and I nearly got heat exhaustion once for not paying attention. That was a function more of the humidity than of the heat. I also once got eaten up by chiggers because I didn't know to avoid them - lay down in a nest of them in the middle of the night.
People used to walk when they had to. And most of the South is pretty mild most of the time in winter. I think there may be a social stigma to walking. After all, the South was very poor until comparatively recently.
Can you explain what the problem is with bicycle lanes in cities?
There is no problem with them if they are used; but as david says, they don't seem to be used much in his neck of the woods.
I would bet that if you researched the history of the construction of the bike paths in his neighborhood, you would find lurking somewhere in the backgroung a professor of urban planning, probably tenured at a university at least a thousand miles from where he lives. He or she was hired as part of an "Urban Renewal" or Master Planning" process and paid several hundred thousand dollars for a "study", which was boilerplate except for changing the names of the streets. The City Fathers, or whatever they are called, adopted his ideas as law (how could they not after paying so much money to the esteemed professor), and now the community is laced with paths that no one uses, at an expense the homeowners and other taxpayers of millions of dollars per year.
But I could be wrong.
its ok jim, i was brought up to walk, we walked miles and miles, at least once a year i would walk 10 miles.
part of it i think is places are too far from each other in america, i live 3 miles from the town centre here, theres a set of shops 5 mins walk from my house, i can get into town even by walking, takes 30-50 mins depending on route..
by car 2 or 3 minutes..
if places were nearer, then you wouldnt feel the heat as much as you would be less in the sun and heat..
Who uses the bike lanes? You may not but I do. During the week my car stays parked. My walking trips to the grocery store involve a large backpack. I even ride my bike to Wal-Mart. If you have sidewalks and bike lanes the world becomes your exercise oyster. The US has conditioned its citizens that if they need a gallon of milk a car must be used.
Those bike lanes will get used the day gas hits $8/gallon as in some European countries.
And when it does hit $8 per gallon, no goverment coersion will be needed to create them, Mr. Free Market will take care of it all by himself.
the bike lanes will be the roads.. if the price rises too much..
in the UK the tax paid on fuel is 48%. yes thats right, nearly half goes to the government
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