By Leaps and Bounds, con'd. (Even Bigger)

Before we begin, it looks like I will need to take (yet another) chance to indemnify myself against accusations of ignorance or insensitivity. (It looks like I've been doing a lot of that lately...is it a sign that maybe I am actually insensitive or ignorant, and am merely trying to hide it?) 1) I understand that in some cases, morbid obesity stems from circumstances beyond the control of the chronically ill, causes such as genetics, hypothyroidism, eating disorders, etc. In those cases, I sympathize with sufferers of severe obesity, and this article is in no way intended to defame them for their condition. 2) I am not promoting "unhealthy body images," or propagating some unattainable ideal of beauty. Nor am I guilty here of sowing the seeds of "Western cultural imperialism" ( I hate the use of that phrase, but don't get me started on that; that's an entirely different blog.) I think the ultra thin look (à la Nicole Richie, Lindsay, Mary Kate,) is almost as gross as the Uggs they're so very fond of using in lieu of actual body fat to warm their anorexic ankles. Whereas I usually like to push my own sense of aesthetics on my blog (look, I just did it with the Uggs!), today I will let the reader make his own judgements about what body shape/size is most visually appealing.

That being said:

Item 1: Sidewalks. Sidewalks are public places, funded by tax dollars provided by the general public, and are intended for use by the general public. Most sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate two people of normal weight (see yesterday's entry on BMI for definitions of "normal body weight.") When two normal-sized people are walking in opposite directions on the same side of the road, they should be able to pass one another without difficulty. When one normal-sized person and one large, spherical person are walking in opposite directions on the sidewalk, problems can ensue. It isn't fair for the normal-sized person (i.e. me) to have to step aside and to let the larger person pass. Just because the larger person has more momentum, he does not intrinsically get the right-of-way. The logic behind this argument should be fairly intuitive: I am taking up my fair share of the sidewalk, so I should be allowed to continue my stroll uninterrupted; the larger person, on the other hand, is spilling over into my portion of the walkway, and should yield it back to me as we pass. Right? Or am I the only one who thinks this way? I don't mind that you're fat, but I do mind when your fat runs me off the road.

Item 2: Airplane seats (and by extension, crowded places in general). Once I was flying somewhere, and there was a women of not-insignificant girth seated to my right. Again, there was spillage into an area I had come to consider as "my own." Unlike the public sidewalk, however, I had actually paid directly for the expressed purpose of my being the only person in my seat. I'm not against sharing in general, but if I had wanted to share seats, I would have booked half a ticket instead of a whole one. Again, I don't think it's fair that she was permeating into my space, and using more than the room for which she had paid. When traveling in Asia, I sometimes feel the same on a crowded bus, or on the subway. Although I guess the logistics of "my fair space" is a little more complicated in these last two types of transportation, it's clear that a bus that must make X dollars can charge less per person if more people can get on (i.e. if the passengers are thinner). It feels a little as though I am being (unfairly) asked to subsidize the obese riders.

Item 3: Tax burden. (Why do all my complaints seem to boil down to money? The best explanation of which I can think is that in a capitalist society, we have an ingrained appreciation of ownership. In exploiting this inclination, I hope people will have a harder time disagreeing with me.) According to Obesity in America, "It has been estimated that the annual cost of overweight and obesity in the U.S. is $122.9 billion. This estimate accounts for $64.1 billion in direct costs and $58.8 billion in indirect costs related to the obesity epidemic, a sum that is comparable to the economic costs of cigarette smoking." (Obesity In America, in turn, sites the NIH as the source of these estimates.) One hundred-twenty billion US dollars. This money is the aggregate cost of things like Type II diabetes, osteoarthritis, heart disease, and hypertension caused by obesity. Who is paying for that? You and I are, my friends. The NIH further estimated that in 2005, $400 million was spent on obesity from the federal budget. If it's not federal or state tax dollars we're paying, it's the rising cost of health insurance. We all know how insurance works: my premium goes into a pool of money that eventually subsidizes that $122.9 billion.

Look, I don't mind helping the people who legitimately suffer because of the reasons mentioned above (genetic predisposition, hypothyroidism, etc.), but it seems as though the majority of the American obese could bring down their weight with proper diet and exercise to sufficiently curb the financial costs to the health care system. I'm not expecting them to come out looking like Marion Jones or Carl Johnson (especially if they weren't black to being with), but most people should be able to control their weight so as not to affect their health. (Hey, if populations in countries all over the world have their weight under control, why can't we?) In fact, with $122.9 billion, you could give gastric bypass surgery, liposuction, and proper diet seminars to all those who are obese for reasons beyond their control.

Item 4: Enlightened self-interest. If obese people don't care about taking my share of the footpath, spilling over into my airplane seat, or using up my tax money and insurance premiums, let them lose weight for the sake of their own health. Among a host of other ailments, Wikipedia notes the following as conditions to which one is predisposed if obese: congestive heart failure, enlarged heart, pulmonary embolism, fatty liver disease, colorectal cancer, hypogonadism (male), breast and uterine cancer (female), stillbirth, gout, osteoarthritis, stroke, carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep apnea, and asthma.

Not that I believe either that any obese people reading this will actually change their lifestyles because of my tirade, or that I have a large enough readership to sufficiently impact the direction of American society, but a boy can dream. And if not dream, at least get a little steam off his averaged-sized chest.
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Bibliography
Obesity in America, Economic Impact
Obesity in America, Trends
Obesity.org, Morbid Obesity
Obesity.org, NIH funding
Obesity.org, Obesity, US
Wikipedia, OECD obesity chart
Wikipedia, Obesity