Tell me this does not piss you off.

I've written about this a few times before, but today I came across this article and it really infuriated me. I think it's because I really just can't stand obese people, and maybe I am being close minded and superficial but when companies need to start making caskets the size of a submarine because Americans cannot fit into them, there's a problem. When companies specialize in sponges on sticks for those hard to reach places, there's a problem. Not everyone can help being obese, and I'm not trying to mush every overweight person into one category. I've known plenty of people who were in the situation because of another factor besides a lack of self control. It's the people who ride around with handicapped stickers, who complain about not being to fit in a movie theater, and who piss and moan about not being able to do anything about their weight while they camp out in the drive thru of McDonald's when they could walk the ten extra feet through the door so they can order a gigantor cheeseburger with extra sweet and sour sauce. Coming to school in the south has shown me the lack of concern for health. People eat fried food down here like the dickens. I went on a date with this one extremely Southern boy and we got on the topic of health and he said, "I eat whatever I want because you only get to live once." Yea ok, good philosophy until you turn 30 and have a triple bypass and can never even smell another french fry without the risk of dropping dead. People are seriously so fucking stupid. That whole "you get to live once" thing is dogshit. Yes, you should live for the moment and all that, but after watching my grandfather die an excruciatingly painful death from something that could have been prevented if he had taken care of himself I am here to tell you that carpe diem is not this wonderfully glorious thing unless you like sitting in a chair for the last year of your life with a tube running through your urethra and your shit being emptied into a bag attached to your side meanwhile you are so drugged up that you can't even form coherent sentences but you musn't forget to test your blood sugar because on top of the incurable bone cancer you also have diabetes, not to mention you are almost completely blind and oh yea, you can't walk. Sieze the day my ass.

One thing that bothers me is when people claim their obesity to be genetic. If it was genetic, then how come only people of the 21st century are afflicted with this terrible condition? Genes take a lot longer than 40 years to mutate, and no one is predisposed to weighing 400 pounds. Maybe part of the problem is that people think they can take a magic pill, eat fried chicken, not work out, and the weight will just fly off. Then when this doesn't work they get frustrated and eat more and think the only alternative is risky painful surgery which will forever alter their bodies and require them to take nutritional supplements for the rest of their lives.

Being that I get so worked up over this whole obesity thing, I am starting to wonder whether I should make it a career or not.

The "it's not my fault" mentality applies to many other aspects of American life. Like parenting. There are plenty of good, respsonible parents out there but some are just plain moronic. ADHD may exist in some kids, but I have the feeling it's just a cover up for bad parenting. If your kid acts out, smack them around a little bit. Punish them. Don't let them play video games for a day or two. There are lots of other ways to get your kids to behave rather than turn to drugs if little Johnny can't sit still for three hours straight. Since when do kids pay attention? Any little kid I've encountered has never payed attention to any one thing for an extended period of time. Kids run around, piss themselves, fall, cry, eat their snot, play with each other, fall and cry some more, dig for worms, and eventually fall asleep on the floor. If you're looking for kids to sit through Mozart's sonata in B flat, it's not going to happen. Maybe if parents stopped looking to schools and television to raise their kids for them this ADHD would die down.

One last thing before I take a shower: Truth ads. I hate that shit. Truth ads try and place the blame on cigarette companies for teenagers smoking. This kind of relates with the whole it's-not-McDonald's-fault-you're-fat thing. How can people in the year two thousand and six NOT know that smoking causes cancer, emphysema, birth defects, and all that other fun stuff? Is there some kind of rock colony that everyone is born in, devoid of television and every other form of mass media? Why are people so goddamn dumb? Agh. Me sitting here bitching does not change anything. I think I am going to be a dietician or something if this whole neuroscience thing does not work. Peace.