I’ve been reading a little bit about obesity in North America, and wondering about the cultural/labor/economic structure of our current society and how it produces such a large percentage of obese people. It’s not all glandular, and it’s not all crappy food. There are so many aspects to a culture capable of producing a sizable percentage of people who are grossly overweight within specific economic sectors of it’s cross section. We seem to blame the people themselves, as if obesity were a character flaw. We promote the idea of exercise and healthy diet as the solution. But there’s so much more to it than that, and blaming anyone, or anything is useless.
I was listening to NPR as I drove aimlessly through Berkeley, California today. A woman was on the program talking about how the reported percentage of obese adults and children in America is inaccurate. She wagered that it’s distorted (as if people were saying that they were overweight when they aren’t.) I thought that was a funny idea. I imagine that fewer people would actually admit to being grossly over weight than the number of people who would exaggerate it, so I decided to count the fatties on my aimless drive.
Almost 1/3 of the people I saw were fatties. And almost 80% of the people I saw were either obese, heavy, or out of shape.
In one hour I saw approximately 150 people. Of those people at least 40 of them were grossly overweight. Not less than 10 of them were amazingly fat. Another “big” group of people made up about half of the rest of the human beings I saw, but I didn’t consider them fatties because they were “big” or “out of shape.” That’s not the same thing.
There’s nothing scientific about this sample of life on the street. Do your own test. Report back here. I’m interested.
7 Comments
I live in L.A., it’s different here. It really is.
Why because everyone’s in a car?
I think it counts if you’re counting people in vehicles. Don’t you?
I’ve lived almost equal times in L.A. and Berkeley and L.A. is different the way people tend to their bodies. I’m not saying all of it is healthy and certainly I never owned a car in Berkeley and got a lot of my exercise walking (and dancing my ass off til all hours) but it is different.
But you have to actually spend some time in L.A. with an open mind to see how it is different.
P.S. I did count. I mean, not exactly like you did, but I was many different places yesterday and I saw very little gross obesity. I was driving on Hollywood Boulevard, through traffic, the day of the daytime Emmies. I was at the Natural History Museum and Science Center downtown with a lot of kids scrambling about and waiting in line for the bathrooms. I was in Little Tokyo. I was in Little Ethiopia. I was in Koreatown (do you start to get the picture as to why I MUST defend L.A. against harsh and I feel unwarranted negative spin that you often project about this city.
Americans are definitely getting fatter and this is not a good thing - but there are things that we can do rather than just gawk at it, or blog about it.
Here is a very viable suggestion for you: If you know of ANYONE who is financially capable of contributing to keeping the arts and a rigorous program of physical exercise, dance, discipline, and self-exteem escalating skills, PLEASE direct them to this website or have them contact me for more information. You have my personal email address… feel free to give it out.
And check out these links yourself. This is a non-profit TOTALLY worth supporting in any way you can. I know that you are probably not in a position of giving financially at this moment but there are so many ways that you could give. Spread the word about it if it makes sense to you after you look at the links.
A lot of people read your blog every day - maybe you would consider writing a blog about it:
CALIFORNIA DANCE INSTITUTE
http://www.californiadanceinstitute.org
Val Zavala of Life and Times did a segment on the CDI. To view the short (8 minute) KCET video, go to
http://www.kcet.org/lifeandtimes/arts_cadanceinstitute.php
Serious - Let me know what you think about this.
Respectfully,
Elaine
I meant to say:
Here is a very viable suggestion for you: If you know of ANYONE who is financially capable of contributing to keeping the arts and a rigorous program of physical exercise, dance, discipline, and self-exteem escalating IN SCHOOLS….
I completely support the arts in schools. It’s also fair to say (and maybe I should have said this before) that I don’t think your body’s shape, size, or weight have anything to do with beauty, or value.
I feel that in terms of social revolution, progress and the “values” we keep quipping about that the only method of accomplishing this is to fully fund our schools. Education is the seed from which all prosperity and well being grow.
As a socialist, not at all interested in money or personal profit (rather, i see greed as a negative quality, acquisition as a shameless byproduct of insecurity) it is my sole agenda that “what we want” is health care for everyone and education for anyone who wants it.
I believe that this, despite our many and ever multiplying issues, is the direct approach to solving many, if not most, of what’s wrong with the world today.
That is a subject, perhaps, for another entry, but I would posit the question:
Do you know anyone who has an advanced degree that is a racist?
Do you know anyone with an advanced degree who is a fascist?
Think about the topics which you personally feel are the modern social plagues and ask yourself if you know anyone educated who supports this thinking?
I am talking about a real education, not a 2 year MBA, or some get a money making job certificate or degree program. I mean a set of 4 year education diplomas from an unbiased university.
I’ve met bright Republicans, but I’ve never met one with a masters degree in sociology, physics or literature.
I believe it was Socrates that said that the two essentials for education are music and gymnastics.
I don’t know very many people that admit to being Republicans.
My friend who lives in L.A. recently made the comment, “Sometimes the question is not “Did I go to Berkeley?”, but “Did I leave it?”
I do have one very close friend who I believe is now a registered Republican. She is an unusual case in that I am almost positive she got both her undergrad and graduate degrees (from Berkeley and then Cornell) in Art History. She does not work in her field. She works in management training on a very high level for a very large corporation.
This woman was in an MBA program but dropped out of it, finding she didn’t seem to need it. But she is a most unusual, magical, loving, artistic, kind, generous and extraordinary person on many levels, a stellar wife and mother, and she does not force the Administration’s agenda; I think honestly she votes some of the Republican party line because some things support her family’s financial interest. She doesn’t really talk about how she votes or where she leans to the Republican end. I didn’t even know she had changed her voter status until my sister broke it to me.
You asked if we/I knew _any_ one… I do know ONE :)