The Plight of the Obese in America

There is yet another American injustice unfolding right before our eyes.. It's the constant trashing of the obese in the media these days through slanted news depicting them as the only major people group in the nation who are a medical burden to us. As a nation that has become so fanatical about the importance of a persons looks, our values as a nation are askew again. We are so preocupied with looking good that we have forgotten how how important it is to be good.

For many people who suffer with obesity, it is a lifelong chronic condition that resists all treatment, howrever aggressive. In fact, the more aggressive the treatment, the faster the weight returns, and it always returns for most of these people, sooner or later.

Don't these people have enoug life devastating problems without being made a scapegoat by an audience seeking media. And this condition does have devastating effects on a person life; their lives are destroyed not just physically, but financially, socially and psychologically.

Obesity is caused by a set of complex forces in a person's body and mind that are not easily controlled, and even doctors don't understand it. If they understood it, they would be able to cure obesity, and presently they can't cure it or even control it very well.

Reality shows like "The Biggest Loser" don't help much. They just make a spectacle ot these unfortunate people by publically humililating and mentally abusing them. This treatment does not promote the more healthy ways to attempt to contol the condition. It isn't even sane, and it doesn't inspire me. But I guess the contestants on the show submit to such harsh treatment because they are desperate, and they need the money. They lack real job opportunies.

There is a danger here. The obese are being dehumanized by the media and this type of negative publicity could motivate people to make scapegoats out of them. And unfortunately, conditions in the economy, and the anger that triggers in the public, make our society ripe to chose an unpopular minority a scapegoat. Remember pre world war two Germany. I don't think this case scenero is too far fetched. Our values are so warped these days, and according to information that I garnered from the "Dr. Phil Show" small on-line hate groups against the obese are already forming.

Obesity today carries a stigma on par with mental illness, and neither group deserves such scorn and ridicule. These people are suffering, and like any other set of people who suffer a chronic condition they are a burden on the medical system, but they need compassion and not scorn. WJD (What would Jesus do)? Pray for a cure.