What Kevin Smith Can Teach Us About Obesity

You have probably seen reports about the ordeal that famed Hollywood talent Kevin Smith recently endured while trying to catch a Southwest Airlines flight. If you haven't, the short of it is this: He was kicked off the flight for being "too fat to fly." Smith, who is plugged into over a million people via Twitter, was brave and angry enough to take his case directly to the people, causing an outrage and forcing Southwest to scramble amid bad PR turmoil. This, of course, is a horrible experience for everyone involved. But there is a silver lining to the cloud. It caused people to stop, even momentarily, and empathize with the struggles facing the obese in everyday life.

As a practicing bariatric surgeon, I have counseled and operated on thousands of obese people who just want to live a normal life. I have seen firsthand how emotionally damaging the excess weight can be, on the person and his or her family. The "disgusted" stares they get when running errands, the shame and anxiety at a party, the discrimination they receive for who they are and how they look are, sadly, a common thread.

What most people don't realize is that a large percentage of morbidly obese people are that way because of genetics, and many of them don't eat much more than the average person. They usually have what is frequently called "the thrifty gene," or the ability to get more energy out of a single calorie than others. In the days of exploring the new frontiers of America, this gene would be a blessing, allowing those who posses it to sustain on very little. But in today's world, where high-fat and calorie-intense foods abound in almost every part of life, the thrifty gene isn't such a blessing anymore. Even people without it struggle with weight control and bad eating habits that are easily formed.

Now, Kevin Smith's incident may have provoked some empathy for the obese for a brief stint in our collective minds. But I ask that you, the average reader who probably struggles with weight in some capacity, take this moment as an opportunity to re-think how you judge those who are overweight. Do you gaze at the obese with a look of judgment? Do you avoid talking to them because it makes you feel uncomfortable? Do you make fat jokes or use them to justify why your extra 15 pounds aren't so bad after all?

If the answer is even slightly yes, I ask that you think about how difficult it is for you to hide your excess pounds and the uncomfortable feeling you get when you go swimming in public. Think about how hard it has been for you to lose that extra weight as you go from yo-yo diet to yo-yo diet only to end up like the overwhelming majority who do so -- back to your original weight and defeated at your attempts. Now imagine if you had that thrifty gene and carried 100 or more excess pounds. It's incredibly difficult and odds are it's probably not because you spent $30 every day at a fast food restaurant.

I applaud Mr. Smith for exposing the discrimination he must face in many parts of his life; it is no less dehumanizing than being judged for the color of skin, sexual preference, religious views or socioeconomic standing. While I am concerned at Southwest's approach to the situation, I hope that in some way this incident helps people everywhere stop and think before looking down on the obese, and perhaps encourages them to spend a moment empathizing with their struggles.