Some skinny, socialist thrall from Folsom, Louisiana, wrote a letter to the Times-Picayune last Saturday expressing his concerns about the stubborn American crisis of obesity.
His primary target: a $50M advertising campaign promoting some double bacon cheeseburger. While noting that personal responsibility is an important part of our lives, he remained convinced that $2B spent annually on advertising by fast food joints has more influence over our food choices than we do and makes us fatty-fattersons.
This is what made the ol' jaw drop (emphasis mine):
"If personal responsibility is to stand up to TV, radio, and billboards
enticing us to consume more food than any society on earth, does
government have any role to play? Why is a 32-ounce soft drink
cheaper than a 12-ounce bottle of water? Why is a hamburger cheaper than an
apple?
"Sometimes company profits begin to undermine the citizens and
government steps in to balance things out. It's time to begin that
process."
This, my friends, could be the future of this once-free land of ours. And fools like this guy, who want to hand the reins to every breath we take over to a centralized government, are the biggest threat to our few remaining freedoms that are tenuously holding on by a fingernail. He actually believes that bureaucrats know what's best for us! The vast majority of bureaucrats are not experts in their fields -- they're civil servants with cushy, tenured jobs and juicy benefits. I am not willing to give them imprimatur over yet another facet of my decision-making. You shouldn't be, either.
The hubby points out how regulation and taxation have almost broken the tobacco industry (Disclaimer: neither of us is a smoker -- although we are proud, hard-fought ex-smokers and he indulges in the occasional cigar). So, his theory to shore up the tobacco industry and prevent folks from gaining any more weight is to require all obese citizens to take up smoking. We all know that smoking is an appetite suppressant, right -- sounds like a plan to me. (I guess we have to make sure they smoke only tobacco and not cannabis, though. The influence on appetite by cannabis tends to be a little on the other side of the suppressant spectrum! Or so I'm told.)
Give government bureaucrats more control over our food choices, my pudgy little foot. Doesn't this guy remember that bacon is a basic food group?!?!
That guy shops at the wrong place. I get a whole bag of apples for the price of a Big Mac.
ReplyDeleteAh, I only wish I could get me a lil bit of this "obesity crisis." The current occupant of El Casa Móvil De Pennington is still walking around looking like a Biafran refugee or a just-liberated inmate of Bergen-Belsen (choose your own analogy: I'm freakin' SKINNY). No amount of beer or cheezeburgers seem to have any effect, alas.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the effects of corporate advertising... :D
It always amazes me how these "don't tell me what to do with my body" liberals always have their nose up somebody else's butt. A liberal's business is nobody's business, but everybody's business is a liberal's business.
ReplyDelete