Do you think that people outside of the USA are catching up on fatness?

[Vanilla ISIS]

I think that obesity can be used to measure how well the economy of a particular country is doing.
You don't see an abundance of fat people in impoverished countries, you see them in places like North America and UK, where the resources are plentiful and the standard of life in relatively high on average.
The richer a country gets, the larger the number of fat people in that country, that's why the problem of obesity is so visible in the US.
China will probably have problems with obesity in the upcoming decades, now that their economy is doing well.

Despite what many people are saying, times have never been better for humanity, that's why the number of obese people is so high.
671 million worldwide, according to the link in the OP, which is insane.
That means that 1 in every 11 people on the planet is a fat fuck (and that's not counting all those who are overweight but don't qualify as obese, which isn't healthy either).

Also, since I'm kind of a health freak and I keep my body strong, fit and healthy, it makes me feel better about myself in terms of physical attractiveness

Well, eating healthy and having the time and money to workout and be active is a luxury.

Not really.
I work full time for minimum wage in the UK at the moment and I can afford it.
Healthy food isn't expensive if you buy in bulk and make all of your own meals and you can work out at home for free.
Most people are just too lazy to learn how to cook, research a proper workout routine and diet and then stick to them.

 

[Erttheking]

Well, eating healthy and having the time and money to workout and be active is a luxury.

Not really.
I work full time for minimum wage in the UK at the moment and I can afford it.
Healthy food isn't expensive if you buy in bulk and make all of your own meals and you can work out at home for free.
Most people are just too lazy to learn how to cook, research a proper workout routine and diet and then stick to them.

Hey. Emphasis mine. Some countries have problems the UK doesn't. But sure, label tens of millions of people as lazy because you were able to get it to work. You do know what anecdotal evidence is, right?

 

[Baffle]

I think that obesity can be used to measure how well the economy of a particular country is doing.
You don't see an abundance of fat people in impoverished countries, you see them in places like North America and UK, where the resources are plentiful and the standard of life in relatively high on average.

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/29-most-obese-countries-in-the-world.html

The US economy is doing somewhat worse than Tonga's then.

 

[Vanilla ISIS]

Some countries have problems the UK doesn't. But sure, label tens of millions of people as lazy because you were able to get it to work.

I'm originally from Poland. Our economy is generally shit thanks to the Nazi and Soviet occupations in the 20th century.
Still, even there, my mom could afford healthy food, even though I grew up in a ghetto without a father.
Everyone who is reading and posting in this topic can afford healthy food, I'm willing to bet money on it.
Even people who make more than me make the same excuse of not having enough time/money to live and eat healthy.
There are homeless people who mange to be ripped and eat properly because they work out in the street instead of just sitting and doing nothing and they spend all the change they get and government assistance on good food and not booze/weed.
Quit any addictions which cost you money, walk to more places instead of driving, don't buy completely unnecessary pieces of technology, don't upgrade your technology just because an upgrade is available, don't waste money accumulating a giant backlog of games (a lot of which you'll never get around to play).
I guarantee you that most people waste more money than they require to afford a healthy diet.

The US economy is doing somewhat worse than Tonga's then.

Tonga supposedly has decent tourism all year round so perhaps they're dong well, at least to the point of food being available to everyone.

 

[Erttheking]

Some countries have problems the UK doesn't. But sure, label tens of millions of people as lazy because you were able to get it to work.

I'm originally from Poland. Our economy is generally shit thanks to the Nazi and Soviet occupations in the 20th century.
Still, even there, my mom could afford healthy food, even though I grew up in a ghetto without a father.
Everyone who is reading and posting in this topic can afford healthy food, I'm willing to bet money on it.
Even people who make more than me make the same excuse of not having enough time/money to live and eat healthy.
There are homeless people who mange to be ripped and eat properly because they work out in the street instead of just sitting and doing nothing and they spend all the change they get and government assistance on good food and not booze/weed.
Quit any addictions which cost you money, walk to more places instead of driving, don't buy completely unnecessary pieces of technology, don't upgrade your technology just because an upgrade is available, don't waste money accumulating a giant backlog of games (a lot of which you'll never get around to play).
I guarantee you that most people waste more money than they require to afford a healthy diet.

The US economy is doing somewhat worse than Tonga's then.

Tonga supposedly has decent tourism all year round so perhaps they're dong well.

I remark that you use anecdotal evidence. You follow up with...even more anecdotal evidence.

If this topic made up the entirety of the first world, that point would be relevant. But neither are the case.

Yeah, there are. The majority don't. That's what happens when so many of them literally eat garbage.

With addictions being notorious for how easy they are to drop. And for many people, walking isn't an option. Don't upgrade, don't spend money on a backlog of games? Oh yeah that's a real working class problem.

Its almost like being perfectly strict and unwavering with spending money is not how most people act in the world

 

[CyanCat47_v1legacy]

Too bad there's no solution to that within the bounds of capitalism.

Could be worst, only alternatives have shown themselves to have the opposite problem: everyone's too thin because there isn't enough food.

While it isn't ideal, I'd rather live in the capitalist world where we have people eating too much over the socialist one where people can't get enough to stay properly nourished.

Hell we could just take notes from Japan, a capitalist nation that in many ways goes a few steps further then the US yet has one of the healthiest populations in the world. Hell, its existence disproves the claim one can't solve with problem in a capitalist system when you think about it.

Japan is a very different system to the US, with a different mentality. The US mentality, which is the most exported mentality in the world, includes making increasingly bigger products. It may be a stereotype, but as a capitalist system, the american ideal is to be able to afford increasingly bigger and better things as you work your way up, and to make your own choices. In this case i don't think the US can successfully mimic Japan

 

[Vanilla ISIS]

If this topic made up the entirety of the first world, that point would be relevant. But neither are the case.

Yeah, there are. The majority don't. That's what happens when so many of them literally eat garbage

This topic is about people getting fatter on average, which is almost exclusively a privilege of countries with good economies.
Fatness epidemics don't exist in countries where people have to eat garbage to stay alive so there's no need to mention those countries in this particular discussion.
None of us here lives in a country like that either (because people living there have better things to do than visiting gaming websites).

With addictions being notorious for how easy they are to drop.

It requires consistent effort for long periods of time so of course it's hard for most people.
Learning how to resist something is like learning anything else, you keep trying and not quit despite your failures and in time, you'll get there.

And for many people, walking isn't an option.

Maybe to work it isn't but when it comes to other things such as buying groceries, going on dates or other appointments, taking a walk instead of the bus/car not only saves money but also keeps a person healthier.

Don't upgrade, don't spend money on a backlog of games? Oh yeah that's a real working class problem.

Who do you think buys all those new iPhones and Samsung Galaxies, consoles and games? The aristocracy?
It's mostly members of the working class who are wasting their money on those things instead of buying healthy food.

Its almost like being perfectly strict and unwavering with spending money is not how most people act in the world

And that is their fault, not anyone else's (maybe their parents' fault a bit as well).

 

[Erttheking]

If this topic made up the entirety of the first world, that point would be relevant. But neither are the case.

Yeah, there are. The majority don't. That's what happens when so many of them literally eat garbage

This topic is about people getting fatter on average, which is almost exclusively a privilege of countries with good economies.
Fatness epidemics don't exist in countries where people have to eat garbage to stay alive so there's no need to mention those countries in this particular discussion.
None of us here lives in a country like that either (because people living there have better things to do than visiting gaming websites).

With addictions being notorious for how easy they are to drop.

It requires consistent effort for long periods of time so of course it's hard for most people.
Learning how to resist something is like learning anything else, you keep trying and not quit despite your failures and in time, you'll get there.

And for many people, walking isn't an option.

Maybe to work it isn't but when it comes to other things such as buying groceries, going on dates or other appointments, taking a walk instead of the bus/car not only saves money but also keeps a person healthier.

Don't upgrade, don't spend money on a backlog of games? Oh yeah that's a real working class problem.

Who do you think buys all those new iPhones and Samsung Galaxies, consoles and games? The aristocracy?
It's mostly members of the working class who are wasting their money on those things instead of buying healthy food.

Its almost like being perfectly strict and unwavering with spending money is not how most people act in the world

And that is their fault, not anyone else's (maybe their parents' fault a bit as well).

*Looks at list of most obese countries in the world* So we're just slightly ahead of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Libya is more obese than Canada, and Australia, and Qatar, Kuwait beat out even the United States. I really don't think success as an economy is a good measuring stick for obesity. And dude, why do you keep talking about the average eating habits of the Escapist like it matters?

Well that's a nice sounding sentiment, I think the number of people who die yearly from lung cancer (Around a hundred thousand) show it isn't a particularly realistic one.

No, not even then. Particularly when it comes to situations such as inclimate weather.

This crazy little thing called the middle class, ever hear of it? Oh, it's mainly the working class? Got a citation on that one?

I'd say it's more a very human thing. Everyone does it. If you say you don't, sorry, I don't believe you.

 

[McElroy]

label tens of millions of people as lazy because you were able to get it to work. You do know what anecdotal evidence is, right?

It doesn't matter what we call them since it's a negative trait each and every time. Could be laziness, ignorance, apathy, stupidity, an unhealthy mind, addictions... Unless one has a malfunctioning thyroid they can lose weight.

OT: Yeah. Then again America brought us Subway, which is a much healthier alternative. Though they are annoyingly expensive where I live. A full sub costs about the same as a Chinese lunch buffet or all-you-can-eat pizza. Also, don't touch the chicken.

 

[TrulyBritish]

label tens of millions of people as lazy because you were able to get it to work. You do know what anecdotal evidence is, right?

It doesn't matter what we call them since it's a negative trait each and every time. Could be laziness, ignorance, apathy, stupidity, an unhealthy mind, addictions... Unless one has a malfunctioning thyroid they can lose weight.

OT: Yeah. Then again America brought us Subway, which is a much healthier alternative. Though they are annoyingly expensive where I live. A full sub costs about the same as a Chinese lunch buffet or all-you-can-eat pizza. Also, don't touch the chicken.

I like subway alright, I just can't get over how every Subway shop smells of death.

 

[Zontar]

[

Yeah, because that would never work, but we could totally copy Japan's capitalist system. Oh wait, no we couldn't, because if we were to copy Japan's capitalist system it would violate god knows how many labor laws here in the US.

That's actually a good question, how many labour laws in the US would that violate given the dystopia Yankee socialists keep trying to paint the palce as.

Also civic pride and national pride aren't the same thing, sorry to runny your forced attempt to be snarky.

Well in Japan it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, though given the attitude towards civic nationalism (equating it to ethno nationalism for some reason) by the American left as of late, it's easy to understand why the confusion exists.

Japan is a very different system to the US, with a different mentality. The US mentality, which is the most exported mentality in the world, includes making increasingly bigger products. It may be a stereotype, but as a capitalist system, the american ideal is to be able to afford increasingly bigger and better things as you work your way up, and to make your own choices. In this case i don't think the US can successfully mimic Japan

Yeah we can agree that Japan and America have vastly differing mentalities. It's the reason why European style universal health care wouldn't actually be cheaper or more effective for the US then its current system, namely the fact that unlike the rest of us not enough Americans take responsibility for their health. As Kraut and Tea pointed out in his video on national responsibility, you can't have a system where everyone needs to pitch in work if half of those using it aren't pitching in.

 

[Erttheking]

[

Yeah, because that would never work, but we could totally copy Japan's capitalist system. Oh wait, no we couldn't, because if we were to copy Japan's capitalist system it would violate god knows how many labor laws here in the US.

That's actually a good question, how many labour laws in the US would that violate given the dystopia Yankee socialists keep trying to paint the palce as.

Also civic pride and national pride aren't the same thing, sorry to runny your forced attempt to be snarky.

Well in Japan it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, though given the attitude towards civic nationalism (equating it to ethno nationalism for some reason) by the American left as of late, it's easy to understand why the confusion exists.

Japan is a very different system to the US, with a different mentality. The US mentality, which is the most exported mentality in the world, includes making increasingly bigger products. It may be a stereotype, but as a capitalist system, the american ideal is to be able to afford increasingly bigger and better things as you work your way up, and to make your own choices. In this case i don't think the US can successfully mimic Japan

Yeah we can agree that Japan and America have vastly differing mentalities. It's the reason why European style universal health care wouldn't actually be cheaper or more effective for the US then its current system, namely the fact that unlike the rest of us not enough Americans take responsibility for their health. As Kraut and Tea pointed out in his video on national responsibility, you can't have a system where everyone needs to pitch in work if half of those using it aren't pitching in.

Nice try to deflect. And the answer is, not as many as you think. But you weren't talking about that so let's stay on topic.

We're not Japanese. So can you stay on topic and stop trying to deflect by taking pot shots at the left? I'm starting to think it's the only string to your bow.

 

[Zontar]

Nice try to deflect. And the answer is, not as many as you think. But you weren't talking about that so let's stay on topic.

Alright then moving back to the topic, why do you think mass starvation under a socialist system is better then there being too many people who are overweight?

 

[Erttheking]

Nice try to deflect. And the answer is, not as many as you think. But you weren't talking about that so let's stay on topic.

Alright then moving back to the topic, why do you think mass starvation under a socialist system is better then there being too many people who are overweight?

...are the people who hate me on this website incapable of arguing without using straw man and loaded questions?

 

[Zontar]

Nice try to deflect. And the answer is, not as many as you think. But you weren't talking about that so let's stay on topic.

Alright then moving back to the topic, why do you think mass starvation under a socialist system is better then there being too many people who are overweight?

...are the people who hate me on this website incapable of arguing without using straw man and loaded questions?

Is it really a strawman when socialism is currently the only alternative to capitalism that's being pushed by a noteworthy number of people and it's also a system that leads to starvation (amongst other things that make capitalism better objectively by comparison) when it's anything more then a small amount being sustained off a capitalist economy?

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

More like it's a strawman because I never said a single fucking thing about my opinion on socialism in this thread. Ergo, strawman.

You always fucking do this.

 

[Zontar]

Snip

More like it's a strawman because I never said a single fucking thing about my opinion on socialism in this thread. Ergo, strawman.

You always fucking do this.

You've made your political stance pretty clear in the past, and unless you're going to specify some niche thing most of us have never heard of, we all know what you're talking about when it comes to what should replace capitalism, because it's what everyone means when they say it.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

Yeah, and if my past political stance had anything to do with what we were talking about, you might be onto something. But it doesn't. I never said a fucking word about replacing capitalism. I repeat what I said. You ALWAYS fucking do this!

 

[Trunkage]

Nice try to deflect. And the answer is, not as many as you think. But you weren't talking about that so let's stay on topic.

Alright then moving back to the topic, why do you think mass starvation under a socialist system is better then there being too many people who are overweight?

Since we are going whole hog on oversimplification of the issue - why do you think mass starvation under social system is better than capitalism which severely underplays for recourse by setting up dictators to kill the populace or force them into labour. Oh and there's lots of starvation too.