The Big Picture: Arch-Villains

[linwolf]

the hypocrisy in this video astounds me.

There really where no hypocrisy in this, he just told where he draw the line.
Allow me to give an exampled, I like fighting but I hate hurting people. So for me having a fist fight where both people are on board is good and a little blood and swollen nose never hurts. I have a clear line that the moment that a person goes down you help them up make sure that they are okay and then go separate way.

So I like fighting but hated beating people, there are no hypocrisy in it only what is fine and what isn't.

 

[Crazy_Bird]

You got a good point here. I personally believe that this is a typical American problem. Many Americans (mostly the less gifted ones) blame everyone and everything but themselves for their mistakes. Unfortunately this is somewhat supported by your court system and the ridiculous amounts of damages that were paid in some instances.


Btw: Ever heard about Social Darwinism? Be a little bit more careful with these evolution comparisons or you might end up in a severe ethical dilemma.

 

[bdcjacko]

Also, Ronald's face doesn't look like a dick, while Joe Camel's totally does.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Well that's fantastic. I'm not a big fan of McDonalds but you really can't really target the Ronald McDonald for doing his job right. Maccies have been marketing to youngsters for years now and it's not gonna change.

And with that marketing parents these days need to have a fucking backbone and assert some authority over their children. Of course it's hard to assert your authority when our police forces are are laughed at and teased for thrills and teachers can't do a thing but take verbal and sometimes physical abuse.

 

[theguiltyone]

You had me, MovieBob, as you usually do. Complete agreement.

Right up until you started dissing on Pirates again. Really? Again? Your life was made that much poorer by it existing and you sitting through it for a few hours?

Hopefully this crap ends by the time the next Transformer movie comes out and gives him something relevant to take potshots at again. This is getting old fast.

 

[MasterOfWorlds]

That guy who did the movie "Super Size Me" said a statement (I'm paraphrasing because it's been a while since I saw that movie) that sums up everything I think is wrong with the "fast food causes obesity" arguement: "At what point does personal accountability stop?"

Here's my answer: It doesn't.

YOU decided you wanted to have McDonald's
YOU decided to go get in your car and drive to that McDonald's.
YOU decided to go to the cashier or ordering thing at the drive through.
YOU decided to order a Big Mac and Large fries.
YOU decided to pay for that meal and then eat it all.
And YOU decided to do this over and over again.

And you know what? At any point during this process, you could have decided "You know what? I'll have a salad."

As for the "Kids whose parents feed them nothing but McDonald's" thing, I agree with Bob.

Good episode. Looking forward to next week.

Pretty much this. I completely agree with Bob on this one. I remember Joe Camel, but I never once thought it was cool, but then, my parents (both smokers) always told me never to even try a cigarette. It all comes down to the parents. Yes, it's cheap and easy, but that doesn't mean that you have to buy it. There are plenty of relatively cheap foods that aren't nearly as bad for you as fast food.

I used to eat fast food fairly regularly. I think that most college students do. Then I realized that I was gaining weight, so I started working out more and changed my diet. When you're more independent, like most college students are, you can make choices like that. When you're a child who depends solely on adults for transportation, shelter, food, and whatnot, you don't have that option.

 

[gillebro]

I think there might be a bit of a problem in your central argument that tobacco is bad for you whereas hamburgers dont cause obesity...unless consumed by excessive amounts. In the scientific world of toxicology everything is bad for you if consumed in excessive amounts. Smoking less than once in a week does not cause statistifically significant risk to life expectancy. Teaching kids to love McDonalds encourages bad habits that stick especially to the fat and the poor. Read that sentence again.

I call your episode to be a bit too filled with nostalgia.

Mostly agreeing with you, but just to let you know, being fat or poor does not make you more susceptible to acquiring bad habits. Being poor possibly makes the necessity to eat fast food (it being all some people can afford, and all) more prevalent, but that's all.

There is a stigma, a very noticeable one, that poor people and fat people are stupid. That's not the case (as in, seriously, believe me, it is SO not the case). In that same measure, being fat and poor does not make you more susceptible to acquiring certain (bad) habits.

Actually eating fast food (even regularly) doesn't make you fat. There's a guy in Wisconsin who has averaged two Big Macs a day for the last 39 years and doctors say he's actually in good shape. If you don't believe me http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110517/us_ac/8488959_25000_big_mac_gobbler_chews_holes_in_disciplined_dieting_1

Yeah, exactly. Being fat comes down to a lot of factors, like genes, and, well... genes. But other things too. It gets complicated. Surprisingly diet and exercise don't make that much of a difference. There've been studies on this.

 

[GamemasterAnthony]

Bob definitely has a point here. In regards to the problem with the fast food industry, Congress is really not going to have much of a choice but to address that particular elephant in the room. If they don't address the parents' role in all this, the problem is NOT going to go away any time soon if EVER. This is something that even parent rights' groups and advocacy groups have already stated since many of them have already come down on the parents for not becoming more involved in their kids' choices.

Actually, there IS some hope in this. When a woman tried to sue McDonalds for making her kid fat, the court immediately threw the case out on its merit. Obviously, the courts recognized how frivolous this lawsuit was since the mother didn't have to get McDonalds for her kid.

 

[Lordpils]

Loved your definition of natural selection!
I didn't know about this, it certainly is stupid. Enforce a parenting license and it's all fixed.

I wouldn't say "parenting license" I would be more inclined to encourage birth control and then give parents guidelines on how to properly raise children in a way where they will grow up psychologically and physically healthy, personal morals and teachings are up to the parent. However if your kid ends up being 200 pounds when he/she is 7 the state should take them away.
As A Side Note to terrible parents: "I don't tell you how to raise your kids!" is not a good argument, because while that might be true mine have never been arrested.

 

[Ukomba]

Bob is hard to pin down. He started off on libertarian stance, then switched to socialist, and ended on a conservative sounding slippery slope argument.

He's independent.

I'd believe that if he weren't so rabidly anti-right.

 

[bdcjacko]

Now I really want a burger and a smoke...is that bad?

 

[whaleswiththumbs]

That is what i have been saying for forever. And I'm still a year away from voting here. It isn't the kids who pay for this stuff, it is the parents/adults. So why can't you think of ways to control the parents from being complete morons instead of the restaurants from doing their business. Tell your little kid No and move on. I first realized that when i was about 14, and the rest of the world, it seems, hasn't even gotten close.

Or maybe it is that whole silent majority thing. Where almost everyone thinks that, but just go along with it because they don't know almost everyone else disagrees with the loudest person, and so they always go with them.

 

[Nimcha]

Mehh I'm never really too fond of people dragging natural selection into the personal responsibility argument. Natural selection doesn't really work on the kind of timescales we are familiar with (at least not for complex forms of life, bacteria and the like are different of course).

Like someone else said it could lead to thinking about things like Social Darwinism, but I don't think Bob goes that far. Furthermore, while 'stupid individuals remove themselves from the genepool' sounds nice it's not the only way natural selection works.

I do agree with the rest of the video though.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

When I saw "Arch villians" and "We have met the enemy, he is a clown" I would have guessed this was about the Joker. Oh well.

Anywho, mostly unthinking parents getting angry about choices having consequences, eh? Stupid is as stupid does, they say.

EDIT: Related, I'm pretty sure:

 

[Fanta Grape]

Great episode. I think you got into a pretty serious issue, looked at it from all sides and made a pretty solid decision on your part as to where you're at. No fence sitting from Bob, no sir

 

[itf cho]

I thought this episode was pretty much right on the money. Blame Ronald McDonald, instead of the parents who keep shoveling the stuff down their kids throat.

 

[Luthir Fontaine]

Whats a real killer for fast food is the fact its so damn easy. Cooking takes time, energy, and attention. Fast food you just ask for what you want and bam you get it

 

[Chrishu]

Great episode. I love it when you tackle the more realistic topics, oddly enough.

 

[portal_cat]

They pretty much killed Cookie Monster for supposedly making kids obese. He use to eat nothing but cookies. Since too many kids are fat because their dumb parent let them sit in front of the TV a eat too many cookies, they changed it so that 'cookie monster' says cookies are a sometimes food!

until the parents figure out this their fault we'll just keep on playing the blame game.

 

[Ancientgamer]

While I disagreed with a great number of things this episode (not the least of which putting natural selection as the beginning and end of society's moral obligation). I completely agree with your ultimate conclusion.