On Sat, 05 Oct 2013 11:37:19 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 01/10/2013 5:00 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> "Fat Albert" is a counterexample.  OK, it was a cartoon, but still.
>>
>>
> This may be a cultural thing. In the UK about that time, fat or over
> weight was seen to be a sign of greed, gluttany or self/over indulgence.
> When I reached 210 lb at 5' 10" I was shocked into going on a crash
> diet.

Well, yeah - but we also have causes that aren't due to overeating, but 
the stigma is still applied to those who have other issues.

The result is that there are lots of people here who don't know enough to 
mind their own business.  Many people feel the need to comment - directly 
- to people they don't know about their weight.

>> That still doesn't strike me as "data" though.
> 
> It is not, be a climate change denier, if you will. :-P

LOL

>> Hollywood makes intentional choices (most of the time) for reasons. 
>> That they didn't show any overweight people (or rarely did) just means
>> that they made that choice, not that overweight people didn't exist.
> 
> The choice being that it was not acceptable to show fat (or unattractive
> people) as being normal.

Except that in many cases, they /are/ normal.  It's not really for others 
to judge - just like people who get angry at those who have no *apparent* 
disability parking in handicapped spaces.  We don't get to ask them for 
their whole health history to determine if they meet our expectations for 
someone who should or shouldn't have one of the mirror hangers that lets 
them park there.

As much as we here in America want health care decisions to be between 
doctor and patient, our current system has insurance companies there, and 
a large proportion want to stick their noses in others' medical business.

> It is often said that we are about 30 to 50 years behind the states.
> That gap is closing rapidly.

Perhaps so.

Jim

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