The media both makes us fat AND makes us feel guilty about it.

[PeaceForever]

This is such a pet peeve of mine. Remember the show Sex and the City for example? In almost every episode, Carrie would eat at McDonald's, wolf down Chinese food, and/or drink a bunch of lattes. Yet at the same time, her bodyfat is so low that she has abs showing!

In real life, I guarantee you that if you eat like Carrie, there's no way in hell you will be as thin as Sarah Jessica Parker (well, maybe if you run 5 to 10 miles a day, but that's not realistic for most people).

It's like that in so many TV shows. In real life the thin, in-shape actors and actresses eat a diet high in fruits and vegetables. Yet on TV, they consume junk food.

Then look at how fat people are made fun of. Watch the movie dodgeball or pretty much anything on Comedy Central for examples of that.

The media both influences us to be fat AND feel guilty about it.

[Systematic Chaos]

1. It's all part of the plan

How can America's TOTAL FARCE of a health care system keep making the lucky few richer if they don't keep us sick? Just THINK how much profit there would be in having ONE-THIRD of Americans become diabetic. That's exactly what is forecast for the not-too-distant future if current trends continue. A total sea change in our lifestyles could be accomplished in less than a generation, but where would the profit be in that?

[Nay]

2. The aim has always been to extract as much money from your

wallet as possible. Like so:

1. Advertise the hell out of all junk foods -- candy, pizza, McDonald's, etc. -- and make sure the ads and food are in every school, on every streetcorner, so that even little kids are not exempt from the barrage. This makes the stuff overwhelmingly attractive, so that even Mom's cooking is boring in comparison. Extract a ton of money this way.A corollary to this is to make Mom work all day, so she really doesn't feel like doing a second shift at home, and encourage Dad to consider cooking "girlie-man" stuff that he should have no responsibility for, even tho Mom has worked 45 hours that week, too.

2. Then, make sure that the culture has an unnaturally thin body standard for its members, and play with their heads by showing Sex in the City women eating like pigs and remaining stick-thin. This props up the billion-dollar diet industry and the clothing industry, which gladly sells you diets, diet food and pills, and clothing of several different sizes.

3. As you get older, as noted above, some fat-related diseases kick in. This has the effect of extracting more money for medical treatment, and also has the added benefit of killing you off early so they can take your retirement and SS money too.

4. Note that all through this miserable, shortened, guilty life of yours, the powers that be still get to extract a full day's (or more) work from you whether you are fit or fat. They will still complain that you, the fattie, are costing more money in illness than you should, but it's nothing compared to what they have extracted from you. So, they get the benefit of your work, your money, and then are rid of you when you are no longer useful.

[Baltimoreboy]

3. The media don't make you fat

If you eat too much, YOU make yourself too fat. Show some responsibility for your actions.

[PeaceForever]

4. LOL. Okay, that's true, but . . .

I highly recommend you take a marketing class sometime. If you advertise a product, it WILL increase the general public's use of that product. Sure the members of the general public have brains and can make a conscious choice not to use it, so we're just talking about group behavior on the margins here.

Right now the media is heavily promoting consumption of junk foods. It is also implicitly promoting the notion that junk foods aren't that bad. (Look at how thin Sarah Jessica Parker is, yet on her show she eats at McDonald's!!") As a result, that causes a higher percentage of the general public to consume junk foods than otherwise would.

[Bridget Burke]

5. This could be a problem for teenage (& younger) girls.

Bulemia & anorexia can be fatal.

Adults ought to be able to realize that TV is not reality. Sarah Jessica Parker doesn't buy her clothes at The Gap. Most NYC apartments aren't as big as the ones seen on Sex & The City. Etc., etc.

Don't feel bad for being bigger than Sarah Jessica Parker--I don't. But I've managed to avoid the XXXL department.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. Barbara Ehrenreich, in "Nickel and Dimed"

Discusses how difficult it is for poor people to get healthy food and to have access to opportunities to exercise. When you are working 2 or 3 minimum wage jobs to get by and you live in seedy motel/apartments with no cooking facilities, you are going to eat a lot of fast food and probably won't be able to join a fancy health spa. So it's no wonder that the poorer you are in the U.S., the fatter you are likely to be. It's absolutely appalling. But many in the middle and upper classes don't realize that and criticize the poor for their "bad" lifestyle choices.