The War on Food
How Evil is that Cheeseburger?
By Daniel Muniz

Our cultural wars entered an entirely new theater when activists declared war on food. As a result, obesity in America has now become the next trendy crusade. Undoubtedly, being severely overweight is unhealthy and it should be treated as a serious health issue but the means to fight the battle of the bulge is beginning to raise eyebrows.

First of all, how is obesity defined?

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary actually has only one single entry for the word and it is:

A condition characterized by excessive bodily fat.

There is great debate as to where obesity actually begins as opposed to just being overweight. Many of the methods to measure body fat are not exactly precise and there is still quite a bit discussion on how to interpret the measurements especially if you are just a few pounds over what you should ideally weigh.

In addition, most people tend to identify “true” obesity as something that you know it when you see it while others view it as the absence of having the physique of a supermodel or a bodybuilder. But the real dilemma is that everything in between happens to characterize most of the American population. In other words, almost everybody is not consistently at their perfect weight.

As a result, many health activists insist that anyone who is overweight must be unhealthy even if you do not have morbid obesity. To the delight of the activists, the media is also portraying the entire country as being in a state of national crisis. And it is easy to proclaim such alarmism especially when such a loose and imprecise definitions are employed.

Accordingly, health officials now claim that obesity is now our nation’s next biggest threat. And it didn’t take long for politicians to jump on the bandwagon because they want their constituents to view them as engaged and involved as possible. Even school districts are beginning to implement plans to combat weight problems.

But in all honesty, I probably wouldn’t mind all the hoopla about the problem of being overweight if the focus was solely based on the two natural solutions. That is, eating right and exercising.

Unfortunately, the activists don’t see it that way.

To them, this is war and our nation is under siege by evil corporations who are hawking dangerous foods and beverages. Consequently, the struggle to fight obesity is now being compared to the battle with the tobacco industry. That is, the little guy up against the evil lying corporations.

In all fairness, Big Tobacco was irresponsible. It had a lot of political muscle along with plenty of supporters from both sides of the aisle in Capitol Hill. The tobacco companies and their supporters blatantly lied about a lot of things concerning cigarettes and its addictive nature. However, after the toll of massive lawsuits and the implementation of reform (like warning labels), Big Tobacco is now blunt about the dangers of smoking so that today it has truly become an issue of personal responsibility and individual freedom instead of one of deception.

But the problem with the obesity activists, just like that of the anti-smoking crowd, is that all of their solutions are void of personal responsibility. In fact, their only remedies solely consist of governmental intervention instead of changes of personal behavior from the individual. It is almost as if good diet and exercise do not exist while the only villains are the corporations that make the junk food and operate the fast food chains. Without personal responsibility, then the individual is not to blame at all.

And that is exactly how the obesity activists want the issue to be framed; reminiscent of the war on smoking. And the nation’s trial lawyers see big money to be made out of suing huge retail chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and a host of others. Just like the tobacco settlements, attorneys are plotting ways to dig into the deep pockets of the companies that sell food.

In addition, not everybody in the country smokes but every person eats food and drinks a beverage, thus there is almost and endless supply of villains to demonize and sue. But that in itself is the major difference between food and tobacco, which may very well be the undoing of the obesity activists.

Even with all of its nutritional faults, a cheeseburger does something that a cigarette won’t do. It keeps you alive for the next day which is the point that activists miss. They still insist that eating cheeseburgers will eventually kill you over the course of time much like the way cigarettes will.

And that is where the battle may very well end.

Everybody needs to food to eat and the moment that trial lawyers, obesity activists, and governmental officials cross the line into the absurd, the general public will rebel. And that is because food is sacred. We all need it, even if some of it is junk, we must still have it in order to survive.

Take away my food and that becomes worse than taking away my right to vote. And that absurdity is what will mark the end of the obesity activists.

But for the time being, the war on food will continue, especially as long as certain activists are able to take swipes at big corporations.

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