The blame game, as played by McD's UK CEO
 

Hello Mr. Kettle

I think it's been said that exercise along with a decent diet can work, even with McDonald's.

Funny thing is, I never thought pointing fingers would work in this day and age. I don't believe games are the culprit. Hell, you might as well blame board games and fantasy game (DnD) for the same thing.

-Edit- More recently, our sedentary lifestyle is more to blame.

Dammit Krylo! I told you!

I addressed this recently, so rather than type it all back out, here's the link: http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpo...8&postcount=23 .


Honestly, diet and exercise work great, but saying fast food is perfectly good to have in the diet pretty much leaves it to exercise. You don't guzzle crystallized sugar and raw vegetable oil and expect to be healthy and thin unless you're either impossibly active or have a tape worm.

Blaming it on video games makes sense in that people are blaming everything on video games, but it still doesn't make them not flat-out wrong. Nothing happens in a bubble, but people hate admitting it because it doesn't allow them to displace personal responsibility.



Edit: At the edit in the OP:

I think this means exactly the opposite of what you have it listed as. ;)

I blame agriculture for obesity, personally. I mean, without agriculture, we couldn't support a large enough population to have so many people with physically inactive jobs. It not only allows us to be sedentary, but practically forces it.

That's it. We need to get rid of agriculture. Now. Even subsistence farming.

Neither games or fast food are really to blame, sure they don't help... but its a combination of factors culminating in a lack of moderation on most people's part.

Trying to pin down obesity in American culture, I believe, has less to do with the whole vidjagames/fast food/etc and more to do with the insistence upon 'more, more, more'. I'd link to YouTube and show you that music scene from the Brave Little Toaster, but you all know what I'm talking about.

I mean seriously this is the same culture that, when they came out with Super Size, everyone copied it. Same one that has TV Dinners that have zoomed-in proportions for box art.

That's just my thought, though, I haven't done any research to back it up yet.

Thinking of all the fat people I know in my entire life, and add in the times I've gained some weight in my entire life, it's always been due to lack of activity, not really what they/I ate.

That's not excusing healthy diets entirely. It's all about that calorie. Different people metabolize different amounts, but on average lazy people just ain't gonna burn much, and North Americans generally eat pretty well, so...Obesity isn't even that subtle or anything.

It doesn't matter what factor is more the problem, diet or obesity, in the end, it is still the person who lives a lifestyle and not the world that provides it that is to blame. McDonalds may sell burgers, but they don't cram them down your throat, and Nintendo may make games, but they don't tie you down to a chair with nothing to do but play games all day. If you're fat, then get up an exercise. Its your fault.

You might want to be careful with that, Mega. There are several untreatable diseases which result in obesity.

And I highly doubt that any of those diseases are cause by video games and Mickey D's in any combination.

I mean, I don't mean to sound insulting with this. I'm a bit overweight myself. If you're fat, that's cool. Just acknowledge that it isn't anyone else's fault.

That is, unless you do have one of those syndromes Runswithnopants was talking about. In that case, it really is tragic. But this isn't about fat caused by medical disorders, this is about fat caused by a poor choice of lifestyle.

It's also important to note the social factors that contribute to obesity, though- e.g. per calorie it's cheaper to buy junk food, so, ironically, poverty can breed fatness. Additionally:

1. Glucose-fructose is pumped into nearly every food you can pull off the aisle because corn syrup is subsidized and therefore a cheap way to flavour stuff.

2. Society is dependent on cars and depending on where you live it may be nigh impossible to get around without sitting in a vehicle.

3. There are more jobs that involve sitting around than there were in the past. (Well, I haven't looked for anything to back this up, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.)

4. People don't cook as much as they used to. If parents don't know how to cook their kids probably won't either. That is, the newer generation isn't really getting educated on nutrition.

5. There's a lot of misinformation about healthy lifestyles out there that's difficult to navigate. The worst culprit is probably diets.

Yes, if you sit around all day and eat burgers you shouldn't be wondering why you're fat. I feel it's important to realize this problem doesn't exist on just an individual level, however.