Obesity is a hot topic in America right now. Both Radley Balko’s, article “What you eat is your business” and Michela Hobbes “ Everything you know about obesity is wrong” discusses the issue of obesity and propose an idea of how we as a society should solve it. Michael Hobbes stresses that how we are going about fighting obesity is completely wrong and is fueled by cultural ideas. Hobbes states that the medical community’s way to fight obesity is to “blame fat people for being fat.’ His argument is that being fat is not a medical problem but being healthy is this a point that needs emphasizing since so many people still believe weight and health are directly related. Radley Balko does not discuss whether it is a medical problem, however, he speaks about the obesity of these people to be synonymous with the health care costs.
Balko does argue that the government has no business intervening with this health issue because it is caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. Michael Hobbes makes the point that these programs by the government do not help with obesity but help with the heath of the country. He talks about health programs in schools, they have shown to have no impact on children’s weight but have benefited them by exercising more and watching less TV. So, these children may be healthier but they did not lose any weight. Radley Balko argues that these programs just decrease the accountability of the individual then puts the responsibility of teaching healthy living on the schools rather than the parent. Michael Hobbes, main point is to change our “shitty attitude towards fat people” saying that if we change our what healthy looks like it will lead to a much healthier society that sees fruit and vegetables and health rather than skinny as healthy.
Radley Balko seems to agree with the point about staying healthy however he instead focuses’ on the responsibility of the individual to stay healthy. He argues that the millions of dollars being spent by the government on obesity are being wasted because people will not change eating habits unless they choose too. “Instead of manipulating or intervening in the array of food options available to American consumers, our government ought to be working to foster a sense of responsibility for our own health.” Balko claims that this manipulation by the government when it comes to health makes us less responsible for our own health, therefore, makes it easier to be unhealthy. He thinks a solution to this problem is to let insurance companies reward healthy lifestyles. Balko himself writes “We’ll all make better choices about diet, exercise, and personal health when someone else isn’t paying for the consequences of those choices.”
Hobbes might agree with the insurance program because he discusses a program in Massachusetts gave an extra 30 cents for every dollar food stamp recipients spent on healthy foods. In Balko’s view the incentive program just takes away from the individual motivation to eat healthily and makes it the responsibility of the government. Both Balko and Hobbes make the argument that health is important while they may have different ways of going about how to implement healthy lifestyles they both mention that fruit, vegetables, and exercise are important. Both Balko and Hobbes agree that if people are overweight it is their own business and no one else should be trying to get them to change. In an interview between Hobbes and a woman named Lenham the woman says “We all have to do our best with the body that we have, And leave everyone else’s alone.” Ultimately what’s at stake here is the health of our community and both Radley Balko and Michael Hobbes agree that living a healthy lifestyle is important.
