Personal responsibility

[Razor X]

I just finished watching a documentary about a 19-year-old girl in Britain whose weight soared to a massive 476 pounds.   She underwent gastric by-pass surgery because it was feared she wouldn't live much longer if she didn't get some weight off.  The documentary traced her journey over the course of a year.  She shed about 100 pounds during that time.

While I sympathize with her plight, the one thing that really struck me was that at different times throughout the program her mother and her older brothers all expressed feelings of anger because no counseling or help was ever offered to the girl when she was younger, before her weight spiraled out of control to the danger level.  My question is who do they think should have offered this counseling to her, and why do they think it was anybody's responsibility other than their own to get her the help she needed?   

Doesn't anybody take responsibility for their own actions anymore? 

[skinhead002]

Its fascinating and depressing isn't it-"I'm fat but it's not my fault' and the gov should have had a free program and entitlement for me or my family...."  Speaking of the word "fat", I was listening to some liberal talk show on AM as I was scanning the AM band on the Interstate during a vacation, and they would not say the word "fat" for fear of offending "*"weight challenged" folks.  So....you guessed it , fat became the "F" word-the adults slipped back to baby talk. When my radio first stopped on the station, I thought they were discussing profanity!  Yet another attack on the 1st Ad.

What I find so funny about obesity is the same thing I think is funny about personal saving and finance for we Americans.  The Internet and "education and empowerment" was supposed to be the fix.  Reoord numbers of us are now "empowered" and "enriched" yet we spen ourselves broke, are overweight, and now blame banks and mort. lenders for giving us too much money.  We cant control our own appetites for anything and we blame everyone.  This liberal culture and approach to "fixing" people is tearing our social fabric in half and our nation won't survive it.

[schro]

Fat is now the "F" Word? 

I've heard "person of substance" before but never the "F" Word.....crazy.

[Robmeister]

Doesn't anybody take responsibility for their own actions anymore? 

Nope !

That's why responsibility is slowly (quickly?) being replaced with "disorders"

If yer a self-centered condescending arrogant blowhard that uses others to your own selfish ends, instead of facing the music that yer just a grownup spoiled brat, you can now be diagnosed with "NPD" (Narcissistic Personality Disorder).

[Razor X]

... I was listening to some liberal talk show on AM  ...

Never do that, skinhead!! 

[Rob]

There's another programme on TV this week in UK about a guy who's even fatter.  Yeah: ya aint meant to use the word FAT any more, but what the hell are these people if they aint FAT?  It's their responsibility, no one elses.

Guess its just like the people who want to blame someone (tobacco companies) for smoking diseases, or drug pushers for turning people into junkies, or Mc D's for making them fat and unhealthy.  EVERYONE has their own choices to make in life.  EVERYONE has their own BRAIN to tell them what's best to do, an EVERYONE can suffer the consequences of their own STUPIDITY or IGNORANCE.

HOW can it be anyone elses FAULT but THEIR OWN?!   Can't parents tell when their children are getting overweight and unhealthy?  Here in UK parents tend to blame EVERYONE ELSE for their child's behaviour, be it health or size or whatever.  The GOVERNMENT, TEACHERS, POLICE, NEIGHBOURS, etc etc, all get the blame for how children are behaving, but hardly any parents seem to take the blame themselves.

[charlesh1609]

From grade school on up, via politically correct indoctrination thinking, we have raised entire generations of self-absorbed, delusional and dishonest idiots.  Think about it.  If you work with a female who is a habitual professional c**t, you cannot say "screw you, cupcake" without getting fired for sexual harassment, even if such harassment was the furthest thing from your mind.  As a result, you can't be honest.  Somewhere along the way, the constitution must have been amended.  Apparently, we now have the right to be free from discomfort, from real or perceived insult, and the right to ignore hard, inconvenient truths. 

Remember this?

MSN Tracking Image
  MSNBC.com
Doctor in trouble for calling patient fat
N.H. woman filed complaint; state attorney general asked to investigate
The Associated Press
updated 11:10 a.m. PT, Wed., Aug. 24, 2005

ROCHESTER, N.H. - As doctors warn more patients that they should lose weight, the advice has backfired on one doctor with a woman filing a complaint with the state saying he was hurtful, not helpful.

Dr. Terry Bennett says he tells obese patients their weight is bad for their health and their love lives, but the lecture drove one patient to complain to the state.

“I told a fat woman she was obese,” Bennett says. “I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.'"

He says he wrote a letter of apology to the woman when he found out she was offended.

Her complaint, filed about a year ago, was initially investigated by a panel of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, which recommended that Bennett be sent a confidential letter of concern. The board rejected the suggestion in December and asked the attorney general’s office to investigate.

Bennett rejected that office’s proposal that he attend a medical education course and acknowledge that he made a mistake.

Bruce Friedman, chairman of the board of medicine, said he could not discuss specific complaints. Assistant Attorney General Catherine Bernhard, who conducted the investigation, also would not comment, citing state law that complaints are confidential until the board takes disciplinary action.

The board’s Web site says disciplinary sanctions may range from a reprimand to the revocation of all rights to practice in the state.

“Physicians have to be professional with patients and remember everyone is an individual. You should not be inflammatory or degrading to anyone,” said board member Kevin Costin.

Other overweight patients have come to Bennett’s defense.

“What really makes me angry is he told the truth,” Mindy Haney told WMUR-TV on Tuesday. “How can you punish somebody for that?”

Haney said Bennett has helped her lose more than 150 pounds, but acknowledged that she initially didn’t want to listen.

“I have been in this lady’s shoes. I’ve been angry and left his practice. I mean, in-my-car-taking-off angry,” Haney said. “But once you think about it, you’re angry at yourself, not Doctor Bennett. He’s the messenger. He’s telling you what you already know.”
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9063638/
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© 2007 MSNBC.com

[JDog]

Its all very good and well for us to be on an internet forum and criticize and ridicule people who are morbidly obese. Many of these individuals did indeed bring it upon themselves by their own gluttony and laziness. However when someone weighs 700 lbs and has to be cut out of their own house because they cannot fit through the door and has not walked in 7 years, that spells something a lot deeper to me. These people do need our sympathy , I believe it is part of a deeper pychological problem.

I am shocked somewhat by people here and the very BLACK or WHITE views that some of you have.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

Morbid obesity is an illness, and like other illnesses can have multiple causes.  One observation about morbid obesity I saw on TV stuck w/ me, a patient observed that food was an addiction for him, and unlike alcoholic addiction, he couldn't avoid it all together.  He had to eat, but reasonably, to live.  But for him, the first bite could lead to gross excessive eating that was uncontrollable.  Most if not all the people here may have a few pounds, or maybe twenty-five, to shed and that seems to cause enough trouble.  Consider if you craved eating so bad that you couldn't stop--real addiction and consider further that once you were 100 or more pounds overweight you had to control what was undoubtably the central driving force of your existance. 
If it was simple to treat morbid obesity, it would be in the news so much.  If it was easy to loose five to twenty pounds, then losing 100 wouldn't be much harder.  We know all too well how hard it is to loose five pounds and keep it off, and we're not morbidly obese.  I concur with those who don't judge these people, I hope they can control the illness and that medical science comes up with something more to help them.

[SlySurfer]

Gastric-bypass is not the end all solution to obesity.
Just look at Al Roker and Carnie Wilson. They've packed on the pounds once again. I would think that would be life threatening.

[Razor X]

Its all very good and well for us to be on an internet forum and criticize and ridicule people who are morbidly obese. Many of these individuals did indeed bring it upon themselves by their own gluttony and laziness. However when someone weighs 700 lbs and has to be cut out of their own house because they cannot fit through the door and has not walked in 7 years, that spells something a lot deeper to me. These people do need our sympathy , I believe it is part of a deeper pychological problem.

I am shocked somewhat by people here and the very BLACK or WHITE views that some of you have.

Just to clarify, I wasn't judging this girl.  Clearly there is something wrong with her that is beyond her control to put on that amount of weight -- most of us couldn't do that it we tried.   I was just commenting on the attitude of her mothers and brothers that someone else is to blame for her predicament.  It's not the fault of the government, society or anyone else.  I do think the family could have done more to get help for her before things got so out of control.

[Razor X]

Gastric-bypass is not the end all solution to obesity.
Just look at Al Roker and Carnie Wilson. They've packed on the pounds once again. I would think that would be life threatening.

There's a woman at work who had the surgery, I think about two years ago now, and she's also put all of her weight back on.  She did lose some weight initially, but there was no dramatic transformation to a normal size.  I don't think she stuck with the diet.  And therein lies the problem.  The surgery can make it more difficult to consume vast quantities of food, but it doesn't address the reasons that the person was overeating in the first place, and that, I think is the key to solving the problem.

[PBurke]

i would have to use the word "EPIDEMIC" to describe it. i may catch flack for this but owell. PEOPLE NEED TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND REALIZE THAT THEY ARE FAT. EAT BETTER, MOVE MORE. HELL I NEED TO DO THIS MYSELF. BUT I WAS AT THE MALL TODAY AND IT WAS DISTURBING HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE OBESE. the culture here is centered around food. we talk about lunch over breakfast and dinner over lunch. all our food has rice and bread and grease and butter and all the other bad crap. really kinda scary. eating healthy seems so expensive. when you have extra mouths all the damn time. i do love my heritage and culture, but i feel it is time to change some parts of it. for health reasons.

[Josh_ua]

Interesting discussion guys, something that is sure becoming a problem in our world today. I think we as a people put a lot of value (maybe subconsciously) on instant gratification, and it's causing us some problems. 

As much as the blame falls on our own shoulders, the food industry isn't making it any easier. Portions are increasing dramatically to justify seemingly minuscule increases in prices. We're getting more and they're increasing their bottom line.

Also, the diet industry, out there as the "solution", is as interested in making a buck as anyone.

We've gotta change the way we see food in our lives. All too often it's wrongfully a source of pleasure (I'm guilty).

My two cents anyways!