As an obese American, I can tell you that we are as fat as we are NOT directly because they replaced sugar with High Fructose Corn Syrup and not because some 'establishment' is interested in making all of us fat and helpless, but because society in general seems to be gravitating toward being more insular while simultaneously telling us that it's OK to be overweight and that people should love us for who we are on the inside. This is complete and utter bullshit. The preceding statements, which are rife with opinion, shall be dissected below for those of you who require clarification and/or justification.
We, as a nation, are fat. Just about every news agency has been reporting on it for years, and it seems to be getting worse. High Fructose Corn Syrup (hereafter referred to as HFCS) is a contributing culprit, but not because of its composition, but because it is cheap and plentiful. We could go back and talk about the history of HFCS and how it came to be used in the U.S. because of our embargo of Cuban sugar, but I'm going to assume you have the ability to click the link or actually waste the 2 calories necessary to type it in the address box yourself.
The way I see it, the main contributing factor in the weight gain of the citizens of the U.S. is technology. Video games, Cable/Satellite TV, the internet, and the commonality of cell phones has created an environment where no one needs to leave the house to get anything done or to be entertained. DVD/Blu-Ray services like Netflix and food delivery services like Pink Dot help make it to where one could avoid venturing outside almost indefinitely. You have to leave the house to go to work though, right? Wrong. Telecommuting and videoconferencing have also begun to rise, enabling already insular people to lead even more isolated existences.
Facebook and MySpace have facilitated social networking to such a degree that one can have a vast array of socially and ethnically diverse friends without setting foot outside one's own home. Why make any real friends, when you can sit at home and show everyone the best (or best altered) photo of yourself and let them all think that is how you always look? Online society is a caricature of real life, where the extremes are even more extreme, and the lies are even more grandiose. This environment creates a complicated illusion that further encourages many to avoid physical interaction. It also can lead to low self-esteem.
To compound these factors, we are told by the media at large that exposure to the sun is bad for you. That's right, the same people that warned you that you're getting too fat are also warning you that exposing yourself to too much sunlight may cause cancer. Being outside is associated with greater cancer risk? Why would anyone want to do that?
The media does a lot more damage than that by sensationalizing the stories of sexual predators, which create fear in a vast majority who have no reason to be afraid. The parent of a child in California will hear on the news that a child in Florida became a victim of abuse, and will immediately lock their child away in the house, placating them with food and video games, without the realization that a lopsided majority of sexual abuse upon children is by a member of one's own family.
I was going to speak up about plus-sized models glorifying extra weight, but I realize that the alternative--super skinny, very unhealthy models like Kate Moss probably does MORE damage to girls' self-esteem in the long run. Hollywood's obsession with perfection (which bleeds into the populace from all directions) is more likely one of the greatest culprits in the propagation of people with eating disorders of all types. I mean, why even try to be fit, if on your best day you couldn't dare to approach the airbrushed goodness of the model in Playboy, or the supermodel on TV?
I say, go outside and play. Log onto your social network of choice and arrange a meeting with a friend for coffee. Take a trip. And whenever you feel that one more pizza slice will make you feel better? Put it down and call a friend.
