MPs want to make ''obese/fatty'' a hate crime

It's like smoking: yes you can do it, but we won't put up with it, and it should certainly NOT be encouraged. Making calling people fat a hate crime would imply being fat is ok.

It is NOT OK. Smoking is not ok either. Not caring about the health of one's country is not ok. Wasting precious money while in debt and recession is not ok.

You can't help being black, gay, disabled or old. You most likely CAN help being fat.

P.S.: This is indeed extremist, but I will say it anyway: Supermarkets such as Sainsbury's should ban a lot of the junk food they sell as "normal" - the fat and sugar ridden crappy ****e.

And what happens to people's liberty, their right to choose how to live their lives?

Just because you don't agree with smoking or being fat, that makes it wrong?

And as for the banning of junk food, what about me? 25% of what I eat is junk food. I also exercise daily and as a result I am pretty much the perfect BMI for my height and weight. I'm not fat and even if I was that doesn't give anyone the right to take away (no pun intended) the food that I like.

Reply 21

Flying Cookie

19

Original post by Kenocide

And what happens to people's liberty, their right to choose how to live their lives?

Just because you don't agree with smoking or being fat, that makes it wrong?

And as for the banning of junk food, what about me? 25% of what I eat is junk food. I also exercise daily and as a result I am pretty much the perfect BMI for my height and weight. I'm not fat and even if I was that doesn't give anyone the right to take away (no pun intended) the food that I like.

As I said, they CAN be fat, we just shouldn't encourage or defend their fatness.

Yes you can eat the occasional crap, but have you SEEN the supermarkets? Even food perceived as healthy such as broccoli dishes and cereal contain loads of saturated fat and sugar. Skinny people like you and me shouldn't fool themselves. Sat fat may not make you visibly obese, but it will silently clog your arteries and lead to some nasty diseases further down the line.

Reply 22

Kenocide

11

Original post by Flying Cookie

As I said, they CAN be fat, we just shouldn't encourage or defend their fatness.

Yes you can eat the occasional crap, but have you SEEN the supermarkets? Even food perceived as healthy such as broccoli dishes and cereal contain loads of saturated fat and sugar. Skinny people like you and me shouldn't fool themselves. Sat fat may not make you visibly obese, but it will silently clog your arteries and lead to some nasty diseases further down the line.

You haven't responded to my point though.

Yeah, junk food is bad for you, everyone knows that. Why does that give you the right to ban it from supermarkets and remove my freedom to choose to eat it?

I reserve the right to choose to have my arteries 'silently clogged', resulting in some 'nasty diseases'. Just because eating junk food is detrimental to my health it doesn't give you the right to deny my right to eat it regardless.

Reply 23

Dez

20

Original post by Muscovite

fat people disgust me with their sense of entitlement. I'm sorry but i would say that less than 1% of fatties are fat due to a 'medical/mental condition'. They are just greedy fat pigs. And they are a drain on the NHS when their overloaded tickers get all BurgerKinged out. They are quite jolly though.

Indeed, how dare overweight people demand to be treated like human beings? How can they possibly justify not wanting to be humiliated on the street? It's just greedy, clearly they should accept their role in society and allow themselves to be publicly flogged. :rolleyes:

Anyway, bullying is a serious problem and anything the government does to make it harder for bullies to get away with taunting people, the better. No-one deserves to be bullied, for any reason, anywhere. Just as there's no excuse for being overweight, there is no excuse for being an arrogant ****.

Reply 24

Flying Cookie

19

Original post by Kenocide

You haven't responded to my point though.

Yeah, junk food is bad for you, everyone knows that. Why does that give you the right to ban it from supermarkets and remove my freedom to choose to eat it?

I reserve the right to choose to have my arteries 'silently clogged', resulting in some 'nasty diseases'. Just because eating junk food is detrimental to my health it doesn't give you the right to deny my right to eat it regardless.

Freedom is freedom as long as it doesn't detrimentally affect anyone else. Smoking is fine, but getting it banned in public places is the right thing to do. Eating bad food is fine, but banning foods considered unsafe is the right thing to do. The UK has already banned many ingredients deemed unsafe to eat. Yes you can travel to a third world country and ingest it anyway, but as a country, as a people, and as a culture, we must protect people from detrimental factors. Most people do not choose to eat food BECAUSE of its fat and sugar content, so clearly imposing limits on that isn't going to upset anyone.

Not to mention that eating junk food is not a matter of limited personal lifestyle because it vastly affects other people and society at large, in the form of expenses to treat the ill, etc.

Reply 25

TheJ0ker

11

Original post by Kenocide

You haven't responded to my point though.

Yeah, junk food is bad for you, everyone knows that. Why does that give you the right to ban it from supermarkets and remove my freedom to choose to eat it?

I reserve the right to choose to have my arteries 'silently clogged', resulting in some 'nasty diseases'. Just because eating junk food is detrimental to my health it doesn't give you the right to deny my right to eat it regardless.

Why should taxpayers have to pay for your medical bills if you have heart problems then? You chose to eat that food knowing the risks.

Reply 26

pr0view

10

Original post by Muscovite

fat people disgust me with their sense of entitlement. I'm sorry but i would say that less than 1% of fatties are fat due to a 'medical/mental condition'. They are just greedy fat pigs. And they are a drain on the NHS when their overloaded tickers get all BurgerKinged out. They are quite jolly though.

Bullied by a fat kid? Lol just joking i agree most are just lazy and try to make us believe that they are struggling as much as people fighting cancer.

Reply 27

Movingforward

8

I tell you what hit the nail on the head for me:

We spent 15k putting a lift in for someone that was so fat they'd not been upstairs for 30 years. IF THEY HAVEN'T GONE UPSTAIRS FOR 30 YEARS THEY'RE OBV NOT THAT BOTHERED!!!!

We spend millions on specialist ambulances to carry their massive carcasses to hospital when their organs finally start to fail after years of misuse.

We spend millions on providing care for people too fat to get out of bed (and maintainng their 5000kcal per day diets) and keeping them in the same state.

But we can't afford some cancer drugs.

Sorry you have cancer but we've spent your NHS contributions on feeding people deep fried chocolate cake and pork pie because they have a right to choose how they live!? So the NHS then chooses which people live and die?

Reply 28

username540512

13

Whale, whale, whale. What do we have here.

Reply 29

username458263

9

Wow. This is a very vitriolic thread.

I agree that there is no way that use of the words "fat" and "obese" should be considered a hate crime, but maybe show a bit more sympathy and a bit less disgust?

Reply 30

concubine

17

Original post by Muscovite

fat people disgust me with their sense of entitlement. I'm sorry but i would say that less than 1% of fatties are fat due to a 'medical/mental condition'. They are just greedy fat pigs. And they are a drain on the NHS when their overloaded tickers get all BurgerKinged out. They are quite jolly though.

tru dat

Unless someone is actually harassing another (e.g. following them around insulting them continuously) it should be fine to say whatever the **** you want to anyone. If someone takes something too seriously and gets offended, **** them.

Yes. Even if racist idiots want to use naughty racial slurs.

Reply 31

username458263

9

Original post by TheJ0ker

Why should taxpayers have to pay for your medical bills if you have heart problems then? You chose to eat that food knowing the risks.

Why should taxpayers have to pay for your medical bills if you injure yourself rock climbing then? You chose to climb that route knowing the risks.

Because we're humans. Sometimes we do stupid things or make mistakes, but we look out for each other.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 32

Didierr

Fat people shouldn't be bullied :frown:

they've got enough on their plate :tongue:

Reply 33

uktotalgamer

13

I'm sorry but in which way would this be beneficial.

I don't hate on those that are overweight, nor do I despise them, or even dislike them. However, they need to know. Surely it's motivation to be called fat. It's a nasty word. Who want's to be called fat? I don't understand this at all. It's another step taken to make being fat acceptable and normal.

Reply 34

abc:)

22

I get the fatty thing, I guess, I mean you shouldn't really take the piss out of anyone, however obese is not a derogatory name it is a medical condition and some people ARE obese!!! Also race and sexuality come under a completely different category to obesity, you can't CHANGE your race but you can lose weight

Reply 35

Kenocide

11

Original post by Flying Cookie

Freedom is freedom as long as it doesn't detrimentally affect anyone else. Smoking is fine, but getting it banned in public places is the right thing to do. Eating bad food is fine, but banning foods considered unsafe is the right thing to do. The UK has already banned many ingredients deemed unsafe to eat. Yes you can travel to a third world country and ingest it anyway, but as a country, as a people, and as a culture, we must protect people from detrimental factors. Most people do not choose to eat food BECAUSE of its fat and sugar content, so clearly imposing limits on that isn't going to upset anyone.

Not to mention that eating junk food is not a matter of limited personal lifestyle because it vastly affects other people and society at large, in the form of expenses to treat the ill, etc.

"...banning foods considered unsafe is the right thing to do. The UK has already banned many ingredients deemed unsafe to eat."

What?! How do you determine a food product to be unsafe? There is not a single food I have ever seen on sale in a supermarket that causes a risk to someone's health on its own. Fatty/junk foods only pose health risks when eaten in excess, as does every type of food if eaten in excess to the exclusion of other food types. That is the reasoning behind a balanced diet being the most healthy.

On the same reasoning you can't compare a food product that is simply fatty/unhealthy to an actual ingredient which is prohibited by law because it poses an inherent danger without having to be consumed in vast quantities to be dangerous.

"...we must protect people from detrimental factors."

No, we mustn't. People who eat junk food already know it's bad for them. But they nevertheless choose to eat it anyway. It is not for you, the Government or anyone else to tell them that a conscious choice they are making as to what foods they eat is wrong and therefore is not allowed.

"Not to mention that eating junk food is not a matter of limited personal lifestyle because it vastly affects other people and society at large, in the form of expenses to treat the ill, etc"

That is a huge generalisation to the extent that it is just false. That statement can be simplified to say 'Eating junk food is a drain on the health service.' No, morbidly obese people are a drain on the health service. People who eat junk food in moderation don't cost the health service more than anyone else. As I said, obese people do but the primary cause of obesity is sheer laziness. You can't just blame junk food as the sole cause of obesity and therefore ban it for everyone.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 36

User237126

15

Original post by Muddy_Hands

Would this make refusing to date/dance with/kiss/sleep with someone because they're fat criminal? 'Cause in some of those cases I'd rather face jail.

Well no lol, it's not illegal to decline to kiss/dance with/date a black person/gay person/person of the opposite gender/person of a different age. The fat-hate-crime legislation thing is absurd, but don't over-exert your imagination :wink:

Reply 37

Kenocide

11

Original post by TheJ0ker

Why should taxpayers have to pay for your medical bills if you have heart problems then? You chose to eat that food knowing the risks.

First of all, I am no more likely to suffer heart problems than anyone else because I eat junk food in moderation. Not everyone who eats some junk food is obese.

And secondly, the NHS doesn't take into account people's acceptance of risks when treating people. When you go into A+E with a broken leg caused by a sporting accident should you be refused treatment because you knew the risks of participating in sport? If you are a soldier in the army should you be refused medical treatment because you knew the risks associated with being in the army?

Solving the obesity crisis (I think we probably can call it that now in health terms) should be a genuine aim in society, but banning junk food as the other user suggested would not specifically target obese people or solve the problem, and it would in any case be an unacceptable infringement of people's liberty (akin to saying you can't play sport because it might cost the taxpayer money to treat you if you sustain injury, as above).