Why it is acceptable to criticize smokers, but not fat people?

deus-ex-machina

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Jan 22, 2010
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Smoking and obesity are both self inflicted. Yes, whine about 'glandular' disorders, but only in the most rare circumstances will someone with a glandular disorder still be morbidly obese. Only these few people are 'exempt' from any blame. You can also say some smokers are the result of poor upbringing, subjected to second smoke and allowed to smoke from an age where they are really too young to make a sensible, adult judgement. I feel for these people too, so let's make them 'exempt' as well.

The rest of people are self inflicted cases. You either smoke or you eat too much. In the UK, the majority of smokers will end up costing the NHS a lot of money - that is why there are services where nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) are given at discounted prices. It's also why there are a lot of services to help tackle obesity. Because you're a young smoker now, doesn't mean you won't be a burden in your elder age when you have COPD, emphysema, general breathing problems, heart problems, post-stroke rehabilitation, mouth or lung cancer, or any other cancer associated with smoking.

If you're obese now, it means you'll probably be a 'burden on the budget' due to your hospital visits after a heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure (believe me the number of overweight people with a normal BP is very low compared to those in their 20s, 30s and 40s), NIDDM - which might lead to insulin dependence, you're also more likely to end up with a stomach or bowel cancer, which could result in you relying on colostomy bags, or liquid supplements. Poor circulation due to both can lead to a number of conditions, including leg ulcers, which smell much worse than smoke or fast food combined.

You can also say that smokers leave their cigarette butts everywhere, that they force second hand smoke everywhere, that their hands and teeth are a vile yellow colour, that their voices sound like nails on a chalk board and that they stink.

But the obese can also be accused of leaving rubbish everywhere, that they take up more than their fair share of space, that their hands and hair smell of grease and leave greasy residues on everything they touch, that their motions smell like something from another world and that they stink - and in some cases, even aluminium bases deodorants still don't solve the problem.

Most of them are actually exaggerations but quite often used. I've worked with a smoker and I did not know they even smoked until I caught them in the act. I've also worked with an obese person who maintained the epitome of hygiene too.

I think both are sad states, but for many, even though they could reverse the issue physically, mentally they are held up. So really, as someone who has been both overweight and a smoker and now neither, I wouldn't recommend starting either smoking or over eating. You might feel better for it for a matter of minutes, but I feel so much fresher and healthier for doing neither now. I don't think of myself as being any better now, but I do feel better.

I will never judge a person for being overweight or for smoking but the one time I do judge is when I see a fat parent with a fat kid - two years old and looking sluggish. I have a two year old and she doesn't stop working on hyperdrive until the moment she falls asleep and from my experience that is how kids should be. Kids that young should not be subjected to the poor diet of their parents and provisions are set up in the UK to prevent that. Likewise, I hate seeing parents smoking in front of kids. DON'T DO IT.
 

poleboy

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May 19, 2008
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GamerKT said:
It usually takes longer for someone to stop being fat than to stop smoking. Also, smoke stinks. The most a fat person could inconvenience another is by taking up extra space or food.
Because never in the history of man has there been a food shortage or a problem with overpopulation, right?

I dunno, as a smoker, all the anti-smoking propaganda obviously rubs me the wrong way - I don't like being beaten over the head with things I know very well. The government does not own me, and they don't have the right to adjust my personal life for their own reasons. I only smoke outdoors, in my home or near people who accept it. If anyone gets cancer from that, they have the lungs of an infant with pneumonia, and would probably have died from the first cold they got anyway. The rest is just bullshit and propaganda. There may be smokers who cause cancer in others, but I sure as hell isn't one of them.
I don't hassle fat people, because I'm not a jerk. I may secretly condemn them, but that's my business and doesn't affect other people unless I choose to make it public.
 

AngryMongoose

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Jan 18, 2010
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Wait, wait, wait; you're telling me it's not acceptable to criticize people for being fat? Since when?
 

Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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Bobic said:
Yes, but you forgot to factor in how all the money spent on burgers stimulates the economy. Yeah, think about that.
Except burgers are cheep junk - not only does caring for people making themselves morbidly obese on junk food cost the country, they are contributing less to the economy in terms of food purchases! The bastards!

michael87cn said:
Furthermore, fat isn't yet scientifically proven to cause bad health besides the disorder diabetes
That's just... wrong. There's a huge range of conditions and diseases that people who are overweight become more likely to suffer from, from early arthritis to heart disease and organ problems. Fat molecules themselves individually might not be doing anything wrong, but that's not the issue being discussed now, is it?

Being slim is a luxury and a gift that not everyone can afford. Exercise machines/privacy cost money. Eating expensive health food/feeding a family with it is very expensive.
You don't have to buy expensive equipment or memberships to stay fit. Walk even part way to work everyday, minimum amount of exercise done, boom. Also, you can work out [http://hundredpushups.com] without needing anything but yourself [http://www.twohundredsitups.com/]. I walk around 30 minutes to and from work every day and do around 60 pushups and as many situps as I can manage every so often because I have no inclination to splash out on gym membership but don't want to be a heart-attack ridden lump of mush behind a computer screen.

Also, you know how expensive meat is? If money's an issue just buy less of the stuff. I've been nutty about meat all my life, love the stuff, but you don't need to eat £5 worth of the stuff in every meal. The last few months I've been having just a couple of rashers of bacon in my veg stir-fries to give it a meaty edge, rather than using chicken or steak and it's been fine - and a HELL of a lot cheaper! It really isn't hard to adapt your diet to your circumstances and needs without actually dieting or being suckered in by marked-up "health" foods.

There's a reason a lot of poor people are heavy and it's not because of over-eating. They can't afford it. It's a lack of exercise.
It's more likely that it's because the things they can afford to eat are crap, full of unnatural chemicals and fats and the worst parts of animals. You eat bad shit, you're not going to be the picture of health. Combine that with stereotypes of poorer people spending more time in the boozers and I think you'll find that diet is more likely to be the chief aspect to their poor health. And as I've iterated above, being poor really isn't an excuse to not get exercise.

All that said, I have no sympathy whatsoever for smokers, having known too many who started for no reason what so ever and from having to walk behind them on the street. It smells terrible, people who smoke smell terrible, houses with smokers smell terrible... I just don't get it. It ranks up there for me with problem drinkers, only it's at least less socially destructive, just... foul :/

And now I look like a really nasty person. Oh well :3
 

Random berk

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Sep 1, 2010
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Typically I don't think either group should be judged constantly, you shouldn't slap a person in the face if they light up, or tell a fat person to go and run a mile before they consider talking to you. In extreme cases, however, like people who have become so massive and amorphous that their bed has collapsed underneath them, they can't move, one of their family members has to bathe them with a fire hose and a hazmat suit, and still they eat from a fucking trough, its hard not to feel contempt for such a creature. Regardless of the initial cause, noone could get that fat wthout realising it at some point and taking steps to try and reduce their weight. Becoming so heavy that moving your arm could cause a fatal heart attack requires a conscious decision not to do anything about it at some point.
 

IKSA

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Jun 30, 2011
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Smoking is much more dangerous than being fat and smoking may cause eaven cancer to not only the smoker people around him too.
 

Joshimodo

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Sep 13, 2008
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Fat: Not ALWAYS unavoidable (but usually is), causes little more than hassle/discomfort and inconvenience to others.

Smoking: Always avoidable, causes disgusting odour that permeates the surroundings, and is effectively a poison. Also usually smoked in an obnoxious manner.
 

Antari

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Nov 4, 2009
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Personally for my own health concerns I decided many years ago to stop caring about how other people do things. Or caring about what other people think. The stress will kill ya faster than smoking or over eating combined.
 

BeerTent

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May 8, 2011
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Sentox6 said:
BeerTent said:
In my eyes, criticizing both is completely unacceptable.

I'm 23, skinny as a rail/non-smoker and I know, as people, we're better than that.
Interestingly, I'm 23, skinny as a rail, and also a non-smoker, yet my viewpoint is more or less the polar opposite of yours.

Celebrate diversity, I guess.
No, I used to think like that too. It's not something I like to admit either.

One of us must have been left behind when we grew up.
 

Grimbold

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Nov 19, 2009
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Crtizising fat people is not like critizising smokers but like critizising people with lung cancer.
 

Neocavo

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Feb 19, 2011
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fat people shouldnt be criticized on site because you dont know why they are fat but anyone who openly says they are fat and proud and have no medical ailment that caused it should cop mouthful. all the contests over being "big and beautiful" are bullshit when your big you are not beautiful you are a health hazard to your self and others and you are an unsightly nuisance to people around you whether it be you wear too small clothes and people can see your stretch marks and arse crack or in crowded streets and malls where people are trying to get around quickly and efficiently we shouldn't be stopped by a wall of slow moving smelly perspiring ass cracks who believe they are beautiful the way they are....they are not.... those off us who endeavor to keep fit and eat well even on minimum wage (like myself and i am in no way an Adonis but i can still manage to keep my health in check) shouldn't have to deal with the nuisance that is fat people. i work with fat people i have been fat through my childhood and i know what its like to be fat my family has the "fat" gene and ive found it isnt fucking hard to fix yourself up, i lost weight initially coz i traded easy to make unhealthy food for harder to make healthy food and then instead of public transport i bought a push bike and started riding to work and back and to anyone who says that would wear you out for work...it does...for the first week or two then your body starts to metabolize faster and your body produces energy more efficiently and you begin to not notice...i did 12 hour days as a storeman for a deptment store with 40 min rides to and from work...that started off absolute shit house then as my body caught up to my energy needs i started sleeping better working more efficiently and i was able to get to work faster and managed to bring down my travel time to half an hour either way...im not saying my way works for everyone like contractors or people who live excessively far from work...but if your in a position where you can trade combustion engined travel for fat powered travel and still get to work...DO IT stop making excuses the human body is a marvelous thing that can actually cope with a lot more than you believe it can


oh and fast food isnt always cheaper i saved money trading fast food and easy to make food for harder to make healthy food.... the effort involved in making harder food puts you off constant snacking because lets face no one wants to cook for half an hour just to deal with a little urge and the belief in fast food being cheaper isnt true...you need a larger serving of fast food to get the same nutrients from healthy food you just believe your getting more for your money coz your food is inflated with extra fat and oils making it look bigger
 

T-004

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Mar 26, 2008
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Heres the thing.

In the UK approx 90% of the cost of a pack of cigarettes is tax, so in essence we pay for our medical care through the purchase of our poison.

As far as I am aware fat people don't have to pay more tax on food.
 

liquidsolid

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Feb 18, 2011
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YES!! I make this argument all of the time! : D

I use all of the points you laid out! All of the health effects for smoking and obesity are nearly the same thing (with some changes in cancer location). Worse in fact that smoking is on the decline and obesity is on the rise.

Listen, I understand that being overweight is a "body image" issue and that it hurts people's feelings when you call them fatso. But people have no qualms about criticizing strangers about their smoking habits.

My friend smokes and occasionally a preachy person will stop him and ask "Did you know that smoking is bad for you?" and when I used to smoke as a teenager, adults would ask me "Do your parents know you smoke?" Furthermore, there is a condescending attitude people take about smokers.

My solution: Stop criticizing smokers lifestyle choices, they KNOW it's unhealthy. Don't criticize obese peoples lifestyle choices, ad TEACH them it's unhealthy at the same intensity you teach smoking is unhealthy.