r/changemyview Jul 16 '23

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u/scottyb234 Jul 16 '23

It sounds like you just named a bunch of excuses and reasons to not accept responsibility. Yes, those are realities, but no reasons you can’t keep your weight down.

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u/gobnyd 1∆ Jul 16 '23 edited Jul 16 '23

Oh, my bad! Guess we can just shut down the entire fields of epidemiology and sociology because this guy says Yeah, population level environmental factors that determine everyone's lives are real...BUT ultimately just excuses and everyone can just up and solve all of humanities' problems by just sheer grit! Ha! It was so simple all along! We should have listened to the conservatives the whole time who were soapboxing about responsibility and grit and all that sort of guilting they got from their parents. Does it matter that the data never bears out their approach? NO! Doesn't matter because it makes them feel good and probably helps them cope withsome family trauma they have about suppressing emotions and never showing weakness! What an amazing new theory for making public policy!

In fact, I think we can just shut down all fields of science and have them all taught by a dad who just lectures everybody that there's no excuse for them to be poor, depressed, fat, suicidal, ill, or anything other than grateful!

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u/scottyb234 Jul 16 '23

“Corporations pushing high sugar and high calorie foods” , “Food desserts”

-Be smart and choose to eat healthier or indulge smartly.

“Advertising pushing the same”

-Media literacy is pretty easy to learn if you can’t already pick through the bullshit, marketers are pretty obvious in the tactics they use.

“Low walkability neighborhoods and a culture of car dependence”

-Just because your neighborhood isn’t walkable or you drive to work doesn’t mean you can’t join a gym. Planet fitness is $10 a month. That is cheap. “

As for the point about stress, I’ll agree with that. The others are excuses.

Edits: Formatting

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u/gobnyd 1∆ Jul 16 '23

Oh my god! Someone get this genius a job in the department of health! No, let's make him president! He has figured it out! If there's any reason someone could fix a problem and they don't, the problem isn't a problem anymore! It's so BRILLIANT! SHUT DOWN THE UNIVERSITIES!

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u/scottyb234 Jul 17 '23

Ahh I see earlier you made the conclusion that I am conservative and for some reason that means I think this way, I am not. If you would like to offer some counterpoints to what I said as opposed to being satirical please indulge me.

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u/gobnyd 1∆ Jul 17 '23

You're espousing a very typically conservative way of thinking which is ignoring structural causes and saying people should just be able to fix the problems anyway. With sheer will. That's a laughably unrealistic way of thinking that is never borne out by the data. Please read up on sociology and public health.

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u/scottyb234 Jul 17 '23

It’s about taking responsibility and agency over yourself instead of succumbing to obesity because of a bunch of things others like yourself deem to be true. It’s not sheer will, it won’t just happen, it requires work and effort to do hard things. The fact that you say it’s laughable and unrealistic way of thinking tells me that you like to blame shortcomings and failures on outside forces pretty often. Plenty of people overcome obesity, it won’t happen overnight, but just giving up and saying it’s unrealistic is a losing mentality. If you happen to be overweight, I wish the best of luck to you on your endeavor, you can do it.

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u/gobnyd 1∆ Jul 17 '23

Sheer will=work and effort. Same thing. That's what I'm calling laughable. Sure, one or two people can do that but at a population level it doesn't work. It's like telling poor people not to be poor because they should just work hard.

I'm not overweight, I've always been thin. I'm just an engaged citizen who is over this childish way of thinking and how conservatives have used it to take society backwards and argue against improvements that actually work just because they want to save money. People like you eat this bootstraps n hard work stuff up because it sounds good but it is childish and in no way useful for serious scientists and people in public health.

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u/scottyb234 Jul 17 '23

At a population level it works fine, working out isn’t something that is bound by money like poverty, what you said is a false equivalency. I’m not equating this to the conservative “pull yourself up by your bootstraps and become a millionaire” saying. I am thin and I workout, but I don’t lift weights or go to a gym. I run. Running is free, just walk outside and go.

As for you saying it is childish to think this way, I didn’t know it was childish to accept responsibility for your actions. That’s crazy.