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Word-Policing Away the Biggest Threat to Public Health
In the end, as Posner concludes, the deeply disturbing silence surrounding the damning conclusions of the World Obesity Federation is one aspect of the assault on the freedom of speech.
According to the World Obesity Federation‘s 2023 report, more than half the world‘s population will be obese by 2023 and obesity among children will double. The global economic impact is estimated at USD 4.32 trillion. As Gerald Posner says in a new Substack post, this is about 3% of global GDP, the same as the impact of Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020.
But obesity has become a deeply disfavored word, Posner points out, quoting several sources, among them this deeply absurd statement found in a resource guide published by the University of Chicago‘s School of Public Health:
“Around 81 percent of societies historically have favored people in larger bodies. Larger bodies signified wealth and prosperity while thinness signified poverty and weakness. However, this began to change due to racism and eugenics. Charles Darwin and other race scientists created a hierarchy of civilization, placing whitemen on top and people of color, specifically black people, at the bottom, considering them to be ‘less civilized.’ Fatness and differing body characteristics were used to justify lack of civilization: fatness used as a marker of ‘uncivilized behavior’ while thinness was ‘more evolved.’ This idea was maintained throughout the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries, as a way to justify slavery, racism and classism, and control women through ‘temperance.’ This ideology has perpetuated Desirability Politics - where thinness and whiteness are given more access to social, political and cultural capital.”
This is far from the truth, Posner says, for on the contrary the World Obesity Report „demonstrates that obesity is a mostly equal opportunity disease for all races. Where there are statistically significant variations, it is usually in favor of people of color. For instance, the increased rates for obesity predicted by 2035 for Sub-Saharan African men and women are expected to be about half that of men and women in Central, South and North America.“
In the end, as Posner concludes, the deeply disturbing silence surrounding the damning conclusions of the World Obesity Federation is one aspect of the assault on the freedom of speech:
„I wrote last month in Substack about “The Assault on Freedom of Speech.” It is not always, however, about direct censorship, cancellations, and the refusal to debate ideas in the public square. As the ghosting of the World Obesity Federation warnings illustrate, news is sometimes filtered and stories that do not fit certain political narratives are omitted. Only the Word Police can be satisfied that their assault on some language means the public is less informed on important issues.“
Using concise language to describe unpleasant things is now bad manners. A friend of mine died last week. Today there will not be a funeral, but a "celebration of life." Used to be if you were going to a celebration of life, it meant somebody was having a baby or a birthday or an Easter egg hunt. If you said you were going to a funeral, everybody knew exactly what had happened, just as they knew exactly what you meant when you said "Uncle Billy is fat."
Obesity is an affliction mostly correlated to low socioeconomic status. So trying to normalize it means siding w the Big Agro-Processed Foods industrial complex against the world’s poor - mostly in affluent countries where the only affordable food is highly processed, low in nutrition, empty calories.
If you look at videos and images of African Americans before the industrial food complex took over nobody is fat, let alone obese. I was watching an excellent documentary by Questlove called “Summer of Soul” about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival where for a bunch of great musical performances where there were audiences of over 50,000 mostly Black people. Other than the great music, what struck me most about the film was that EVERYONE WAS SKINNY. It was astonishing because now people think there’s some kind of inevitable correlation between race and body shape, whereas historically you see it has to do w access to fresh nutritious food vs. fast processed food.
How “liberals” can side w the fast/processed food conglomerates against poor people of all races is beyond my comprehension