Loopier by the Minute

This, unfortunately, is not a joke.

I can’t believe that someone actually believes this is a good idea. Several someones, in fact, since the bill has co-authors. Wonder if they actually wrote this from scratch, or if they just borrowed some old Jim Crow laws and changed “black” or “Negro” to “obese?”

My question is, what about the employees of these establishments? If the state really has an almost 30% obesity rate, you have to figure that a percentage of the employees of any given restaurant are going to be fat. Does that mean they can’t eat at work? That they have to bring a sandwich and eat in their cars? Or will it mean they can’t work at a restaurant at all?

So many times in the past, we as a nation have proved that PROHIBITION DOESN’T WORK. When they made alcohol illegal, people just smuggled it in and drank it anyway. People still use marijuana and heroin and cocaine and meth. They still take prescription drugs for fun. Making it illegal for fat people to eat in public is not going to magically make them thin, nor is it any way to ensure that they “eat less, and move more.”

Obesity is not so simple. People come in all shapes and sizes and colors. Short, tall, black, white, fat, skinny. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.

Most importantly, if the lawmakers of Mississippi are really concerned about the health and well-being of their state, they should promote programs which teach people about nutrition and exercise. They should make sure that people of all income levels have access to these programs. Make free gyms and offer incentives to businesses who make an effort to use fresh, healthy ingredients. Offer health screening to everyone, and health care for any problems that are revealed. In other words, make an actual effort to do things that will work toward actually improving the HEALTH of your communities, not promote a culture of shame and starvation.

I challenge Senator Mayhall to find me even ONE fat person in his state that hasn’t tried some form of starvation diet at least once….and who found out that once they actually ate food, they regained anything they lost. I also challenge him to find more than a handful of people who have lost weight and kept it off for more than 5 years.

I somehow doubt that he’ll find them.

I know, I don’t live in Mississippi, so this doesn’t necessarily affect me directly. But I live in Oklahoma, which has a percentage of obesity that is nearly as high. If the law passes there, who is to say we won’t be next?