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The War on a Fat Surgeon General
Earlier this week, President
Barack Obama nominated Alabama physician Regina Benjamin as the
next Surgeon General. In that capacity, Dr. Benjamin will oversee
the 6,000 member public health corps and function as America's
chief health nanny, ah, health educator. Past Surgeons General
included the luxuriantly-bearded Dr. C. Everett Koop who campaigned
relentlessly against smoking and Dr. Jocelyn Elders who, in
response to a question, suggested that teaching masturbation might
be a way to prevent young people from engaging in riskier forms of
sexual activity.
Despite Dr. Benjamin's distinguished record as a physician, some blogospherean health nannies are objecting to her appointment on the grounds that she is fat. In a nice column on this "controversy," University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan quotes a couple of self-appointed anti-fat crusaders:
“I refuse to let fat be socially acceptable … The President should have known better and picked a doctor who could kick start the debate on fat not perpetuate it,” commented one reader on a national news site.
Another has some mighty specific requirements for the post: “Rather than select a fat Black woman Obama should have chose a Black woman with a body mass index of 25 or less.”
Caplan goes on to ask:
And who said the surgeon general or doctors in general or anyone working in health care must be paragons of health and risk avoidance?
A better question is why does anyone have to be a paragon of health and risk avoidance, but we'll leave that one for now.
Caplan does suggest that Dr. Benjamin might serve as an example for us all (especially those of us with BMI's over 25):
But people need to relate to the surgeon general, and if she can battle her weight on the job, she will do more to curb obesity then all the salads added to the menus of burger joints everywhere.
This is very unlikely. If Oprah Winfrey's gigantic audience is unaffected by the daytime star's very public efforts to keep her weight down, I doubt that whatever the new Surgeon General does or does not do about her avoirdupois will have much effect.
Ultimately, the right question is the one my colleauge Jacob Sullum asked in his splendid article "The War On Fat" -- Is the size of your butt the government's business? The answer is, no. Here's hoping that the new Surgeon General thinks so too.
|7.16.09 @ 2:24PM|#
"I refuse to let fat be socially acceptable … The President
should have known better and picked a doctor who could kick start
the debate on fat not perpetuate it," commented one reader on a
national news site."
Black people have a much higher rate of obesity and diabetes than
whites. They also have different social standards about female
beauty than white people. A rule that said no fat people can
participate in public life would have a hugely disparate impact on
minorities. I think if this jerk were ever to be in charge of
hiring for anything short of life guard or chimney sweep where size
really did matter, he would be tied up for a huge discrimination
suit. I wonder if Nanny State "I hate fat people" liberals know how
racist they are being.
Syd Henderson|7.16.09 @ 2:30PM|#
Koop was at his best dealing with the AIDS epidemic. He also
looked snazzy in the Surgeon General's uniform.
Dr. Benjamin sounds like a great choice for the job. I look forward
to seeing her in the uniform. Will she still get epaulets?
|7.16.09 @ 2:33PM|#
A better question is why does anyone have to be a paragon of
health and risk avoidance
Fuck risk avoidance.
|7.16.09 @ 2:34PM|#
Michelle won't let him nominate a hot black woman...or a hot white woman...or a hot latina woman....
|7.16.09 @ 2:38PM|#
A better question is why does anyone have to be a paragon of
health and risk avoidance, but we'll leave that one for
now.
Because if you aren't, the state will have to pick up the bill,
that's why.
Obama really telegraphed his punches on Big Nanny in one of his
health care interviews:
So, self-responsibility is going to be critical. This is
probably not going to be something
that's legislated. But I tell you what, every business out there is
going to be looking at their health care bottom line. And
increasingly what you're going to see is that businesses are going
to incentivize their employees to stop smoking, lose weight, get
exercise, get regular checkups.
What we can do is we can encourage those companies that have those
sorts of wellness-prevention programs.
Gotta love that "probably". And the promise of federal incentives
to lose weight, etc.
Costa Rica is looking better all the time.
|7.16.09 @ 2:39PM|#
So, self-responsibility is going to be critical. This is
probably not going to be something that's
legislated. But I tell you what, every business out there is going
to be looking at their health care bottom line. And increasingly
what you're going to see is that businesses are going to
incentivize their employees to stop smoking, lose weight, get
exercise, get regular checkups.
What we can do is we can encourage those companies that have those
sorts of wellness-prevention programs.
Gotta love that "probably". And the promise of federal incentives
to lose weight, etc.
Costa Rica is looking better all the time.
Goddammit.
|7.16.09 @ 2:40PM|#
Rather than select a fat Black woman Obama should have chose
a Black woman with a body mass index of 25 or less.
Condoleeza Rice?
|7.16.09 @ 2:43PM|#
Yeah RC,
I posted that same quote on the health care thread. Obama is a
scary dude these days.
short, fat bastard|7.16.09 @ 2:44PM|#
"I refuse to let fat be socially acceptable . . . .
"
I have a 2 by 4 with an instruction manual that says "Apply
directly to forehead . . . ".
hmm|7.16.09 @ 2:50PM|#
If you're going to stand before me as an authority on a subject
and then pass laws telling me what to do you damn well better be
able to prove it.
If you can't keep the twinky in the wrapper don't tell me to.
Do I care if she is fat? Nope. Do I care if she is fat and uses her
authority to mandate that I shouldn't be? Yup with a side of fuck
you cooked in transfats. It's all about context.
How about we get rid of the position and go for a beer, burger, and
fries cooked in transfats.
|7.16.09 @ 2:50PM|#
I wonder about her position on masturbation.
Standing? Leaning against the stall? Prone? Back? Stomach? Is she a
vibrator or pillow-humping kind of gal? Does she do the couch-arm
slide? How many attachments does her shower head have? Does she
like the realistic, veiny dildos or the smooth kind? Balls or no?
Silicone or glass? Does she stimulate the G-spot? Ass play? Is she
a squirter?
I'd go on, but there's no call to be gross about it.
Russ 2000|7.16.09 @ 2:51PM|#
A better question is why does anyone have to be a paragon of
health and risk avoidance, but we'll leave that one for
now.
A better question is "Do we really need to fill this useless
position any longer?"
Russ 2000|7.16.09 @ 2:55PM|#
Michelle won't let him nominate a hot black woman...or a hot
white woman...or a hot latina woman....
Lack of hotness never stopped Cliniton.
|7.16.09 @ 2:55PM|#
"Do I care if she is fat? Nope. Do I care if she is fat and uses
her authority to mandate that I shouldn't be? Yup with a side of
fuck you cooked in transfats. It's all about context. "
Would it make you feel any better if some reformed fatty fit freak
told you those things? It wouldn't make me feel any better. Any
government official telling me how to live gets a big side of fuck
you. If anything denying her the position because he is fat
legitimizes telling people how to live.
hmm|7.16.09 @ 3:02PM|#
I would feel better, but still hate it. At least there would be
one less degree of hypocrisy. Then again after one turd in the wine
barrel you have shit pot anyway, so I guess it doesn't
matter.
How about we get rid of the position and go for a beer, burger,
and fries cooked in transfats.
phalkor|7.16.09 @ 3:11PM|#
I have a 2 by 4 with an instruction manual that says "Apply
directly to forehead . . . ".
HAHAHAH! Tubby Tubby 2X4! Tubby Tubby 2x4!
Ahem, yeah, fuck the nanny state and all that. When did it become
so damn acceptable for the government to tell us how to live
anyway?
|7.16.09 @ 3:21PM|#
I used to scoff at fat people who complained about body
prejudice.
I don't anymore. These health nazis can kiss my ass.
There may be on small upside to all of this crap,after she reads
this shit, Ms. Benjamin may be a bit more tolerant towards tobacco
users.
Nah, won't happen.
Enyap|7.16.09 @ 3:24PM|#
Somebody who takes the BMI seriously has no room critizing someone elses Surgeon General credentials.
T|7.16.09 @ 3:25PM|#
Since no one else is stepping up, let me just quote a great 20th
century figure:
I wannem real thick and juicy
So find that juicy double
Surgeon General got back and that's a problem? There's just no
pleasing some people.
|7.16.09 @ 3:33PM|#
"I used to scoff at fat people who complained about body
prejudice."
My dad worked in management for decades. The hardest time he ever
had getting someone promoted was with a very desreving fat person.
Talk to a reformed fatty sometime. They will tell you people
treated them completely differently when they lost the weight.
There is a hillarious interview with CC Deville the guatarist for
Poison. He quit using drugs in the 90s and turned to food and got
fat. He says with a completely straight face that there was less
social stigma being a junkie than there was being fat.
Rhywun|7.16.09 @ 3:36PM|#
any better if some reformed fatty fit freak told you those things?
"Reformed" fatties/smokers/etc are the worst ones of all. I know
for a fact that Obama is still smoking; otherwise the War on
Tobacco would be in full swing already.
|7.16.09 @ 3:38PM|#
"Does she do the couch-arm slide? "
Suddenly the couch seems less attractive for my naps. Goddammit
Suge.
|7.16.09 @ 3:39PM|#
I refuse to let fat be socially acceptable
But your cool with eating disorders being socially acceptable? If
Dr. Benjamin is getting on the stairmaster three times a week. She
should be in good shape. She is not carrying an unhealthy amount of
fat.
|7.16.09 @ 3:41PM|#
Suddenly the couch seems less attractive for my
naps.
If it's any consolation, they are usually performed non-nude due to
friction issues.
thenewlibertarian|7.16.09 @ 3:42PM|#
The size of one's ass should not be the government's business. But should we get taxpayer-paid universal healthcare it should be. If fat folks think they've got it rough now, just wait until those who exercise and eat right start paying the bill for those who do not...
|7.16.09 @ 3:44PM|#
thenewlibertarian, have you looked at the folks with the medicaid and food stamp cards? If that duo isn't a match made in heaven for the government to regulate diet due to health care costs, I don't know what is. It hasn't happened for decades. I don't see it changing.
tekende|7.16.09 @ 3:47PM|#
Is the size of your butt the government's business? The
answer is, no. Here's hoping that the new Surgeon General thinks so
too.
Fat chance. Her response to criticisms will probably be along the
lines of a shrill "I have a glandular disorder!!" and then
she'll proceed to ban fast food or something.
T|7.16.09 @ 3:48PM|#
If it's any consolation, they are usually performed non-nude
due to friction issues.
Leather couch. Astroglide. No friction issues, although staining
will occur.
|7.16.09 @ 3:52PM|#
If that duo isn't a match made in heaven for the government
to regulate diet due to health care costs, I don't know what is. It
hasn't happened for decades. I don't see it changing.
Obama does. He said so. And it'll be a lot more palatable to his
Dem majority if it isn't directed exclusively at po' folk.
T|7.16.09 @ 3:55PM|#
Her response to criticisms will probably be along the lines
of a shrill "I have a glandular disorder!!" and then she'll
proceed
to binge eat the entire contents of your average McDonald's
franchise. You haven't dealt with enough fat chicks to know how
that dynamic works. After the screaming about glands and medical
disorders and insensitivity and you don't understand comes the
snarfing of a half-gallon of Blue Bell with a box of oreos on the
side. Then comes the resultant self-loathing and desperate attempts
to make up because she's afraid no one will ever love her because
she's fat.
creech|7.16.09 @ 3:59PM|#
Will she have epaulets?
Sure, and with four stars just like every chief or sheriff in a two
stoplight town does.
|7.16.09 @ 4:02PM|#
Will she have epaulets?
OH MY GOD! OF COURSE SHE WILL HAVE EPAULETS!
YOUR RACIST NOTIONS ABOUT THE ANATOMY OF BLACK WOMEN ARE
SICKENING!!!
|7.16.09 @ 4:06PM|#
Military uniforms make anyone who is not very fit, look like a cow. I really don't want to have see this woman in her surgeon general's uniform on TV.
T|7.16.09 @ 4:09PM|#
I really don't want to have see this woman in her surgeon
general's uniform on TV.
All the more reason to quit watching TV.
|7.16.09 @ 4:12PM|#
Her response to criticisms will probably be along the lines of a
shrill "I have a glandular disorder!!" and then she'll
proceed
to binge eat the entire contents of your average McDonald's
franchise. You haven't dealt with enough fat chicks to know how
that dynamic works. After the screaming about glands and medical
disorders and insensitivity and you don't understand comes the
snarfing of a half-gallon of Blue Bell with a box of oreos on the
side. Then comes the resultant self-loathing and desperate attempts
to make up because she's afraid no one will ever love her because
she's fat.
I use to work in a restaurant where the fatties wouls ALWAYS order
a diet coke to wash down their food orgies. Made them feel like
they had some self-control.
|7.16.09 @ 4:12PM|#
A fat surgeon general ? What about fat cops?
I see chubby police officers all the time. Doesn't this affect
their job performance ? Like when the have to chase a purse
snatcher or a kid on a skate board ?
And since they all have government funded health insurance, their
fat asses drive up heath care costs which are passed on to the
taxpayer.
Where is the outrage????????
T|7.16.09 @ 4:16PM|#
I use to work in a restaurant where the fatties wouls ALWAYS
order a diet coke to wash down their food orgies. Made them feel
like they had some self-control.
Our standard joke about that was "One of everything, with cheese.
And a diet coke."
hmm|7.16.09 @ 4:31PM|#
A fat surgeon general ? What about fat cops?
I see chubby police officers all the time. Doesn't this affect
their job performance ? Like when the have to chase a purse
snatcher or a kid on a skate board ?
Try drawing their weapon. I used to give one of the officers at the
city I worked a hard time about me being able to round the block on
foot before he could get his service weapon out of the
holster.
I know at least on department in the area has fired officers for
not being able to complete PT requirements.
Paul|7.16.09 @ 4:32PM|#
Is the size of your butt the government's business?
Good god man, don't you know there's a Drug War on? The size of
your butt, vis. what you eat and put into your body, vis. stuff
that's bad for you, vis. drugs will always be the government's
bidness.
Where's Matt Yglesias on this?
|7.16.09 @ 4:41PM|#
django,
The best kind of woman to marry is one that was somewhat over
weight but reformed. Being fat scares a woman for life. The ones
that reform stay thing no matter what because they are terrified of
facing the hell of being fat again. It eliminates the danger of
marrying a woman who has always been thin only to have her get fat
after marriage and kids figuring that she has served her purpose in
life. A reformed fatty never goes back.
|7.16.09 @ 5:21PM|#
John: "A reformed fatty never goes back."
...unless psychoactive medications, usually SSRI's are
involved.
|7.16.09 @ 5:22PM|#
Ultimately, the right question has nothing to do with the size
of anyone's butt, but why we even HAVE a Surgeon General in the
first place. What the hell does this person do, other than nag
people?
The S.G. represents the very essence of wasteful, unnecessary
government agencies.
*|7.16.09 @ 5:32PM|#
Rather than select a fat Black woman Obama should have chose
a Black woman with a body mass index of 25 or less.
Yo! The brother likes big but women!
|7.16.09 @ 5:45PM|#
Ultimately, the right question has nothing to do with the size of anyone's butt, but why we even HAVE a Surgeon General in the first place. What the hell does this person do, other than nag people?
The Surgeon General of the United States is the operational head of
the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
It was at one time, I believe, a legitimate Civil Service
administrative post. Unfortunately since the fifties or so it has
evolved into "Busybody-in-Chief".
|7.16.09 @ 6:12PM|#
Usually I'd be down on anybody Obama nominates,
but this one seems to have some actual courage and initiative. She
rebuilt a ruined clinic after Katrina, and when she needed
Vietnamese interpreters, went to a pool hall to find 'em, 'cause
that's what it took.
As to her being fat: If she can stand it,
I reckon I can.
The Mythical Canadian Libertar|7.16.09 @ 6:23PM|#
If we're going to have to have paternalistic laws, can one of
them be that no one who puts any stock into BMI as a valid
indicator of health or fitness gets to share their opinions on
either topic?
I have a nearly "ideal" BMI of 22.9. I had to have about 43 showers
when I got home from work today, after walking from the parking lot
to the elevator.
|7.16.09 @ 8:03PM|#
My bmi is near 39. My cholesterol is in the normal range. Blood pressure is always low. Stress test/ ekg is great. Sugar is normal. All the indicators are good. I am 6'3" and about 310 lbs. Other than my back being worse than a yugo with 300,000 miles (which I suppose losing 125 pounds might help) I am healthy as a horse. Before my back took control, I could still walk at 3+ mph for hours even though I was, and am still, a fat ass. BMI isn't a real accurate gauge of health, IMO.
|7.16.09 @ 11:01PM|#
"Ultimately, the right question is the one my colleauge Jacob
Sullum asked in his splendid article "The War On Fat" -- Is the
size of your butt the government's business?"
No, no it's not. The size of my butt, or anyone's butt, is none of
the government's business. I'm terrified that I'm going to wake up
one day and find out that junk food has been made illegal and that
anyone overweight gets sent off to a fat camp.
Hacha Cha|7.16.09 @ 11:16PM|#
anyone thats watched Penn & Teller's episode on obesity knows the BMI is BS.
Hacha Cha|7.16.09 @ 11:20PM|#
also what is her position on medical marijuana. when Gupta was a possible candidate for Surgeon General it was reported he was against it. in a recent interview with Gupta on medical marijuana he didn't come off as someone who was anti-medical marijuana.
|7.17.09 @ 6:09AM|#
nice post..
___________________
Britney
The
best place for the best ENTERTAINMENT
|7.17.09 @ 10:35AM|#
And who said the surgeon general or doctors in general or
anyone working in health care must be paragons of health and risk
avoidance?
Not the dozens of doctors, nurses and techs I see smoking under the
overpasses here at the medical center.
Definitely not the pregnant nurse whose cigarette smoke I carefully
avoided when approaching Kosair Children's Hospital.
|7.17.09 @ 10:37AM|#
22.9 BMI, here.
5'2", 125 lbs. After two babies. I bet 10 of those pounds are in my
boobs and thighs. Tyson and Borden would love me.
polio robot|7.17.09 @ 6:35PM|#
I wonder what her take on the legalization of cannabis is. After all, her risk of death from obesity is far higher than anyones risk of cannabis overconsumption.
Deb Evans|7.20.09 @ 1:25AM|#
First the morality and sexuality police. Now,the proper body shape nannies.What's next,the government-approved proper way to dress and talk police?
DR|7.24.09 @ 6:56AM|#
As they say, fat is the new black.
Just look at the douchbag Fox trotted out as their health &
fitness expert.
And the commercials he filmed for his gym....classy
link to douchebag commercials
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