June 2, 2004
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Topic: Obesity in America
I just got Time magazine, and the headline is about the crises of obesity in America. One of the main factors, obviously enough, is our society has little need for physical activity, since technology has removed any need. I believe this is just another example of why we need to reform education. Growing up, we spend the majority of the day sitting in the classroom, excpet for maybe 40min. of gym, which hardly counts as physical activity. In college, we need to find our own time and motivation to either join a club or go to the gym in order to stay fit. I believe that we can curb obesity by moving classes outside, to at least require some amount of movement. Another idea, is to make Outward Bound expeditions a part of school, as this is the closest we can get to living as our bodies were made, to be in constant physical activity. Another idea, is to somehow make our jobs more efficient so that Mon-Fri, 9-5 jobs, are shortened. This way, we have more time to take on physical activity, instead of sitting in an office. Essentially, the pressures of society are leading to obesity, and to fix the problem, we need to not look to band-aids, such as diet pills, crash diets, and forcing ourselves into gyms. I think we need to change the fundamentals of our society, our work ethic, our work environments, etc.
Your thoughts?
Comments (4)
a lot of big firms now have in-office gyms so that employees don’t have to a) worry about the expenditure and b) worry about time, they can work out right after work or during lunch or something. a lot of other firms now have special discounts at local gyms which is another way to go about it.
but i think gyms are depressing. my professor once said something very true – just don’t take elevators, take the stairs. don’t take public transport, just walk. instead of succumbing to laziness, fight it. we don’t need to spend money on treadmills and stuff, we just need to get our asses in gear!
Certainly the fact that we don’t have to hunt for our food anymore has something to do with… much less energy is expended in calling delivery than by plowing a field or stalking and elk. Now the labor of food production is abstracted because food has itself become abstract. It has become a commodity. Now my food-getting activity is the timed act of washing somebody elses dishes. And that’s strange. I’m not saying we should all go back to hunting and subsistance farming. That’s impossible given the world-population, and I’m an autonomist, not an anarcho-primativist. But we’ve got other problems in addition to obesity… oil use is a big one. So lets fight obesity and fight interntational capitalism by walking and riding bicycles whenever possible!
You the man! Sitting for 8 hours a day in a classroom with only 30 minute lunch break and no recess really really sucked
This is touchy, given that I’ve personally gained 15 lbs. in the last six months.
I think classrooms are a large part of our problem, not the solution. People often think all of our problems can be solved through education, but most education requires that we sit still and listen. Most of our entertainment (“edutainment”) — TV, movies, and video games – requires that we sit still, too. So, too, with our jobs: sit and do what we’re told. In other words, I think lack of physical freedom is a large part of the problem.
Like ganryu says, everything is a commodity. We have to make and do so little anymore. We go out and buy everything we need instead. It is making us into lazy, consuming couch potatoes.
It’s hard to go back in the other direction, though. Should we go back to doing our laundry by hand, growing all our own food, creating communities within walking distance? (And what would walking distance be? It used to be a day.)
I don’t know the solution. I just think we are being made very unfree by all these things that we believe are setting us free, and we don’t see it. Our weight gain is sending us a very big message.