Friday, September 11, 2009

Group 2 – Balko Favoritism

Finally, a call for America to return to the capitalist policy that we were founded under and to give the power back to the people (Balko 159). Stop making me pay for other people’s unhealthy decisions. I make enough myself without being responsible for yours too.

If I take responsibility for my own health and choose to pay high medical costs resulting from my own ability to control my weight then that is my problem. But I would hope that I would decide there are better things to spend my money on and make the decision to eat healthy; to fatten my wallet and not my waistline.

For America to take a socialistic approach to fighting obesity, as suggested by Mr. Engler, and let the government dictate to us how much exercise we should be getting or pay the price in taxes (180) is ludicrous. I concur, Mr. Engler, that there are many corporations that make a huge profit from the unhealthy (174) but the fact that people spend the money and believe the gimmicks is not the fault of the corporations. As soon as people take control of their weight and health, the profitability that makes these corporations viable will be gone and so will the corporations.

A second inferior proposal to Balko’s, is that presented in John Banzhaf's claim that legislation and legal action against fast-food companies will help reduce obesity (162). His proposal rests upon the questionable assumption that people do not know fast, fattening food can make you fat. By focusing on what fast-food companies need to do to make people aware that food is fattening, he overlooks the deeper problem of sedentary people and health related issues. Banzhaf claims that the food offered by fast-food companies is fattening (165). We don't need him to tell us that. Anyone familiar with any kind of food has long known a salad is much better for us then a hamburger and fries. What people choose to eat is nobody’s business besides their own and holding companies responsible is crazy. This is equivalent to saying it is the fault of the gyms that people are fat because dues are too expensive. Our stand on this issue is that each person needs to take responsibility for their own weight and health.

Works Cited

Balko, Radley. “What You Eat Is Your Business.” Cato.org. *Cato Institute*. 23 May 2004. Rpt. in *They Say/I Say with Readings*. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 157-161. Print.

Banzhaf, John H. III. “Lawsuits Against Fast-Food Restaurants Are an Effective Way to Combat Obesity.” Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act. *Preceedings of the Congressional subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law, June 19, 2003.* Rpt. in *They Say/I Say with Readings*. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 162-171. Print.

Engler, Yves. “Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations.” *Z Magazine*(2003). Rpt. in *They Say/I Say with Readings*. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. 172-181. Print.

5 comments:

  1. Overall, you kept me interested throughout your writing. I like the way you personalized it by starting sentences with "If I" or by saying "my" within your argument. I think your thesis could be stronger by mentioning obesity as the main issue rather than just stating unhealthy decisions (that covers a lot of different things). The other thing I noticed is that tobacco lawsuits weren't mentioned when referring to Banzhaf's article, which was a major part of his argument for the possible success of fat lawsuits.

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  2. I think your post is interesting, and I like your style pretty much. You have a strong argument here. However, I wish that you spend a little more on Engler’s article because in his argument, he mentions about children being targeted and I think that is a valid point because children cannot make a good choice for themselves, and there should be regulation about that. I have no say for adult, though. Furthermore, I would like to see a little conclusion in the post to tie up everything.

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  3. I found your post to be expressing little anger. In all honesty I think it worked for what you were saying. I do agree that people should take responsibility for their health, but do you think it is to much to ask that fast food corporations educate people exactly what they're getting in to? I think you did a good job at using parts of what other authors said to make your point. I guess I do not agree with everything you say, I think it is a persons responsibility to take care of them selves but it is also corporations responsibility to be honest about what they're selling, which they are not doing. I do think you guys have a very strong argument and you used the reading well to prove your point. You could have ended it a little differently instead of saying what you believe, you could have just summarized your information.

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  4. From the comments that I see I would say that we did this assignment well. The assignment was to defend/show our readings superiority to two others in 75 words. To accomplish this we played on the points we felt lent themselves best to this objective. Thank you for reading it and sharing your views. It's funny how much work it can be to put together just 75 words.

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  5. I really liked the socialist remark, I actually highlighted it in my book. You put most of the great points from the reading in here. You may want to use more of your own opinion next time. I thought it was very interesting to read.

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