OBESITY SOON TO BE THE “NEW NORMAL”

By 2035, if present trends continue, 39 per cent of the population will be obese – dwarfing the 33 per cent who will be overweight and the 28 per cent forecast to be of healthy weight or less.

OBESOGENIC LANDSCAPE

Cities have become OBese – they are OBeCITIES

DO OBECITIES FACILITATE OBESITY..? 

I suspect they do.  A combination of cars, computers, fast-food, ready-made “TV meals”, mobility-scooters, and easily-obtained welfare benefits, has bred an epidemic of obesity (in “Anglo” countries especially, for some reason) and there is much angst and hand-wringing over what to do about it.   Leftists, always in search of new “victim groups” to promote their political agendas, preach that obesity (but not crime of course) has nothing to do with indolence or low IQ.   

Its bad enough that the obese are quite repulsive to look at, but most are probably on disability benefits, so their gluttony is subsidised by taxpayers.  They move with a lumbering or waddling gait and cannot perform physical (and possibly mental) tasks with anywhere near the efficiency of a healthy weight person, so if they are not already a burden on our overstretched health services they will almost certainly become one in the future as the obese are always first in line for expensive Hip and Knee operations.  Since their children copy the unhealthy habits of the parents they too become obese.  Like other forms of bad parenting, this should be regarded as a form of child abuse.  When I was at school, obesity was unknown – just a few modestly overweight “fatties” who were routinely mocked.  This was hurtful and unfair but, by tolerating obesity and patronising them as if they cannot help their condition, we are encouraging the spread (no pun) of this condition.   Widespread Obesity is not just a matter of aesthetics and public health – I believe it is a sure sign of a country in terminal decline and probably ripe for a hostile takeover. 

As the ranks of the obese and seriously overweight swells, and they are no longer the small minority they once were, they gain more political power and it becomes increasingly difficult to talk about obesity as an affliction for fear of giving offence to a large proportion of the population.  So they are now described as “weight-challenged” or some other silly euphemism.    On returning to the UK after a trip to Poland, where fat people seemed to be largely absent, I immediately noticed the number of fatties who waddled onto the bus and how their corpulence filled the seats and blocked the aisles.   Anyone who dares point this out is furiously attacked for “body-shaming” (in PeeCee terminology) – and this simply adds to the problem.  

Mobility Scooters – now mostly used by the obese

Aigues-Mortes, Provence

Until about 200 years ago cities were very compact and had clearly defined limits.  As well as being delineated by walls they were often located on a hilltop, a peninsula, or a river bend.  Encompassing an area rarely exceeding a few sq km, they could be easily crossed on foot. Everyone lived and worked within these narrow confines or a short walk beyond in the surrounding fields.  With the advent of mechanised transport, first trains and later buses and cars, cities rapidly expanded beyond their formerly fixed limits and spread unplanned in all directions.  In the process they become bloated OBeCities, unsightly, lumbering, unhealthy, and wastefully inefficient.  

Can OAeCITIES cure Obesity…? 

Not directly but, if admission to Oasis Cities is judged by a selection committee, obese applicants will be dis-advantaged by their physical appearance, as they probably would be in any other kind of interview.  It may be unfair but everyone accepts, if grudgingly, that good-looking people are advantaged in life and always will be.  OA-City applicants will also be judged on medical and fitness criteria, which will be another hurdle for the obese to overcome.  That said, there are many brilliant obese people whose attributes and ability will shine through.

The fact that OAeCities will be physically selective about who they admit will not in itself be a “cure” for obesity but it will send the right message to society as a whole.  Aside from that, the ethos of OA-Cities will encourage healthy living, regular exercise, and looking one’s best. WALKING to work, shops, school, etc., will become as natural as it once was and always should have been. 

 OA-Citizens will be in full view of the perimeter activities circuit with its aerobic and outdoor sporting facilities conveniently located on the podium roof.  OA-Cities will also encourage a resurgence of self-respect – like dressing smartly in public and other habits long lost in the sprawling anonymous EXURBS of OBeCities, with their charmless strip malls and “retail parks” full of slovenly people attired in baggy elasticated “sportswear”.