Is Obesity a Moral Failing

Many people say yes. Many of the medical profession seem to hold that opinion. All the obese need do is eat less, and there problem will go away. Bullshit is the only logical response.

Obesity is a miserable existence in many ways. It is less miserable than going through life with hunger and/or cravings that never go away. Many obese effectively choose to deep cycle, live with sufficient food to relieve the hunger/cravings, and then diet hard, fast, starve for a period of time. What else can we do? Many of us obese suffer from uncontrolled hunger and/or cravings that never go away.

I was recently at a "Ethics discussion", which resembled more one person stating the why's of atheistic morals, with the inference that his view was correct with "enlightened self interest" as the foundation. That is ok for him, but I doubt that the foundation for most people. We recently saw a Pew Research that showed a majority of religious people held their view because they want to be or though of as "good people", whatever that may be. I think that I believe closer to the Stoic like, that it is always right to do right, and that I desire to do right, because that is the way I was taught... there is that learned behavior part. The big question is what do we think "right" might be.

The Stoic natural life by virtue, with the cardinal virtues, prudence or self control, wisdom, courage and justice, without future hope, or past regret, in the now of today without guilt is appealing. If there is wrong done, it is not by me. Virtue is the primary good, vice the primary evil, and everything else indifferents. Knowing that the path to personal happiness and inner peace is through extinguishing all desires to have or affect things beyond ones control; and, through living in the present without hope for or fear of the future; beyond the power of opinions of others is also appealing.

It is like the question some seniors face, with the lost of motivation. Is it a loss of motivation, or just loss of need, loss of desire, or the realization that nobody but us cares anyway? Or why should we care what a nasty thinks. What about those who do things that just aggravate others, and just turn nasty if anything is said. It comes down the expected response is just nasty, why care? A bad relationship may be less valuable than no relationship. That need some more consideration.

So perhaps there is a big portion of self interest in any any decision we make, without much enlightened in the self interest. But under the cover of all this is an unspoken concept that our beliefs are right, without regard to reality, and all the obese needs to do is stop eating for a period of time. People are slow to change their opinions, if ever, and most of those opinions are biased or just wrong. Oh well, in the end we all just die anyway, even in an overpopulated world.