Thursday, June 22, 2006

It's All Your Fault!

I watched the documentary Super Size Me last night. That's the film about the guy who decided to eat exclusively at McDonald's for thirty days, to see what would happen. It was sort of entertaining, if only to see that the story unfolds exactly as one might expect. The guy gains weight and feels like crap. Are you surprised? I wasn't.

Does anyone out there actually think that eating all of your meals in a fast-food joint is good for you? Never mind. Don't answer that. It seems that a lot of people were dropped on their heads as babies, and as a consequence aren't able to think and reason. Or, maybe, they can think and reason, but simply choose not to. It is much easier, after all, to blame someone else for your woes. Personal responsibility? Whoever heard of such a thing! Not these whiners. What do they do instead? They sue. Or, they get together with a whole bunch of other losers, and sue in a class action suit. Why not? Trial lawyers have to make a living too, right?

What a bunch of crap.

Why blame McDonald's or Burger King or Wendy's or Taco Bell, because stupid people do stupid things? I weigh a few pounds more than I would like, and I occasionally (gasp) eat at fast food joints. Is it their fault that I am not as fit as I was in my twenties? No, it is my fault, because I spend much of my time sitting on my ass. I don't get nearly enough exercise. And, to make matters worse, I eat cake, pies, and cookies. And bread. All things that are pretty much guaranteed to add pounds to my once-studly frame. I know that these things are not good for me, but I eat them anyway. Should cakes and pastries be outlawed, because I have a sweet tooth?

What is wrong with us? We do stupid, self-destructive things, knowing exactly what will be the outcome, then we blame someone else.

Parents complain about the pervasive advertising used by fast food chains and by cereal manufacturers. Kids see the commercials, then whine until they get a Happy Meal or a bowl of Froot Loops. Do kids really have to get their way all the time? Have the parents heard that 'no' is a perfectly acceptable answer, and that it should be used often and with emphasis when dealing with their kids? I have never allowed my son to eat sugary cereal. Now, he doesn't ask for it. He will occasionally eat at a Wendy's, but shuns McDonald's and Burger King. Why? Because his mother and I do the same, usually. We will, now and again, have an Egg McMuffin when we travel, but otherwise we stay away from McDonald's. I listened to a lot of whining from my son when he was little, but he soon learned that when daddy said no, it meant no, and would stay no, regardless of how many tears and pouts were engaged in fruitless efforts to sway me.

I have never seen my son at the sugar bowl. A bag of sugar lasts for years in our home. It is rarely used. My son is allowed soft drinks only on weekends, and then only one per day. That's probably too much.

I'm not trying to tell you how good a father I am. I screw up as a dad as much as anyone. All I am saying is that being a parent means being responsible. When your kids want to do something stupid, don't let them. If they want to blame something on someone else, don't let them. If they get used to doing whatever they want with impunity, they will turn out to be whiny, snivelling, irresponsible adults. We really don't need any more of those.

What do I mean? Glad you asked. The halls of academia, the corridors of power, and the streets of our cities are already filled with people who refuse to accept responsibility for themselves. And the problem appears to be growing exponentially. With every year that goes by, we seem to have a doubling of whining by the masses. Why do these people whine? Because others listen. We have lost the ability to distinguish imaginary suffering from the real deal, and we are paying the price.

What to do, to solve this problem?

Let's stop listening. It's not all your fault. You are not responsible for my problems, nor I for yours. Next time someone whines to you about how nothing is fair and how everyone is taking advantage of them, simply turn a deaf ear. You will be doing us all a huge favour. And you'll be doing the whiner a big favour too. He or she will learn that they will have to fend for themselves, make their own decisions, suffer for their own mistakes, and celebrate their own victories. Then, they just might develop some self-esteem and stop whining.

Yippee!

9 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear you had to endure Spurlock's lies.

    I blogged on Super Size Me a few months back (http://www.jasonhayes.org/?p=1213).

    The short and simple review of that movie is he purposefully decieved his viewing public.

    Spurlock drastically changed his eating habits and physical activity in order to make a political and social argument that fast food is bad for you. He stopped all forms of (even remotely) strenuous exercise and bumped his caloric intake up to something like 5,000 calories - in 6 meals - each day. He ate nothing but fast food, morning, noon, and night and then expressed a feigned surprise at the fact that he gained weight. He then moved on to impute some evil motive on the part of fast food restaurants - 'what do they care, so long as they make money.'

    I don't know of anyone who even begins to approach that level of overindulgence. So Spurlock's misdirection not only fails the truth test, it also fails in that it doesn't represent the real lives of any other humans on the planet.

    As an aside, I blogged on another lady who also went on a McDonalds only diet and achieved the exact opposite result (see another post on my blog at http://www.jasonhayes.org/?p=1697).

    Glad that you were able to see Spurlock's deception for what it was.

    Jason Hayes

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  2. I just read your two posts, Jason. What puzzles me is this: if you and I and a few others can figure out that this is all bunk, why can't everyone? My son (age 13) was watching the movie with me, and even he pointed out that the guy was eating way too much and not exercising at all.

    As I pointed out in my post, I don't often eat at fast food joints, but see no reason at all why I shouldn't be allowed to make my own decisions about where I eat, what I eat and (I'm sure this will be coming next) where to deposit the proceeds when I am finished with them.

    Thanks for dropping by. I enjoy your blog.

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  3. Love this post. I saw the movie, too.

    The problem that I have with our sugar-frenzied-media is that while you and I and anonymous 'get it'.. some people raised on sugar with pro-sugar parents continue to see only the good in ads designed to deceive ("..part of a well balanced breakfast..".. yeah the bad-part).

    We suffer as a community for this. Hyper-active, over-stimulated children with fluxuating blood-sugars are dosed with Ritalin. Diabetes is an epidemic - drain on health-care system.

    Non-smokers hate cigarette companies and cigarette companies are not allowed to advertise on television, but Sugar pervades everything and it's just as addictive (see: most of north-america).

    I agree about people taking responsibility for themselves and not whining, but we have a role to play in educating our fellow-men/women/Canadians/children, as well.

    None of my friends realized that yogurt is simply pudding with a little acidopholus mixed in - same amount of grams of sugar as a 'breakfast' bar. 15 grams here.. 15 grams there.. None of my friends realized that most Campbells soups have MSG.
    Sure, it's on the label, but they trust the marketing and the advertising. And, No, they shouldn't. So, I made them aware.

    Oee pretends to read the back of the cans now, when we are grocery shopping. How many parents instill healthy eating in their children like they do the policy of looking both ways before crossing the street?

    Super Size Me was the extreme, of course. The guy wasn't going to live like a pig and document it for 20 years. He was showing that while you could survive on say potatoes or bananas as a staple diet if neccessary, fast-food chains touting their products as 'food', could perhaps kill you, rather than sustain you.

    It was made for awareness. Something we should be doing for our neighbors, but we aren't. Because while we'll let them in on a good stock tip, we feel it crossing the line to mention anything about food choices.

    People should take care of themselves and they shouldn't blame the McDonalds on the corner if they are ten or fifty pounds overweight. But, how did we as a society get so heavy? Great advertising. Everyone knows how well it works. North America is proof.

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  4. I remember hearing something about a woman who wanted to disprove Spurlock's theory. She also ate at McDonald's every day, only she ordered fruit and yogurt parfaits, water, and salads. She actually lost weight.

    It reminds me of a quote one of my instructional assistants would often say,"Your life is a direct result of the decisions you make."

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  5. The smartest Biblical researcher and teacher I ever met, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, said: "You are today where your believing (thought, choice and action) have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your believing takes you."
    Like yourself, I'm growing gradually more disgusted at the chronic sniveling majority and the politricksters who cater to their weaknesses to hold onto and increase their power. The collective attitude of these whiners seems to be "You owe me everything I want on a silver platter from cradle to grave, and if you don't hand it over, I'll sue!"
    One of these days, push is going to come to shove, and we'll have to restore liberty and order to things. You can have Constitutional justice and liberty, or you can have the socialist perversion of "equality" manifested in reverse-discrimination by legalistic fiat being mandated today.
    YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH!

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  6. BTW: Has anyone ever noticed that most of these "obese" American blimps vegetating before the socialist media's cameras are the same "poor" folk that are all so allegedly "hungry" we need a massive network of food banks and other donated-food repositories to feed them?
    Seems to me the mulleted, goatee-bearded, effeminate-voiced atheists at the helm of these junk-science-quoting, leftist movements to "help all de pooh folk" and "save the earth/whales/environment" (the sum and substance of the "public health"/whiners' rights advocacy groups) aren't shooting straight with anyone - least of all, themselves!
    I believe it was Abraham Maslov who said "When you tell a lie, do not be so naive as to think the party to whom you tell it is the only one deceived."

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  7. I forgot to say that I really do love McDonald's. Isn't that embarrassing? When I was expecting, 15 years ago, I actually ate 2 Big Macs in a row. Of course now when I eat one my heart starts palpitating with an unnerving rhythm...but once in ahwile, it's worth it!

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  8. My guilty 'sin' is a bean burrito from Taco Bell, loaded up with several packets of their wonderful hot sauce. I have no idea what's in those things, besides the beans, and I'm sure I don't really want to know. But, they sure taste good.

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  9. I have a co-worker who gets sick if he eats anything from McDonald's or "Toxic Hell" and I have intentionally limited myself to Hardee's, Burger King (both flame-broil their burgers which are Angus beef) or Wendy's (greater variety of sides & healthy choices), but I don't eat out that often anymore.
    The last time I tried "the golden arches" it was a crock, but not a Ray Crock: Took them 20 minutes to get me through the drive through, and a lousy double quarter pounder was almost $5!
    I don't think they need media to help them fail.

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