80 Years Ago There Were No Obese People

June 7, 2008

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To try to get the point across and stand out from the crowd, many articles start with a ridiculous statement. In order to get our attention they start out with something outrageous.

The problem is that the article then looses credibility, and then the often good content gets the “yeah right” thought, and is not given serious consideration.

Here is a good example. The current Best of Third Age lead article is Facts about Fat. The 10 points in the article are good and pertinent, but the lead paragraphs are ridiculous.

Dr. Roger Unger, 84, considers himself something of an anomaly: He’s old enough to remember the novelty of seeing a fat person. Of, if he so desired, paying a dollar to peek into a tent at the circus fat lady.

Now, he says, he can stand on a street corner and see hundreds of dollars worth of fat people.

“Most of the people alive in the U.S. have never experienced life in a non-obese country,” says Unger, professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

So 70 to 80 years ago there were no obese people. Give me a break.

There were less people who were obese, but they were not exactly rare and in a freak show. The circus fat lady was probably 500 lbs or more.

The increase in obesity is certainly a worrying problem. But when I was a kid and there were lots of people who were of Dr Unger’s generation, and there were certainly some obese people. There have always been obese people. Look at some of the old paintings in art galleries.

Dr Unger has rose tinted glasses, a selective memory or most likely is using exaggeration. I understand that there are really important points in the article, but by straining our credulity makes this article have less authority.

The lead to this article detracts from what is a reasonable article about fat.

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