General

There was a talk show here on this topic, and it's now on youtube:


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I'd love to hear people talk about this issue. It's not unlike the airline one--which gets mentioned early on--but in this case it has to do with public resources.

Any thoughts?

Ah, and now a Big Fat Blog entry on the show: www.bigfatblog.com/

There are the usual presumptions: that fat people are fat because we eat vast amounts of junk food, that we don't care about our health, etc. But the question of whether or not we should be 'punished'--for example, by making us pay for health care that's free to others--is one we really need to be thinking and talking about, because it's coming soon to a health care provider near you...

The problem, as I see it, is that these things only pretend to be logical. In fact, as SuperFelix points out, we're unlikely to charge athletes more, though their training means injuries which means costs. These ideas are about punishing people who don't fall in line--smokers and fatties, in the current case. You'll notice, for instance, that we're not charging people who drink a few pints a few nights a week...

This seems to me another example of why we need a 'civil rights' type movement for fat people. Unfortunately, the people who have nominated themselves to lead that movement don't think it should include us, and (maybe relatedly?) we don't seem to participate much in it.