Tuesday 10 September 2013

Turning the Clock Back

Michelle Obama says her Let's Move campaign has "changed the conversation" on how Americans eat and live;
In remarks to teachers, parents and others, Mrs. Obama cited documented declines in childhood obesity rates in New York City, Philadelphia, California and Mississippi. She highlighted changes to kids' menus by national restaurant chains and new labels at Wal-Mart stores that promote foods with less sugar, salt and fat.
I'd let children decide whether they like egg yolks or not but whatever. Children's bodies serve to measure the progress of this initiative. I wonder what they'd use if it was the campaign to educate and feed children properly.

Better still;
Cities are building grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods and refurbishing playgrounds and bike paths for kids, Mrs. Obama said, and schools are planting vegetable gardens, installing salad bars and replacing food fryers with steamers.
I sincerely hope this happens. The neglect of children's needs, especially those born in LSEG's has been a scandal. One that made my heart ache over the course of seeing it happen in the UK.

The obvious change is from the individualization of the 'obesity' cult, to one that stops pretending, on some level, that eating is just a hobby done on a purely individualized basis. Appros of nothing to do with the environment.

Despite the fact that human beings have always drawn sustenance from their surrounds.

The crusade that was specifically fashioned to get the conclusion of its own logic out of the way of big business interests and the wishes of the general public.  Allowing industrial food to gain a hold over the eating environment. Whilst appearing to be totally against that.

Reversing this to something more in keeping with what was taken for granted before. Feed children properly and train them physically. Don't shape the environment solely around cars. I'm glad children will have a chance to grow vegetables. It's one of the best way to interested in eating them, which the ugly substitute of good food/bad food has failed to do. You are worthless if you don't eat veg has not been a success.

If I was actually a cynical person, I'd swear this whole thing was to save the bourgeoisie from the on coming onslaught. And it's only when they could no longer do that, plus fat people's own rejection of their use in the 'obesity' narrative that has led to a more reasoned stance.

There is nothing mentioned that is anything a lot of folks took for granted at the start of the crusade. Societies like the US and UK decided to pretend these things didn't matter. When it comes to those who run things though, we can see how they really felt from how they treated their own kids.

I hope they also remember things like learning about things like cooking and food/general budgeting. The kinds of skills that make a real difference to people's lives and health. The absence of those has not felt like co-incidence. They increase self confidence too.

The next part of the "conversation" that urgently needs to change is not predicating these reversals on children's bodies which plays into the narrative this clearly goes against. Then some real lessons might be in danger of being learnt. Don't shortchange poorer children its a penny-wise, pound foolish strategy, as well as cruel. 

Nothing to my mind will ever justify using bodies for this. And those who find that annoying should consider defining themselves and their children as disease. In fact, they can insist MO gets the medical profession to declare it.

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