The root of all...obesity?

Someone sent me a link this morning to an article about how the French are becoming obese, and how they blame it on becoming Americanized. (I'd include the link but it's one of those current affairs type sites where the links disappear in a few days so no point including it here.)

It occurred to me while reading that article that 'becoming Americanized' gets the blame for a lot of the things we don't like about ourselves. Fat. Pollution. Crime. Conservatism. And the list goes on.

Where does self-responsibility come into the equation? When did we lose the ability to say no to the things that are not good for us? Why did we not pass by the MacDonald's when they sprang up on the street corner? Why didn't we laugh when car dealers began displaying SUV's?

Seems to me that the root of the problem is money. The more affluent we become, the more we seem less able to make healthy and informed choices. Money to burn? Sure, then why not buy an SUV just because you can. Money to burn? They why bother cooking. We can pretend we're rich and never have to cook again. Eat out like the stars. Order in on a whim. Change the furniture every few years. Own more shoes than we can wear in two years. The good life. If you can afford it, why not?

Besides, hamburgers can't be that bad, can they? After all, Americans invented them and they're the most affluent nation on earth. Aren't they? They have the most choice, don't they? They have freedom of speech and Julia Roberts and gleaming teeth. Heck, if we get fat, we can just have liposuction.

And all it takes is a little cash. The fact that the amount we spend on lipstick per year is probably enough to feed an entire African nation has nothing to do with it. Well, if you insist, we could stop using lipstick and get it tattooed on permanently.

What song do you sing?

The longer I live, the more I realize that most people on the planet just don't get it. We're here for such a short time. We're here by the grace of something much larger than any of us could ever, in any religion, conceive of. We're here in the same way that robins are here, or octopi, or the farthest star in the universe is here. And all us beings have more in common, so much more, than even we can dream of. We are as alike as blades of grass are alike, as snowflakes are alike (yes, I know no two snowflakes are alike but we all know what happens to each and every snowflake when it hits the ground.)

The other day on CBC there was an item about loons - how the male loon changes its song when it changes location, in an apparent attempt to distinguish itself from the other male loons that preceded it.

If loons in all their bird-brained wisdom can adapt to changing conditions, how come humans who - so the theory goes - have superior intellect, keep singing the same old song - "I'm right. I'm right. I'm right."

For more info on that loon see:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/223/2