Obesity, skiny, tall, short, unibrow, hairy, flat figure

[STM1993]

Quick google search.

“Thus far mutations in about eight genes are known to cause obesity in humans. But these mutations account for under five percent of the obesity in our society, and certainly are not, by themselves, responsible for the current obesity epidemic, since the mutation rate in these genes could not have changed dramatically during the past twenty years,” says Dr. Joseph Majzoub, the chief of the division of endocrinology at Boston Children’s Hospital and an author on the Science paper. “However, mutations in these genes have led to the discovery of pathways that are important in energy balance in humans, giving us hope that drugs can be developed that affect these pathways to prevent excessive weight gain, either by curbing appetite or increased burning of calories.”

All we're saying is that being obese due to genetic factors is a very small minority and that we should not promote this idea as an excuse. Even the people who DO have genetic factors or disease usually have the diet or medication to manage it. The exceptional cases are what they are - exceptional; outliers. Until proven to be an exception, it is only reasonable to treat something as the norm. And the norm of obesity in this case is due to poor lifestyle rather than genetic factors or disease.

That being said, I don't go around telling fat strangers in their face "STOP BEING A LAZY BUM" because I don't know the individual(we should always distinguish individuals vs groups), I have better things to do, its being mean (and asking for a beating) and positive reinforcement works a lot better anyway. When meeting individuals, it is best to treat each case as a blank with no assumptions until proven otherwise, but its not unfair to use a statistical trend as a frame of reference for a group of people.

People who work to lose weight usually do so not from "I don't want to be ostracized", but from "I want a better body for myself and look better". As a society, I believe we should strongly discourage obesity, but at the same time we shouldn't ostracize obese people, but rather encourage them to do something about it for their own sake.