He is considered to be a liberal, which supports the fact that he would disagree with government regulating what food people eat to prevent obesity. He clearly states that he believes this will not resolve the issue, but only give people a reason to blame the government. I feel that Balko is attempting to persuade the government and the American public that it is our responsibility to regulate our heath. Each person should be making their own choices of their diet. Whenever the government attempts to regulate things that should be handled by personal responsibility then it takes that responsibility off the people.
Imposing higher taxes on junk food will not encourage healthy eating. Taxes don’t stop people from buying things that satisfy them. By restricting dietary choices Americans will not suddenly know the difference between junk food and health food. The government cannot appropriately regulate and restrict improper consumption in people’s homes; they need to keep their hands out of Americans pockets and start fighting obesity through educating adults and their children on proper nutritional routines. Imposing a junk food tax draws attention to one of the most imperative questions which is how to define foods as unhealthy.
Balko thinks the government must make obesity a personal responsibility. On the other hand, in an article called “Junking Junk Food” by Judith Warner, she argues that the government needs to be involved. Warner believes that in order to end obesity the government must change the way we see food. I agree with Judith Warner and can both agree and disagree with some of Radley Balko’s points. In Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business,” he argues that obesity is the responsibility of the individual not the government.
The advertisement “did you ever see a fat Chinese”, it basically saying that the food the Americans eating is very unhealthy and fat and although it’s a little bit racist but it makes the Americans jealous and they will stop eating oily fast foods. There is one more kind of advertisement where they just offend the other race. For example, the advertisement on the left, it’s just an advertisement offending the black people. They make the white people as the angel and the black people as the devil. That will make the white people to hate the black people without any reason and at the same time to make them feel proud as a white people.
Households are “forced” to purchase inferior processed food, as nutritional food has become unaffordable (Hill 2012). Consequently the increasing consumption of highly processed food results to an obesity epidemic (Neel 2011). To overcome this prevalent issue would require health-awareness education, encouraging society to alter habits, whilst also through government
Too much of a good thing Greg Crister has written an article about obesity in children in today’s world called Too much of a good thing. He argues that in order to stop obesity, we should stigmatize overeating. What he suggests is simple solution for a very difficult problem that many children in the United States are facing. This solution however is just too inhumane to put into practice. We are after all dealing with children and not lab animals.
For example, the food marketing companies usually uses the attractive poster about fast food to get the attention of the kids. Moreover, the author also used some kind of emotional language such as he said that banning the junk food is “misguided and ineffective”.He also tried to give more some reasons to demonstrate that food marketing is not a serious matter of childhood obesity. He said the young people prefer using the internet more than watching TV. In addition, the average number of ads also decreased from 18 in 1977 to 13 in 2003, but he was not right about it. In the
1. Explain the ethical dilemma and explain why it is a dilemma. Our government needs to do something to turn the growing wave of obesity in our country but is taxing unhealthy foods the answer? Despite no clear evidence of a link between obesity and eating unhealthy food there is a movement to tax what we put in our mouths. However, does eating unhealthy food cause obesity or does obesity cause one to eat unhealthy food (Marlow, 2013)?
Americans are unhealthy and the food industry is doing nothing to change that. Food Inc. by Eric Schlosser consulted by Michael Pollan reveals all the dirty secrets the food industry does not want consumers in America to know. The repulsive process by which our food is made and the greedy tactics of food industry executives were hidden from public view and that’s what made the authors decide to write the book (and later make a documentary on the book). Eric Schlosser is an experienced, investigative journalist whose work has appeared in prestigious magazines such as Rolling Stone and The New York Times. Prior to writing Food Inc., he wrote another book about the food industry called Fast Food Nation (which highlighted the unsanitary and discriminatory practices of the fast food industry).
Submitted by: John Kenneth J. Fernandez Submitted to: Maam Lua Burias Thesis Statement: Although junk food is convenient, inexpensive, and is basically a cultural phenomenon, we as a society need to stop eating junk food because it has increased health problems, has taken away from family core values, destroys the environment, and has created a food economy dominated by giant corporations. I. Introduction What is Junk Food? The term “junk food” is used to describe food which is low in nutritional value, with a comparatively high caloric value. Many people try to avoid or limit junk food in their diets, out of concerns that such food is not healthy, despite the fact that numerous food manufacturers produce a range of products which could be considered junk food.