Kevin Myers on childhood obesity

Amtmann

Podcast here: http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/programmes/all-programmes/lunchtime/kevin-myers-on-childhood-obesity/

Pretty un-PC!

The column is here: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/mothers-must-bear-the-blame-for-making-our-children-obese-2622784.html

mike65

Thats a terrible article which ends up distracting form the kernel of the issue about which he is correct. Many parents failure to feed their children in a healthy responsible fahion.

seamus

Mr Myers is obviously finding that people are already so outraged about other things that he has to resort to downright misinformation to be a good enough troll.

The liberalisation of homosexuality caused AIDS? Women have a responsibility to feed their men and children before they go off to work?

Go back to the 1970s. Kthxbye.

There are two main causes of childhood obesity:

1. Widespread availability of cheap food
2. Failure to understand the basic ideas behind nutrition

Yes it is the parents' fault. But it's their fault because they're taking the easy way out. Anything else is just nonsense made up by a pseudo-conservative troll to get a reaction.

54kroc

The man is an awful knob but I think he's spot on.
Obesity is far to common and imo shoud be as socially unacceptable as smoking.

Amtmann

He makes good points about carbohydrates, school lunch policy, and exercise. Also, he makes a good point about the social isolation and misery that obesity can cause. He uses very stark language when doing so (fat faces, ugly, sexually frustrated), but society does tend to tip-toe around the issue. I've sometimes held myself back and simply smiled when pint-sized, overweight women tell me I'm "too light" for example...the reality is that they're too heavy.

elvis jones

Tremelo wrote: »

Podcast here: http://www.newstalk.ie/2011/programmes/all-programmes/lunchtime/kevin-myers-on-childhood-obesity/

Pretty un-PC!

The column is here: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/mothers-must-bear-the-blame-for-making-our-children-obese-2622784.html

I think he could save himself and us a lot of time and just buy a big neon sign saying "ME" and put it over his head. An opinion on everthing and knowledge of nothing:rolleyes:

rocky

Good to see fear of carbs come through again. Well, we can't all have nice bodies, so go ahead with your low carb craze!

Bottle_of_Smoke

seamus wrote: »

Mr Myers is obviously finding that people are already so outraged about other things that he has to resort to downright misinformation to be a good enough troll.

The liberalisation of homosexuality caused AIDS? Women have a responsibility to feed their men and children before they go off to work?

Bearing in mind Kevin likes getting a reaction, he had some valid points.

Could feminism/equal opportunities for women have led to more obesity... I think so yes

Does that mean feminism/equal opportunities for women was a mistake... DEFINITELY NOT!

Myers however left that question open, you filled in what you think he is implying. That should be called Myersism if it doesn't already have a name.

The article should be called "the homemaker must take blame for childhood obesity" - that's my only issue. I like the way he's calling a spade a spade in other areas because people are far to prone to wrapping fat people up in cotton wool

desertcircus

Wow, casual racial stereotyping in two sentences - his time is improving. With a bit of luck he'll be able to spout something ill-informed about South Americans in the very first line of a piece in time for the Tosser Olympics.

Then we have "gay liberation led to AIDS" which is a spectacular tossermove, leading into a peach of a concept. It's mother's fault because daddy doesn't bother his hole doing his fair share. Therefore to hell with feminism. Guaranteed gold, unless the Brits release Jan Moir from her cage.

Zamboni

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Bearing in mind Kevin likes getting a reaction, he had some valid points.

Could feminism/equal opportunities for women have led to more obesity... I think so yes

No, it's an easy scapegoat with the purpose of causing controversy. It is Kevin Myers after all.
The population became convenience orientated from the late 70's onwards.
Devices and food products were developed to free up time from being spent in the kitchen.
Males and females took advantage of these wonderous new inventions.
This inevitably led to the current microwave/fast food/instant noodle obese population we have now.
We value phrases like instant, convenience, quick 'n' easy whether it applies to food, gadgets or use of credit.
We, as a society have traded personal responsibility in all realms of life for this convenience to our own detriment.

smugchik

Got to love Mr Myers. I'm sure he's thrown in the bit about women to annoy and get a reaction, but he is right on alot of the other stuff. Parents are responsible. However, I don't think that all overweight children are being fed fast food. It might be down to exercise. BTW, do children still do PE at school each week?

Bottle_of_Smoke

Zamboni wrote: »

No, it's an easy scapegoat with the purpose of causing controversy. It is Kevin Myers after all.
The population became convenience orientated from the late 70's onwards.
Devices and food products were developed to free up time from being spent in the kitchen.
Males and females took advantage of these wonderous new inventions.
This inevitably led to the current microwave/fast food/instant noodle obese population we have now.
We value phrases like instant, convenience, quick 'n' easy whether it applies to food, gadgets or use of credit.
We, as a society have traded personal responsibility in all realms of life for this convenience to our own detriment.

The way you quoted my post there was rather sly. Not cool. I wasn't implying for a second it was the only cause of obesity. I do however think its likely it was a contributory factor, how large or small I do not know.

The important thing is I do not think that means women should start leaving employment over it and return to the household role. I do however think it is worth discussing as it shows us where effort needs to be made counteract the continuing rise of obesity

Zamboni

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

The way you quoted my post there was rather sly. Not cool.

Honestly wasn't meant that way.
I was simply disagreeing with Myers assertion.

trustno1

1 100% agree with Kevin Myers.. the buck does stop with the parents, the only objection I have with the article is the title (as already mentioned by 'Bottle-of-smoke'..) the lambasting that this article is getting is shocking and I am baffled as to why people would have a problem with it - who else other than the parents are responsilbe for feeding their children?!!.. and its an unfortunate fact that mothers are still the primary food makers in households. The problem is pure laziness on the part of parents - and lack of education.

smiles302

The issue I would have with this article/and thread is the blame falling squarely on the mother and the assumption father's are too slow to figure out how to use an oven...

Amalgam

smiles302 wrote: »

The issue I would have with this article/and thread is the blame falling squarely on the mother and the assumption father's are too slow to figure out how to use an oven...

Meh, both parents.. equality in uselessness. Local Tesco has kids eating, 'on the hoof', bag of chicken something or other, cooked, bag of doughnuts, sorted. Kid has no neck, within a year or two of ten years old. One of the parents pushing a trolley alongside.

Amtmann

Actually, I was on the LUAS a few weeks ago and there was this obnoxious little kid with a toy pellet gun. He was about nine years old, and round as a barrel. He was bawling at the top of his voice "I'm 8 stone! I'm strong! RAWRRR!!!", while flexing each of his ample arms. His mother gave him a vanilla slice to pacify him.

I do think that convenience food and processed food has contributed to this epidemic, and yes, I think this has a lot to do with the work pressures on parents. Of course they don't have time to cook proper meals five out of seven evenings, for themselves as much as for their kids. But more fundamentally, you've got to blame the education and health system I think. Too many people know next to nothing about nutrition, and what they think they know is very often completely bogus.

boogle

Yeah, I don't buy the "too busy to cook healthy meals" bull****. It's ignorance of nutrition and laziness. End of. That woman giving her obese son a vanilla slice in the luas - what has that got to do with being too busy to cook proper meals? Constantly shoving junkfoods into kids between meals has nothing to do with cooking. What's the difference between giving a kid a snack of a banana/yoghurt vs. chocolate/crisps etc? Anyone who claims that they don't know how bad junk food is for you is either lying or incredibly stupid. Feeding kids like that is child abuse in my opinion. These parents are setting the kids up for years of ill health, emotional torture and depression.

discus

boogle wrote: »

Yeah, I don't buy the "too busy to cook healthy meals" bull****. It's ignorance of nutrition and laziness. End of. That woman giving her obese son a vanilla slice in the luas - what has that got to do with being too busy to cook proper meals? Constantly shoving junkfoods into kids between meals has nothing to do with cooking. What's the difference between giving a kid a snack of a banana/yoghurt vs. chocolate/crisps etc? Anyone who claims that they don't know how bad junk food is for you is either lying or incredibly stupid. Feeding kids like that is child abuse in my opinion. These parents are setting the kids up for years of ill health, emotional torture and depression.

Good post man.
No one will admit that it's a parents responsibility to raise a child properly. It's much easier to blame a lack of education/government/health services.

ultain

Myers is a knob........of butter