Most everyone has their hot buttons and mine was pushed the other day. It’s taken me this long to buy a domain and set it up so I could say SHAME ON YOU to County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. Yaroslavsky wants to invade private businesses that sell food and require that they put the equivalent of a “Please don’t purchase any more of my products” sign on the menu. Essentially, he thinks that fast food restaurants should put the calorie count on their menus, and by doing so, all the fat people who enter the restaurant will be instantly educated and will choose a food item less caloric.
My thinking is that these patrons will either:
- Stop ordering certain menu items, providing the restaurateur with forced obsolescence of those items
- Go elsewhere, where they are not made to feel guilty about their choices
- Order those same items anyway
Zev, these are businesses who have spent a great deal of money promoting their products in good faith. They are selling to adults who should be free to make decisions about what they ingest. Are you going into auto dealers next regulating the material on the seats because you’ve decided that leather seats are not good for people (or cows) and folks are just not smart enough to make that decision without your intervention?
Okay, I “get” that you’re trying to do some good for the populace and you’ve noticed that obesity is a big problem (pun intended). But your solution would be merely laughable if it wasn’t so offensively misdirected.
Wanna make a real difference in the level of obesity in this country…beginning with your county? Wanna force someone to get back to a healthier lifestyle? Force the Public School System to reinstate mandatory Physical Education starting with elementary school and push it all the way through High School!
None of us were fat kids because we played outside ALL day! We didn’t have two recesses where we sat outside and ate snacks and a lunchtime where we sat around, ate and played electronic games. We had P.E. We ran, we climbed, we jumped, we chose sides (oh yeah, some of us didn’t get chosen and got our feelings hurt so in 2008 we don’t do that any more because it might have a negative effect our children’s self-esteem…grrrr…but I’ll save that for another blog) and we played hard at both recesses (because it was directed play and we were taught how to be active) and after lunch and we were active little kids and active Jr. High Schoolers and fiercely active High Schoolers and we participated in Track and Swimming and Gymnastics and Drama and Art and we became well-rounded…instead of just rounder. And then someone, somewhere decided to eliminate mandatory Physical Education in elementary schools. Kids don’t dress out for gym anymore. No more Phys Ed, no more Art or Dance classes, no more anything that was engaging and made us look forward to going to school. What happened? That’s why you have fat adults, Zev…not because they’ve been healthy all their lives and they suddenly fell off track somehow and started eating at McDonald’s!
Take a real stand, Zev! Stand up to those fat parents and demand that their kids get outside and play! Challenge them to take a walk with their kids. Gather your Countians and march down the streets during the First Annual Yaroslavsky County Pride Day event and INVITE the restaurants to host healthy food booths along the parade route. Oh, and while you’re at it, demand an audit on the California lottery money and find out where that money’s gone…certainly not to the schools (yet another upcoming blog). Raise money and awareness to get those cute little kids excited about sports and activity. Kids only know what you teach them. They’d LOVE to be taught to LOVE to be active and playing and healthy. Kids don’t want to be sedentary, but that’s what we’re teaching them.
Wanna make a difference, Zev? Get out of the pockets of businesses and get to the source of the problem. You’re not going to change this current population of self-indulgent fatsos by posting calorie content on their french fries and shakes, Silly Man! Be a real HERO…give something back to the children that has been stripped away from them. Teach THEM the value of fitness and in 10 years you’ll begin to see the fruits of your labor in the form of a new generation of people who care enough about their own health, to perhaps also care about the health of their community and possibly, even their country!
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Whew, okay I got that off my chest. But now that I’ve got this site, I’m dusting off my old soapbox and Holy Cow, have I got a lot to say! Is there anyone else out there with an opinion? Anyone who you want to say “SHAME ON YOU”? Let’s start a movement! Who do you want to call out? Let’s hear it!