I watched Super Size Me yesterday. It was an interesting flick. But the most amazing thing about it was that it made me hungry! The more I watched it, the more I wanted a hamburger and fries. I don’t think that was Morgan Spurlock’s main goal for the movie!
The movie was filled was several spurious points:
1) The school cafeteria causes obesity.
2) The lack of gym glasses cause obesity.
3) McDonalds causes obesity because of their food.
4) McDonalds markets to children, helping them to become obese.
5) Lobbyists encourage obesity by promoting pro-food legislation.
Mainly, Spurlock fell into the trap of simple attribution — A + B = C. Except in this case A would be the poor school cafeterias and B would be McDonalds and C is obesity. The links that he implies and even sometimes directly states imply to much causality. We simply cannot say that this is the reason people are obese.
The reason that people are obese are much more comprehensive. But I still say that the problem isn’t the food–the problem is the choices we make. I am fortunate to be thin and not have to deal with weight gain, but at a certain point, I likely will. At the end of the day, you choose to ingest certain things. And in the case of children, their parents allow them to eat what they eat.
The schools aren’t responsible for making sure the kids eat well at lunch–the parents are. The schools aren’t responsible for ensuring the kids run around enough–the parents are. McDonalds isn’t responsible–each person that eats there is. McDonald’s marketing isn’t the culprit–the parents who allow their kids to eat McDonalds every day are. And lobbyists aren’t the problem–we all are.
I did think he brought up some good points that are worth discussing. And plus we can see the visible evidence of an improper diet. Mainly though, we can see that “All things in moderation” is a great way to live your life.