Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Speaking Of Prevarication--

Megan McArdle's latest on obesity:
I am, as noted before, very skeptical that public health attempts to lower the obesity rate will do much good.

No. What you said was:
Why excercise won't make you lose weight. Believe it or not, this is not surprising new science; experts have been saying this for years. The conflation of health and obesity has lead us to confuse the goals. We're told to exercise because it will make us thin, which it won't.


Study after study shows that most people are unable to lose more than a small percentage of their body weight and keep it off without major surgery.

The rest is a waste of time and a feeble attempt to use society's disdain for women to support her "argument."

7 comments:

clever pseudonym said...

"...as noted before..."

Yes, Megan. Many, many, many, many times before. This woman really knows how to flog a subject to a bloody pulp.

Downpuppy said...

I have no idea whether she even realizes that a Public Health Campaign can involve more than advertising. She's arguing against, what, exactly?

The thing just sits there, devoid of context, logic or any empirical backup.

satch said...

BY Megan's reasoning, since we're never going to eradicate crime, what's the use in maintaining a police force? Why bother with flu shots, since thirty thousand people a year die of the flu anyway? Why bother to have safety standards for automobiles, since forty thousand plus people a year die in traffic accidents? Hmmm...I think I've just given Megan ideas for a weeks worth of blog posts.

Kathy said...

Of course exercise DOES help one loose weight, if the weight is only caused by overeating. If one burns more calories than one takes in, you will loose weight.

So many other conditions contribute to obesity which are either difficult to diagnose, or the doctors are too lazy and bigoted against fat people to bother with.

I, for instance, began gaining weight rapidly about 10 years ago. Doctors said I was depressed and gave me all SORTS of antidepressants -which, by the way "PROMOTE weight gain." (My doctor's words).

Now I have been diagnosed with simple Sleep Apnea, where the body just doesn't have enough oxygen to burn fat, and the residual C02 (I think) remains in the system. This is one of those "Feedback" illnesses, where the symptoms feed the illness which increases the symptoms, and so on.

It really gripes me that someone as stupid and indifferent as Meghan is, has a respectable Nationwide platform to spew her idiocies.

Kathy said...

I got my CPAP machine this morning; yay Me!

Re-reading Meghan's post made me mad all over again: WHAT "study after study" PROVES exercise & diet won't loose weight? Of course they do. It is when the person stops exercising that the weight gain happens.

clever pseudonym said...

If Megan actually ever cited a credible source or provided any links to "study after study," I'd drop out of my chair in shock.

ChrisV82 said...

I lost 65 pounds through diet and exercise. I guess a lazy liberal like me has more drive and ambition than the Randian super libertarian.