Should the US be placed under UN command to fight the obesity epidemic?

[Lorenzo]

The United Nations is an organization which intervenes when (man-made) disasters strike communities or when epidemics threaten populations. Be they small disasters (like the Tsunami), moderate ones (the crisis in Congo, with its 5 million dead in 7 years), or huge ones (like the obesity epidemic in the US, which kills 500,000 every year) - the UN is always ready.

The question is simple: should the UN intervene in the US to fight the horrible obesity pandemic which has reached unimaginable proportions?

After the recent news that America is getting fatter faster than ever before, with 65% of all Americans now being morbidly obese or overweight, - the question must be asked. By 2010, some 72% of all Americans will be morbidly obese or overweight. Some 35% of all newborn American babies will be obese by the time they're toddlers, carrying a heavy burden for the rest of their lives.

-obesity is now the number one cause of death in the US
-obesity is the gravest national security threat to the US (your chances of dieing from it are about 100,000 times bigger than dieing in a terror attack)
-obesity in the US is also the world's biggest international security issue

It is clear from the evidence that the US cannot govern itself and cannot cope with this man-made disaster of gigantic proportions, which borders on self-inflicted mass genocide and mass-suicide.

In short, should the US be placed under temporary UN command, with a huge operation to liberate the American people (because you can't be spiritually free in a biologically unfree body.)?

Such an operation would have the following components:

-200,000 fully armed Blue Helmets placed in all American villages, towns and cities
-concentration and training camps to teach the American people what food is, and what eating it means (a social activity, not just putting fuel in a machine); with compulsory, rigorous and disciplined exercise routines (see North Korean Army Training)
-an "Operation Corn Storm", which consists of exposing the agro-industrial-military-media complex of the US; this terrorist network must be entirely disbanded and destroyed, because it is killing more people than any other organization in the history of organized enzymes on earth
-quarantine and surveillance for a period of 10 to 20 years; no other method will do, because this is an entirely cultural, social and political affair, in which the social, cultural and economic structures of the entire US nation must be radically changed.

Would you be pro or contra?

Can we accept this mass genocide that parents are committing against their own offspring, any longer? Can we just sit and watch when an entire nation commits mass suicide?

[Zenlitened]

1. .

:popcorn:

[Lorenzo]

2. Your coordinates have been reported

You have been reported. You will be housed in CAMP B-12: Section CC99: Quadrant F. We assure you that your children will grow up in good health.

[Zenlitened]

3. You know, they're cracking down on meth freaks now, too.

Just sayin'.

[Mnemosyne]

4. I almost jumped, thank

you for the popcorn!

:popcorn:

[Zenlitened]

5. .

:toast:

Thirsty work, ain't it? :D

[Blue Belle]

6. Pro...

Obesity is a major problem inthe US... and increase in cheap fast, unhealthy food and poor eating habits, and sedintary lifestyle, most americans are eating themselves into an early grave. Couple that with the decrease in good available healthcare, and lack of wellness and preventative health care education, you've got an epidemic.

[Lorenzo]

8. Correct

Exactly.

And do you think the UN should intervene? As you may well know, the UN (with its World Health Organization) unites the world's best epidemiologists. They're the dudes who eradicated smallpox (one of mankind's great successes). They're the ones who are fighting the global war against AIDS and malaria.

The obesity epidemic in the US is touching virtually all Americans (with 200 million of them really being afflicted by it, while the other 100 million are their relatives and close ones). America's entire society is affected. It is a gigantic epidemic (one of the worst in the history of mankind.)

So should the UN intervene? It's its job to do so.

[Totally Committed]

7. Lorenzo, I don't know you, and you don't know me, but

with everything that is going on in the world today, you want to use the UN to handle our "obesity epidemic"?

If the Bush administration and his Party were not so concerned about what is going on in women's reproductive systems, they might think to harness the resources of the Surgeon General's office to educate the public about diet and nutrition and exercize. Look what one dedicated Surgeon General did for cigarette smoking in this country! If they weren't so concerned with giving millionaires and billionaires tax cuts, they might not have cut private after-school programs or intermural sports in schools that kept kids moving. If schools were not so under-funded by this administration, they might be able to turn down sweetheart deals with soda companies that place machines in school in return for badly needed $$$ for school-books and supplies. If parents weren't so concerned about getting prayer into schools and health education out (because it might include *gasp* sex ed), they might actually notice their kids need the nutritional guidance this curriculum could offer.

The UN is needed elsewhere, my friend. What's needed to stem this "epidemic" is leadership, parenting, and acceptance. We should be thinking of how to get kids out and moving, eating for health, and accepting and loving them unconditionally. The UN cannot do any of those things.

So, NO to the UN for this particular "problem".

TC

[Lorenzo]

10. That's precisely why the UN should intervene

It's precisely because the US government neglects the biggest problem facing the American nation, and only focuses on irrelevant things (like Iraq, terrorism, abortion, etc...) - that the UN should intervene.

The UN has the authority to look into this. If a government shows utter neglect and abandons its people, the UN Security Council may vote to take preemtive action against that government.

[zalinda]

9. Of course, start another war to divide the nation

Many people were not considered obese until the health police declared them as such. Arnold, you know who, is now considered obese, if not morbidly obese. These statistics are as made up as "marijuana is a gateway drug". Just enough fact to let it slide.

zalinda

[Moderator]

11. locking

we have bigger fish to fry today.