Yesterday we had more plain-speaking from Judith Collins, who put the so-called obesity epidemic down to a lack of personal responsibility.
National leader Judith Collins says Kiwis shouldn’t blame the “system” for obesity, because it is “generally” a weakness that people need to take personal responsibility for.
On the campaign trail today, Collins told reporters obesity wasn’t an epidemic.
“No, it’s not catching,” she said.
When asked whether her comments were discriminatory, Collins said: “Oh, come on.
“Many of us can do better on this. I’ll tell you what, take some personal responsibility.”
Spot on Judith.
Predictably the fat sheila at Massey University started caterwauling:
Massey University researcher Cat Pause, who describes herself as a fat studies scholar, labelled Collins’ attitudes to obesity “heartless” on Newstalk ZB yesterday.
“It fits in line with a larger neoliberal project, which is about positioning individuals as being solely responsible for their own health and well-being, and suggesting neither the larger society nor the state has any role to play,” Pause said.
“We are a community. We need to take care of one another.”
Good point you raise there, with your enormous ham in the air. Stop shoveling vast quantities of food into your cavernous maw and you might just find you will be able to see your feet in a few short weeks.
Next thing, Cat Pause will be telling us is how she beat anorexia. Yay!
In response, Collins said today: “Do you know what is heartless? It’s actually thinking that someone else can cure these issues.
“We can all take personal responsibility, and we all have to own up to our little weaknesses on these matters.”
A reporter then asked if Collins considered obesity a weakness.
Collins replied obesity was “generally” a weakness that people need to take responsibility for.
“Do not blame systems for personal choices.”
Isn’t plain speaking a thing to behold.
If being a fat bastard actually is an epidemic then perhaps a fat bastard tax might be in order.
But there is another way, a sure-fire way to reduce obesity. Roll out Venezuelan style socialism, complete with supply issues and food shortages. That’s the only thing socialism has done well at in Venezuela… slaying the obesity epidemic.
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