I didn't even bother to click the links, realizing that what has been seen cannot be unseen.
That said, I have some hope for the future when it comes to the fatties and the eventual taming of this disease we call obesity:
1. Childhood obesity is
already declining...good news for the next generation. I think we're in the midst of this epidemic's crest, and in 15-20 years (especially once the boomers pass on-
age is a big factor in obesity rates, and our society is aging more than many others) we may be able to hope for a decline. At the very least, it does not look like things will get too much worse with the way obesity rate increases have slowed in the past decade.
2. Fatties don't live long. Let them say what they wish about the sanity of their lifestyle choice, but the fact of the matter is that obesity kills. The health effects of the condition are very well documented and indisputable, and it is well known that these effects can and often do lead to early death. Morbid obesity may very well be
as dangerous as smoking is. There is already talk of America's current obesity epidemic
lowering life expectancy. Regardless, the fact of the matter is that morbid obesity will lead to
earlier death. It is essentially going to be Darwinism at work.
3. Another example of Darwinism working against fatties: they can't reproduce. Well, they can (and obviously do to a significant extent), but not as much as their thinner selves could. Obesity is strongly linked to
decreased fertility in females and enhanced
chances of stillbirth. Obesity hits
fertility in males hard as well.
You can also combine this with the fact that most people simply do not find morbid obesity to be particularly appealing in a mate. This completes the picture of the Darwinian impact of obesity. Fatties have:
-Fewer opportunities to mate (they are not as appealing to others, this goes for both men and women).
-Higher mortality rates (further cutting into the opportunities to mate that they do have).
-Lower quality mates when they do get them (higher quality females don't like morbidly obese men [even the obese women don't want them, unless they're Rick Ross and rolling in cash], and high quality men stay away from female land-whales).
-Lower chances of procreating to begin with(poorer fertility). The kids they do produce will be of lower genetic quality (they don't attract high quality mates in most cases, remember).
4. In addition to all of this, the government is starting to see the effects of obesity and it is publicizing them accordingly. Some states are mandating the display of nutritional facts in restaurants, and the menus in school cafeterias are getting healthier.
You can even see the cultural impact starting to emerge. I hate reality TV, but shows like "The Biggest Loser" are popular and do promote healthier habits. Our current generation is growing up seeing this influence. This, combined with recently observed declines in childhood obesity, gives me hope that this generation will probably be slightly healthier than the last, and that at the very least we are unlikely to see rates climb much further among them.
Keep in mind that 40 years ago, smoking was everywhere and that was socially acceptable. Avoiding the habit actually incurred a social cost, much less stigmatizing it. Once knowledge of its health impact became widespread, it started to disappear and the government began to attack and tax the habit relentlessly.
I do not want to make a direct comparison between smoking and obesity since the two problems are in many ways fundamentally distinct in nature. That being said, lessons from the decline of big tobacco can teach us a little something about the decline and fall of old habits. What is acceptable and mainstream now can become intolerable and stigmatized later on. Who in 1950's America could have predicted the decline of tobacco to its present state in the American conscience?
Could America adopt a similar change of heart when it comes to obesity? We can't know for sure, but it is entirely possible.
5. Other countries are not going to catch the USA. The only nations fatter than the USA are in the Pacific Rim(Nauru, Tonga, Samoa, etc), plus Kuwait. In the developed world, nobody can catch the USA, and nobody will. Why? Culture. Unique factors linked to American culture and infrastructure (car-centric, no mass transit, "bigger is better", ,massive food portions, etc) push them above others.
Nations like Australia, Canada and the UK will come relatively close (within 12 or so percentage points), but will still never quite hit American rates. Like the USA, they are also beginning to see growth in their obesity rates slow and level off, with childhood obesity
declining in some cases. This further lowers the chances of them ever catching up to, much less surpassing, the USA.
Conclusion: Things are bad, but there is hope. The chances of fatties reaching their fat utopia and spreading it further are lower than they want you to believe.