Holy Cow!

Let me get this straight: it's NOT OK to discriminate based on age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or national origin, but it IS OK to discriminate based on numbers on a scale? Fabulous.

I will grant you that not being able to eat out would seriously motivate me to start cooking again and might even bounce me over to the Happy Dieter mode, but what happened to the civil liberties and freedoms which this country is supposed to be about? If I want to be fat and eat out, don't I have that right? (Not in Mississippi.) What about the restaurant owner who relies on the obese masses to make a living - doesn't s/he have the right to sell food to anyone they want? Also, how is stigmatizing an entire group of people going to make them feel good enough about themselves to want to change their eating habits? I just don't get it.

What about giving tax incentives to restaurants who voluntarily do things like removing transfats, providing nutritional information about entrees on the menu, reducing portion sizes (and prices!), or providing healthier side order options like fruit or steamed veggies or whole grain rice? Even crazier, how about giving tax incentives to obese people who lose 10% of their body weight in a year (since studies show that such a loss can provide profound health benefits)? I say go hog wild (pun intended) with all the incentives you like, but discrimination is ugly and wrong no matter who it is directed at and it shouldn't be something our government sanctions.

Comments

Jenn said…
I read an article about that this morning, and it said that 30% of Mississippi's population is obese? So that could potentially cut down a restaurants' profit by 30%, totally unfair to everyone.

We hardly ever eat out, twice a month at the most, but it's still a completely ridiculous law.
Dev said…
I saw this on the news last night ~ how did a law like this even get passed? I didn't think it was ever lawful to discriminate.
Nell said…
When I read this headline I thought it was a joke. Sooo dumb and ridiculously discriminatory. Better yet they should ban school age kids in restaurants.
Unknown said…
Looks like I won't be visiting Mississippi...hopefully a whole lot of other people will stay away too. I can't believe that this won't be challenged by the ACLU and brought before the Supreme Court. I'd like to see what the people who drew up and sponsored this bill look like. After all, aren't politicians known as Fat Cats? He he.. Sorry, bad joke.

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