Americans Life Expectancy

[iamshack]

It's amazing how many members of this site have pulled themselves up from their bootstraps.

More than you would think...more than you would think.

 

Being successful is not always a result of having everything handed to you, believe it or not. Sometimes hard work and discipline actually pays off...and that is nothing I will feel ashamed about.

 

I do not force my ways on anyone else, but excusing those that are either less fortunate or have made poor decisions from any responsibility whatsoever and treating them basically as rats in a maze does not help the situation either.

[Jenksismyhero]

Says the affluent white lawyer.

 

 

Yeah it's really my money and skin color that taught me that eating at McDonalds is not healthy.

[Steve9347]

Yeah it's really my money and skin color that taught me that eating at McDonalds is not healthy.

You're clearly best buds with Morgan Spurlock - you guys hang out and burn $100 bills every weekend.

[bmags]

So, the answer to solving the obesity epidemic is shouting at poor people to stop being stupid and decide to stop being poor.

 

Can someone draft this up so I can send it to Congress?

[Jenksismyhero]

You're clearly best buds with Morgan Spurlock - you guys hang out and burn $100 bills every weekend.

 

No one else does this? Seriously?

[bigruss]

So, the answer to solving the obesity epidemic is shouting at poor people to stop being stupid and decide to stop being poor.

 

Can someone draft this up so I can send it to Congress?

Government made meals for everyone!!!

[Jenksismyhero]

So, the answer to solving the obesity epidemic is shouting at poor people to stop being stupid and decide to stop being poor.

 

Can someone draft this up so I can send it to Congress?

 

Yes, actually. That's basically what the national movements are all about. Play 60 -- GET YOUR KIDS TO MOVE ONCE A DAY YOU ASSHAT PARENTS

[Steve9347]

So, the answer to solving the obesity epidemic is shouting at poor people to stop being stupid and decide to stop being poor.

 

Can someone draft this up so I can send it to Congress?

They could certainly stop being stupid, show me where fast food for every meal is cheaper than shopping at the grocery? Show me these statistics, please.

[Soxbadger]

And I didn't ask you to live life the way I do. This is a thread about how shockingly low the life expectancy is in America presently. You've come in here and constantly told us all how you wish to die at 50 and that you enjoy 'living in the fast lane."

 

We're happy for you.

 

No idea where you are even going with this.

 

Where I am going with this is that the premise about half of these arguments are hilariously faulty. People keep claiming that its food deserts, or not enough money, or not enough time. None of that is the reason why Americans are dieing faster. The reason Americans die faster is that we make stupid decisions that cost us years off our lives. Whether it be eating habits, drug habits, risky behavior, it all adds up to the fact that Americans die quicker than counter parts.

 

Through all of this muck, not one person have given a quantifiable answer of why we should care that other people in America may or may not make good decisions. Each person is unique. Each situation is unique. If people want to eat healthy, get in shape, there are countless opportunities in the United States. But at a certain point, there is just nothing you can do. There are people who are extremely obese, extremely unhealthy, who simply dont care, and quite frankly you arent going to convince me I should start caring. The same goes for the people who still smoke cigarettes. There is no justification, but if they want to die faster, thats on them. I am not going to sit up at night worry that other people in the US may die faster.

 

Yes, you can afford it, but you aren't going to pay an extra $1 per lb extra or whatever because you aren't going to cook for yourself but rather bill people money and watch Netflix and have Pizza Hut or Chinese food or whatever arrive at the door. Your personal habits don't relate to 99.9999% of the world out there, and you are stubborn.

 

People feeding their families McDonald's are f***ing insane.

 

I eat at home every night. I go out every day at lunch. The reason I eat at home is because I can control what I am eating. But I also recognize that there is an inherent cost in me making that food, that many people in this thread were not accounting for.

 

I guess I just wanted to knock out the economic argument because its kind of boring. It can be argued its cheaper to eat out, it can be argued its cheaper to make food at home. But neither of those things in and of themselves cause people to die quicker.

 

Which is really what this article was about, people in the US dieing quicker. And the answer is because we are allowed to do stupid things. Which I personally prefer. So if people were wondering where I was going, I guess its that Im defending the US, and saying that life expectancy is kind of a nonsense stat.

 

I actually think there is some science to back that. Id have to do research (and Im lazy so Im not going to at the moment), but I believe that the way that infant mortality is calculated some how adversely effects the US because the US has more premis etc that live for X amount of time, so they are counted in that stat. Whereas if we had worse medicine they would die before being counted as alive.)

 

Okay I lied, here is an article from what seems to be a person who generally would disagree with me (uses liberal in a negative connotation) and they come to a similar conclusion. So either a) Im becoming my own enemy or b) there has to be some truth to it.

 

http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA547ComparativeHealth.html

 

If you dont want to read the whole thing, here is the gist:

 

But infant mortality tells us a lot less about a health care system than one might think. The main problem is inconsistent measurement across nations. The United Nations Statistics Division, which collects data on infant mortality, stipulates that an infant, once it is removed from its mother and then "breathes or shows any other evidence of life such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord, or definite movement of voluntary muscles... is considered live-born regardless of gestational age."16 While the U.S. follows that definition, many other nations do not. Demographer Nicholas Eberstadt notes that in Switzerland "an infant must be at least 30 centimeters long at birth to be counted as living."17 This excludes many of the most vulnerable infants from Switzerland's infant mortality measure.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Soxbadger

[iamshack]

So, the answer to solving the obesity epidemic is shouting at poor people to stop being stupid and decide to stop being poor.

 

Can someone draft this up so I can send it to Congress?

At which point did we begin discussing answers to the obesity epidemic?

 

Primarily, this has been a discussion about the current eating habits of those in poverty in their "food desert."

[bmags]

They could certainly stop being stupid, show me where fast food for every meal is cheaper than shopping at the grocery? Show me these statistics, please.

 

You tell those poor people You tell em! You should fix on down to those poor people and fix em straight!

[StrangeSox]

I'm going to take the last part first and this is going to be a tangent from diet or health or w/e

 

I fall on the liberal side of things on many, many issues. But this ultra-left nonsense which ultimately places human beings in a position of taking absolutely no responsibility for themselves or their offspring and blaming EVERYTHING on "the world" or the "food desert" or whatever other pathetic liberal constructs you want to come up with is more of an insult to these people than the one you accuse me of levying. Far more.

 

Thanks for the straw-man, but that's not actually the "liberal" position and it certainly isn't mine! But look at this:

 

Seriously?

 

I am quite sympathetic of the plight of those less-fortunate than I am. However, pulling up websites which "really hit home" about "the hard reality" of actually being poor do not make the decisions that have caused many people in poverty to be where they are today or continue to stay less irresponsible or ignorant. It doesn't make their problems magically go away, either.

 

Honestly, if you do not understand how, or you do not know if you will be able to provide basic nutrition to your offspring, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE THEM. And if you do anyways, THEY WILL PROBABLY NOT BE PARTICULARLY HEALTHY OR BE IN A GREAT POSITION TO OVERCOME THE POSITION IN WHICH YOU HAVE PUT THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE.

 

Look at that last sentence, then step it back a generation. That is exactly, exactly what I'm saying here. Growing up in poverty gives any number of huge disadvantages. One of the strongest lines from the link, to me, was "Being poor is having to live with choices you didn’t know you made when you were 14 years old."

 

So these people you're telling are irresponsible and ignorant today? Maybe lazy, too? Aside from a whole lot of people in poverty actually busting their ass every day literally just to survive the next month, week or day, these are the same people you're talking about in all caps above. The people who weren't in a great position from the start, the people with a whole hell of a lot less room for error than you or I had. People who grew up around more crime and terrible schools. People that didn't grow up in a household that valued education, people that didn't grow up knowing anyone that successfully navigated the maze that student loans and college applications can be. People who worked a decent job earning a living, but got sick, missed work, lost their job, lost their car and lost their place to live. People, good people, no different from any of us here, who struggle and sacrifice probably more than a lot of us ever have, maybe ever will. People who make some bad choices, just like we do. People who aren't perfect, are lazy sometimes, are ignorant or irresponsible other times, just like us. Poverty is a lot of things, but it isn't a moral failing, something inflicted on people for being bad or worse than we are.

Edited January 10, 2013 by StrangeSox

[Steve9347]

Where I am going with this is that the premise about half of these arguments are hilariously faulty. People keep claiming that its food deserts, or not enough money, or not enough time. None of that is the reason why Americans are dieing faster. The reason Americans die faster is that we make stupid decisions that cost us years off our lives. Whether it be eating habits, drug habits, risky behavior, it all adds up to the fact that Americans die quicker than counter parts.

Best thing you've ever posted.

[bmags]

Government made meals for everyone!!!

 

I love in a thread where people are confused that cheese is fattening and they don't need to count calories, they have the self will to moderate, are the same people saying everyone elses choices are so dumb! And that was my answer to all of this! Government meals! pat yourself on the back russ!

 

Is there going to be a nice soxtalk meetup soon where we can all b**** about how we can't grab our secretaries asses, reverse-racism and how stupid and lazy poor people are? let me know!

[StrangeSox]

I never said it makes them bad people - just lazy.

 

lazy = lazy

 

When is calling someone lazy something other than an insult?

[Steve9347]

You tell those poor people You tell em! You should fix on down to those poor people and fix em straight!

Thank you for your zero contribution. Well done.

[mr_genius]

I blame fat people for this

[StrangeSox]

People keep claiming that its food deserts,

 

some people have said food deserts might be an issue while also posting an article about research downplaying food deserts. somehow this has morphed into people saying that food deserts absolve all responsibility. it's weird.

[Steve9347]

When is calling someone lazy something other than an insult?

You're jumping all over the place. I can call someone lazy as an insult and still not think they are a bad person.

 

My fatass sister is lazy - she eats like a slob and never works out. I don't think she's a bad person, though.

[mr_genius]

Leave it to a group of affluent white people in here to tell people how easy it is to eat healthy and cook at home. "If I could do it I don't see why everyone else can't.“

 

The skinniest I've ever been is when I was broke. Being fat is a choice.

[Jenksismyhero]

I blame fat people for this

 

If they weren't so lazy, it wouldn't be a problem.

[Jenksismyhero]

The skinniest I've ever been is when I was broke. Being fat is a choice.

 

Really, now that I think about it, the real cause of fatness is women and the suburbs. As soon as my white, affluent "slightly obese" ass got married and moved away from the city, the pounds started to pack on. Ugh. Women. Suburbs. Their fault, not mine.

[mr_genius]

If they weren't so lazy, it wouldn't be a problem.

 

They over eat too much. It's that simple

[Soxbadger]

some people have said food deserts might be an issue while also posting an article about research downplaying food deserts. somehow this has morphed into people saying that food deserts absolve all responsibility. it's weird.

 

What responsibility do I have?

 

Most food is labeled. Most people can read. If they want to find out what is good or bad, the library has free nutritional books.

 

We all make choices, some of us take responsibility for our bad choices and admit that there is no one to blame but ourselves. Other people find a million reasons to make up excuses for why their bad choices somehow arent their fault.

 

That was the part Shack couldnt grasp. I wasnt mentioning my habits to brag, I was mentioning them to show that at the end of the day, its my fault if I die early. And quite frankly, none of you should have to worry about that. Its on me.

 

You keep arguing from the premise people cant change without some outside force helping them. I am arguing from the premise that people can change, they just dont want to.

[mr_genius]

Really, now that I think about it, the real cause of fatness is women and the suburbs. As soon as my white, affluent "slightly obese" ass got married and moved away from the city, the pounds started to pack on. Ugh. Women. Suburbs. Their fault, not mine.

 

Probably George Bush's fault. Right Balta?