| Kasz216 said: People want to be obese. |
Oh, come on. Do you want to be obese? No, of course you don't, because obesity has lots of disadvantages and very few (if any) advantages. So why should others? I at least have never met a single obese person who didn't prefer to be thinner.
Obesity is usually a kind of addiction, quite similar to drug (alcohol, cigarettes, illegal substances) addiction. (The term "fat smoker syndrome" even points in that direction) That's because oral stimulation is the most basic and reliable source of "joy" - no matter how depressing your life is and how shitty your day was, pizza, chips, getting drunk etc. will temporarily brighten your mood. Of course you'll feel even worse tomorrow, when the scale says that you've gained even more weight - but no reason to worry, as burgers, fries and sugary soft-drinks are already standing by to quickly help you deal with that depressing moment as well. It's a vicious circle for the individual, but one with fantastic consequences for certain parts of the food industry.
So I believe obesity should generally be dealt with like other kinds of addictions. If taxing cigarettes is considered a good idea because it has a positive effect on cigarette addiction, then taxing unhealthy food or ingredients might be a good idea as well.
