David Zinczenko’s essay, “Don’t Blame the Eater,” (New York Times, November 23, 2002) emphasizes the idea that the large conglomerates may be held accountable for some legal responsibility for the skyrocketing rate of obesity in America within children. He uses anecdotal evidence from his past to argue that it is not the consumer’s fault that they are experiencing health issues, it is the multinational corporations that own the most well known fast food restaurants. Zinczenko starts by saying that he has been a victim of these large conglomerates as a younger boy. He states that he had a daily task of choosing where to have his lunch and dinner between four well-known fast food chains. Zinczenko also shares that he lost…
In David Zinczenko’s Don’t Blame the Eater, he criticizes the fast food industry's failure to provide nutrition information and the resulting consequences in the American health and legal systems. He argues that we should not blame kids for eating unhealthily but instead look to the fast food industry as the problem. Kids are suing McDonalds because they are overweight and the author has had a similar experience growing up. The problems with kids eating too much has become a national crisis and causing an increase in childhood diabetes. One reason this problem is so serious is that there isn’t any alternative, it’s cheap, and healthy food…
But is it really that the problem is in the fast food industries? He claims that fast food is cheaper. Why he didn't try to find a grocery store like Walmart, Publix or Kroger? If the person take care of his diet, he will not have problems with obesity in the future. If his parents cook at home for him at night so he has lunch next day would be healthy for Zinczenko when he was young. At one point, he says, “ Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels ‘’. I don’t agree with this statement because fast food is not just for children like he said above and it’s for all the ages, so he is blaming just the children category. So the parents should have been paying more attention to the eating habits of their…
In David Zinczenko’s Don’t Blame the Eater article, he blames the fast-food industry for starting the rising obesity problem because of the failure of providing the facts and warnings labels about their high calorie junk food to the consumers. Zinczenko argues that kids are drawn by the cheap, high-calorie junk food that the fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken, or Pizza Hut are happy to supply because with lots of parents working all day, they do not have time to check what their children are eating. For Example, the author David Zinczenko states that when he was a little boy, his mother would always be away at work, so he would eat Taco Bell, McDonald’s, and at other places every day, and he ended up obese.…
According to his article, “The Battle Against Fast Food Begins In The Home”, the author, columnist and blogger Daniel Weintraub, argues parents, not fast-food companies or the government are responsible for their child's health and well being. Weintraub supports this claim by providing data from the Center For Public Health Advocacy on the subject of overweight schoolchildren, State law recommendations outlining nutritional standards, and his own experience with the problem. Weintraub intends to convince or persuade the parents or parent to accept the blame for their overweight child. From my standpoint, however, it is clear the parents or parent should not be the only ones to blame for the increasing weight problems children were dealing with, and are still currently dealing with today.…
Childhood obesity has swept America up from under its feet. However, the fall of the blame of this epidemic still remains unclear. The role of parents in children’s healthy eating habits comes down to what food they are buying to put on the table, how much time they are willing to put into preparing healthy meals, and how well they educate their children on nutritious value. Alongside the parents, the role of the government in children’s healthy eating habits is in marketing, advertisement, federal policies in pricing, and the regulation of food served in a child’s school cafeteria. I had never really focused on or considered this issue until after reading Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss. Who is to be held responsible for this obesity epidemic is something that has long since remained controversial, and is a topic I desire to write my final research paper on.…
When it comes to the topic of America’s social problems, most of us will readily agree that the obesity epidemic is one of the major problems in America’s society now. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of who is responsible for this problem. Whereas some are convinced “Don’t Blame the Eater”, that the fast-food industry is responsible, other maintains that is a personal responsibility and what you eat is your business. My feeling on the issue are mixed. I do support Radley Balko’s position that it is a personal responsibility “What you eat is you business”. However I find that Radley Balko has over looked some issue on the corporation’s side and I also agree with David Zinczenko’s argument that it is corporate responsibility.…
In the article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” written by David Zinczenko, he asserts that children have the right to sue fast food companies because their food made the children unhealthy and over-weight. Zinczenko believes that the fast food companies cause the childhood obesity because their primary concern is to make profit. Therefore, they do not care about the unhealthy food that their customers consume. He states that the fast food restaurants purposely target young children and teenagers because they enjoy cheap and readily available meal. As a result, they tend to eat at the fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and Burger King, because they can…
Putting the blame on the entire industry is shear stupidity. There is a myriad of information that shows just how unhealthy fast food is. Everyday there are new cases of overweight people because of their love for fast food. There have been many tests done, which are available to the public that expose what you are eating. One test that was personally performed sticks out more then anything else. A few years ago my eighth grade class took a McDonald’s McDouble, which is basically just a double cheeseburger on the dollar menu. The burger sat out for around one year (school year). At the end of the year, despite the burger being rock hard, it looked absolutely no different. There was no decomposition, or rotting smell. One simple…
America’s obesity can be an argument that has many sides to it. The one that is the most straightforward and logical is that us as americans are bringing this upon ourselves. We know the kinds of foods that are good and healthy along with the foods that are bad, fattening, and unhealthy. We try to blame fast food restaurants and grocery stores for serving us foods that are unhealthy. In reality, we know. We try to blame those companies because we don’t want to blame ourselves. As much as we are told what is good and bad for our bodies, we tend to ignore that and keep eating those unhealthy products. America is blaming the fast food industry for obesity, when in reality, it comes down…
How does one become fat? Is it the lack of responsibility of one's actions to make healthy food choices, the lack of knowledge to know if something is healthy or unhealthy for your body, or television hypnotizing the viewer into buying an unhealthy product? According to surgeon general, obesity has become a health epidemic that needs to be controlled and prevented. Almost a third of America's population is obese and growing. Obesity is also now a wide spread topic that has caught the attention of journalists and health activists. Writers all over America have an opinion on the obesity epidemic such as Radley Balko who wrote the article "What You Eat Is Your Business."…
The media has found a new object to criticize, and this time it is fast food. All anyone ever hears these days is eat healthy, it will help you live a longer and more enjoyable life. Well it's time to set the story straight about the greatness of fast food. Not only is it ten times better for you than these new "healthy foods" but its unique healing and educational powers can lead you to live longer and be smarter than ever.…
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser explains the historical growth of fast food chain and how they succeeded in dominating the industry for decades nows. Schlosser talk about many netriouse techniques use to lure children and other simple minded american to be addicted to fast food, like a drug. He uses success stories of how near world war two there are many misgiving of food shortages and how fast food industry started to boom in that decade due to their convenience. Furthermore, the author elaborate more on how many people drop their educational career and became successful through these endeavors. One main controversial question that come up in this novel is how fast food is the solution to many economic issues. The point raised make…
In a paragraph from the article “Cheap Food Blamed for America’s Obesity Crisis” by Linda Carroll and Madelyn Fernstrom, the authors discussed the reason that people are getting fatter is because the food companies are providing people with cheap and unhealthy food, Roland Sturm, the study’s lead author, claims that food companies are at fault for America’s obesity problems (Carroll and Fernstrom). However, in the article "It's Portion Distortion That Makes America Fat" from The Sacramento Bee, the author Shannon Brownlee proves that consumers are responsible for obesity when she shared a story from 12 years ago, on January 5, 2003, a mom of a teenager who is 400 pounds sued McDonald’s for having food…
Shoving bad food into your mouth at a fast food restaurant isn’t your fault, it’s the industry that is to blame. Now that doesn’t sound right, does it? In today’s society, Americans tend to think that something isn’t our fault, that someone else is to blame, this is called the blame game. Carl Pickhardt claims, “Blame never resolves conflict; it only protracts conflict by inflaming whatever grievance is involved.” Prolonging the confilct by blaming is what Americans continue to do, and Carl Pickhardt continues to state, “So why blame? As stated at the outset, blame is an act of charging some offense against another person or oneself. Because it is an act of judgment about being wronged or being in the wrong it is often propelled by anger.” People have became angered by their weight problems and they are not realizing that it is themselves in the wrong, not the fast food restaurant they are eating at.…