Obesification: A Suicide Mission

Kevin Pho's blogpost on the proportion of executive and administrative salaries in our sick health care system, along with the VA scandal, got me fired up again.

Conservatives and liberals alike are mad as hell...oh, the outrage.The light on the VA scandal made public the problems of power and corruption, mistreatment of employees and whistleblowers. Again. The shameful treatment of veterans whom the agency was supposed to be helping. Again.

Obama knew about this problem when he took office. The problem was already there when Bush was in office. Obama caused it by promoting big government. Bush caused it by starting wars we couldn't pay for. It’s the Republicans. It’s the Democrats. It’s Bush. It’s Obama. It’s Fox News. It’s MSNBC.

STFU.

It's us, all of us. We have our voices, we have our votes, most of us have two legs, two arms, two hands, a mouth, and a brain. We can be cognizant of our world and act in it. Use the damn resources you've got instead of sitting on your fat ass texting.

When you look at problems such as the VA’s actions that do come to light, it’s really just another day, another dollar, another power broker. Bullies and greed run the show. The government has acted no differently than private industry or nonprofits.

Apparently it’s okay to bully people who point out injustices, or who criticize the status quo, no matter what sector you work in. Wouldn’t want someone to have an independent thought. Talk out of one side of the mouth about providing value for the patient, while stealing value blind?

The value they talk about is only about how well it serves the interests at the top.

We approved it, yes we did.

Is it because we are working ourselves to death, doing the jobs of two or more people, working longer hours with less pay, fewer benefits, and less compassion than ever before? Auto-piloting through our jam-packed workdays, stacked together into a blur. Stuck in our self-imposed commutes, bound to our inflated mortgages, reliant on our vehicles, ruled by our electronic gadgets.

Whose fault is that?

We were complicit in underfunding public education, we didn’t provide physical or health education that prepares kids to be healthy, informed and functionally literate adults. We succumbed to our reliance on processed, fast, convenience foods laden with sugar, simple carbohydrates and salt to seduce our tastebuds, drain our wallets, and addict our minds.

We approved of the behavior of executives and those with power who run public, private, and so-called not-for-profit companies, corporations, agencies and health care systems, who siphon off financial resources into their own pockets, personally risking little as they have a golden parachute to back them up.

Where’s the golden parachute for the rest of us? What if we are all forced to jump into thin air, and no one will rescue us. We’re being taken by gravity, and no one will be there to pick up the pieces when we go SPLAT!

Instead, we think our golden parachute is the next weight loss drug, the next diabetes drug, or the next New York Times Bestseller Diet Fad.

Will we not stop until every single citizen of this country is impoverished, obese and Type II diabetic?

Eventually there will be a breaking point where the people will no longer have the resources to passively support this system. We’ll be too old, sick, fat, exhausted, and poor. Only when we’re dead will we cease to support the system.

Except for the unfortunate recipients of our stupid genes, if we passed them along to the next generation. But the way things are going, they won’t have to suffer as long as we do.

They won't live as long.