Comments on: Common Cause: Combating the Epidemics of Obesity and Evil http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/ Tue, 21 May 2013 14:56:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Social Networks « The Situationist http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-12175 Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:22:32 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-12175 [...] here. For previous Situationist posts discussing the work of Christakis and Fowler, see “Common Cause: Combating the Epidemics of Obesity and Evil,” and “Situational Obesity, or, Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat and Veg.” For  [...]

]]> By: Situationist Staff Favorites for 2007 « The Situationist http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-10778 Mon, 17 Dec 2007 04:07:21 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-10778 [...] Common Cause: Combating the Epidemics of Obesity and Evil [...]

]]> By: Ethan Dickenson http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6912 Sun, 16 Sep 2007 04:59:45 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6912 I find your article interesting from the ‘internal perspective’ because I myself have struggled with the idea of gluttony and have kept a wary eye on ‘Lucifer’ and I acknowledge the connection in our minds. I was surprised to read about your ideas because I truly thought they were my own personal observations in life and I always wanted to write them down but never have and now I’m wondering if there are other epiphanies, that I thought were quite personal, that are part of ‘modern psychological review’. I find your article personally fascinating.

I must also review this article from a another perspective. I think it is very irresponsible to make any claim that we in America are, in any way, responsible or deserving of the criminal terrorist actions that have been carried out against us. We are the most giving country in the world. Yes, we are powerful, and yet we don’t use that power to take over countries and engage in empire building. Unfortunately, with success comes responsibility, and it is our God given mission to do our best to bring freedom and beat back oppression in situations where we can. Saddam was a terrible dictator with dangerous tools and I have never had second thoughts about our decision to remove him from his post. The work that our troops are doing in Iraq is very important, and they know it, they are not only there to carry guns and police areas. Most of what they do is show the people that an American GI is trustworthy and reputable and caring. Yes, there have been a few outrageous situations and those things are appalling to me and the rest of the American people but for each bad story told about Americans in Iraq there are thousands of good stories that will never be told to the American people and the world at large because they are less marketable to the press. Our solders bring our culture, our happiness, our respect for humanity, and our love, and so I want to emphasize that our troops are great people doing a good job that involves many things that are not in the manual.

To sum things up: I appreciate your insight into our personal struggles and I am astounded by the depth of your article and I applaud you for your work in that area. However, I am deeply concerned about the message your article promotes about Americans losing their personal battle with evil and tying that to terrorism. We are the kindest and most giving country that has ever been. The media spin has caused the world opinion on Americans to drop but if we counted up all the money and aid that Americans give to people in other countries the amounts are staggering and we pay those taxes so our government can help the people of the world and the private charities and other organizations take action to help other people. I don’t think we should be branded as anything but people trying to do our best for the world. Most Americans would agree with me. Yes we have a few bad eggs (as every culture does) and yes we are people that are also animals and will behave a certain way if we are put in a Skinner box, but our current society hasn’t lost it’s internal battle with evil. The great majority of Americans are very very good people that I would trust with my life. We do our best and when terrible situations arise they are dealt with by the justice system our founders put in place.

Ethan Dickenson, Author, Today’s ‘Best of Breed’
~~~~~A suite of freeware for Windows~~~~~
http://todaysbestofbreed.wordpress.com/

]]> By: Doug S. http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6642 Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:09:04 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6642 There seem to be a lot of biological factors involved in obesity that don’t involve personal decisions on how much to eat. I read in the New York Times about experiments in which people were given extremely controlled diets. Skinny people had to eat far more calories to become fat and stay fat than people who were “naturally” fat did. People who were “naturally” fat had to eat far fewer calories in order to maintain a lower body weight than “naturally” skinny people.

Different bodies react differently to different caloric inputs, for whatever reason. There is some evidence that certain viruses contribute to obesity, and there is also evidence that microbes in the digestive tract affect how much food a person needs to maintain a given body weight.

]]> By: Your Social Group may be Sabotaging Your Life » The Decision Strategist http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6601 Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:45:30 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6601 [...] The Situationist has an article describing recent research that found a tremendously strong link between social networks and obesity. From the perspective of social networks, obesity, much like drug use and memes in general, spreads like a disease through groups of people. [...]

]]> By: The Decision Strategist http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6586 Wed, 05 Sep 2007 17:00:55 +0000 http://thesituationist.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/common-cause-combating-the-epidemics-of-obesity-and-evil/#comment-6586 This is an excellent article. Coming from the point of view of the psychology of decision making, it is interesting to consider the effects of social networks on our ability to make healthy choices. All the personal tricks in the world don’t stand up to the influence of who you are spending time with.

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