Are fat people (generally) to blame for being fat?

[Redalgo]

There is not an option for me to pick here that's suitable. Blame can be dolled out to the individual, firms, society at large, and to nobody at all (e.g. genetic predispositions). As is the case with most problems in society, it occurs on account of a converging of a multitude of factors, with nobody in the process being fully responsible for the outcomes. The respective strengths of those factors in bringing about the outcomes varies perhaps from one nation, area, or even individual to the next.

I also pretty firmly agree with Hagrid's sentiments, by the way.

[Redalgo]

I dunno. What Tweed is saying delves into the heart of the debate over whether people actually possess free will. I would not say his belief in this instance is ridiculous. Rather, it is simply not a perception compatible with the beliefs of our society as they've culturally evolved up to this point, in much the same sense as is arguing that God does not exist or all religious views are delusions.

If free will does not exist fat people are not actually responsible for their predicament, but despite that it may still be more useful for us to pretend like they are at least in part because of how it may positively affect human behavior. To be honest, the only thing I really consider controversial about this all is that people don't like to notice there is a gap between what is probably "true" in actually and what our society of individuals conditions itself to feel is "true" for whatever purpose, instead.

I do not know whether people have free will... but Tweed's response seems to me like a perfectly legitimate position to adopt assuming that he thinks we do not.