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

[© tweed]

nobody is ever responsible for anything they do.

[© tweed]

the individual is so dwarfed by the sheer size of the universe and mass of other forces that his agency's power is reduced to the limit as x approaches zero.  infinitesimal, not worth considering.

[© tweed]

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.

of course I (intentionally) went further than is necessary -- it is possible to simultaneously 'believe' in free will and yet believe that fats are not at fault for their being fat, or at least that factors outside of their control played a significant role in their accrual of fat.

[© tweed]

nobody is ever responsible for anything they do.

So we should free everyone from prison?  Diplomas are meaningless?  No more penalties or trophies in sport?

I will take these in turn.

1. we should free at least the vast majority of people who are currently imprisoned, and pay them reparations.  if there is a certain residual proportion of people who 'have to' be segregated from society in order for both to function closer to an optimal level, so be it, but the conditions inside the prison should more closely resemble a three-star hotel room or college dormitory than a rat cage.

2. they contain whatever meaning the society subscribes to them -- fortunately for yours truly, an Ivy League graduate.

3.  the question of sport and its relation to modern capitalism is a very interesting and complex one... perhaps it deserves its own thread.  but take it in passing that sport looks as it is and is treated the way it is for reasons and not by chance.

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in the former case, I appreciate your sympathy; in the latter case, I pity your handicapping resentment.  I've expressed many times that I do not believe being 'serious' and being 'not serious' are a binary, it is possible to be both, or neither, simultaneously, and certainly, if a line does exist between the two, it is not a line definite enough to be worthy of a switch-flip from sympathy to hatred.