Dangerous Toilets, Dollar Menus, Dirty Looks, and Discrimination: a Hard Look at Obesity in America

During a recent interview on a popular afternoon medical talk show, the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama said that she felt obesity was the number one threat to national security, apparently, in her opinion, surpassing terrorism, weapons of mass destruction in the hands of our enemies, and hate groups, just to name a few.The First Lady's opinion, irrational though it may seem, is a popular one; in fact, obese people are held in such low esteem in this country that...
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During a recent interview on a popular afternoon medical talk show, the First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama said that she felt obesity was the number one threat to national security, apparently, in her opinion, surpassing terrorism, weapons of mass destruction in the hands of our enemies, and hate groups, just to name a few.The First Lady's opinion, irrational though it may seem, is a popular one; in fact, obese people are held in such low esteem in this country that prejudice and bigotry against the obese contribute to one of the last bastions of legal discrimination in the United States. Unlike race, religion, gender, nationality, or even sexual preference, obesity is NOT a formal group protected under the provisions of the equal rights amendment of the Constitution of the United States!Written by Dr. William Dispoto, PhD, college professor, management consultant, and himself an obese American, this book is an effort to bring that injustice to the attention of the American people, a population that is already fat and getting fatter. Recent studies have shown that 70% of us are clinically overweight; to make matters worse, 30% of us are clinically obese and 9% of us are severely obese. The affliction has reached epidemic proportions: it exceeds similar widespread afflictions such as addictions to drugs, alcohol, and gambling combined. Unless something radical and significant is done about it, we may headed for an early collective grave. Written from the perspective of an obese person, this book examines what it is like growing up and trying to be a productive member of society as an obese American: what is happening to our obese/overweight children in school; what is happening in the workplace; and what it's like enduring the cruelty and scorn of others, bombarded by the stereotypes in the entertainment industry, and tortured by the poor choices provided to us by the food industry.