As IF Times

link Reuters AlertNet – Studies show obesity taking hold in Africa and UK

‘Studies show obesity taking hold in Africa…’

If this is true, future Miss Universe pageant contenders will have to find a new stock response during the question and answer segment. From the time I was a kid until, well, up to when I ran across this article, I’d always thought people in Africa were starving. No doubt that is probably still the case in many regions where wise dictators, er leaders, determine who gets seconds and who gets to just look at seconds; but if this study is correct, that’s quite a sea change in circumstances without a lot of deserved fanfare.

Shouldn’t there have been an announcement in the papers? A card sent?

My rapier-like mind figures that one of two things have happened to cause this significant change in the circumstances for people in Africa. Either more food is available or more food is made available. Anyone who has ever been to the American Midwest would never argue that there has ever been a food shortage. We then entertain the other possibility; that food has always been plentiful, the problem has been with distribution.

Food and financial aid programs to ameliorate deficiencies in diet, water and living conditions in Africa have been in place as far as I can remember. It appears that now, there’s evidence of their efficacy. I suspect that changes in political climates in Africa have as much to do with such welcome progress as aid itself. It’s easier to feed a nation for example when the resident dictator doesn’t skim off the first 80% or so for himself, his cronies and his army.

As many still fail to grasp today, sometimes you have to upset a few regimes, even with force if you really are in the helping people business.

But all is not tickety boo yet, according to this article, the citizens in the increasingly urbanized continent are consuming low quality, high sugar foods which contribute to obesity, heart disease etc etc.

The most interesting passage in this article is:

“Given the chronic nature of most diseases associated with obesity and by extension the huge cost of treatment, the prospects look grim for the already under-funded and ill-equipped African health care systems unless urgent action is taken,” said Abdhalah Ziraba, who worked on the research with the African Population and Health Research Centre in Nairobi.”

Hey wait a minute….they’ve become AMERICANS!!

link: Things People Said: Warning Labels

Being the handyman that I am, I purchased a bottle of drain cleaner to unstop my bathroom vanity. As I waited for the chemicals to do their magic, I read the label on the package to kill time. Turns out time wouldn’t be the only thing killed if I happened to ingest any of this potent chemical cocktail, for in bold letters, the label stated ‘HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED, SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION’

I shudder to think about why the manufacturers of this delightful liquid would feel the need to print such a warning on a fairly obviously noxious product. So I cast about the house looking at other products and devices which as we all know, carry their own particular warning attachments. Some amusing stuff, but since this is the Internet age, doing a search engine scan turned up the above site which compiles a pretty good list of product warnings apparently collected from a warehouse worth of goods that we regularly use.

Those of you who are students of humor know that behind all really good humor is irony and it is the irony of truth which is both funny and sad. In the case of warning labels, let’s assume that they are not attached out of simple motherly, altruistic concern for the end user, but rather on the advice of high paid (is there any other kind?)lawyers. My guess is that getting your company sued out from under you is a better motivation to act than concern for a few burnt taste buds.

So there it is. I blame lawyers. Not for being lawyers of course, that’s just plain crazy. That’s like blaming dogs for barking. No, the fact is, our western society must have some enzyme or food additive that nurtures and enhances the gene that turns out people who are willing to interpret and make laws that help society. The out sized influence on society and handsome financial rewards are no deterrent, aspirant lawyers brave these hardships despite them.

But let me present another perspective. I blame lawyers for dooming western society. Never mind global warming, how about global stupidity. If we did not have such well crafted laws governing every aspect of our lives and creating the warning label industry, we’d have a much smaller global population, at least in the western world and hence less of a carbon footprint.

If labels had not been printed on certain consumer products, who knows how many of the weaker of our herd would have been weeded out by incidents of showering with hair dryers, using rotary drills as dental devices, or drinking of drain cleaner for that insatiable thirst.

Do we as a society need to have our gene pool diluted by those that must to be told that knives are sharp, that dice are not for human consumption or would iron clothes on their body? I for one feel we would be better off without those who need to be warned not to drive cars in the ocean. Of the last 58 times you’ve been on a plane, can you remember when the flight attendant failed to tell you how to buckle a seat belt?

There’s a burgeoning campaign going on which purports that smoking may cause the odd health problem. Hopefully, the word gets out, but since the campaign is only 40 years old, somebody may have missed the message. Did you ever notice that when police arrest a suspect, no matter how violent they may be, they take extra caution to ensure they don’t bump their heads when placing them in the back seat of the cruiser?

This path of protecting the vacuous has positioned the first world/western nations firmly as the leading contributors to global stupidity. We look hopefully for this sinister trend to be recognized and championed by some leading and influential figure before we’re all suckling at the nipple of the nanny state. Darwin would be spinning in his grave observing the wilful dilution of society’s herd.