Rhetorical Analysis on Obesity

Obesity is defined as a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduce life expectancy and/or increased health problems. “The problem of obesity is increasing in the United States. Understanding the impact of social inequalities on health has become a public health priority in the new millennium. Social, political, and economic factors now are acknowledged to be "fundamental" causes of disease that affect behavior, beliefs, and biology.” (Goodman, 2003)  In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. Obesity has not always been seen as a medical

This information helps to build the appeals of ethos as the Cato Institute is an established American public policy research organization. After establishing reasonable credibility, Balko then announces a special program called “How to Get Fat without Really Trying,” an event that Balko called a pep rally for media, nutrition activists, and policy makers all eager for an array of government anti-obesity initiatives. In the second paragraph, Balko brings to the reader’s attention the President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures. Along with the President’s actions, Senator Joe and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, among others, “have called for a ‘fat tax’ on high-calorie foods” (Balko). UTA students and the readers of The Shorthorn would be greatly concerned with having a ‘fat tax’ on high-calorie foods. Students tend to eat high calorie foods, because it’s cheaper and easier to ahold of, but if the government succeeded in adding a ‘fat tax, there will be

“Obesity is a disease that affects more than one-third of the U.S adult population (approximately 78.6 million Americans). The number of Americans with obesity had steadily increase since 1960, a trend that has slowed down in recent years but show no sign of reversing”.

When it comes to the topic of obesity, most will readily agree that it is a growing dilemma. This argument has many writers bringing different responses. Two explanations are debated in What You Eat is Your Business by Radley Balko and Don’t Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko. Both pieces create a good stance on the topic of obesity. Balko’s piece, however, has a better all around flow, organization and consistency.

How Junk Food Can End Obesity by David H. Freedman and How a National Food Policy Could Save Lives by Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, Ricardo Salvador, and Olivier De Schutter are very similar in the things that they talk about. These articles both had one goal in mind when they were written and that was the goal to end obesity. Then the articles also differ in ways as well. The article How Junk Food Can End Obesity mentions the fact that we should not stop eating fast food and just change the recipe, still make it taste the same. The second article How a National Food Policy Could Save Lives talks about how we should change our diet completely because it doesn’t

To begin with, ethos, being the author’s credibility, is efficiently used throughout the entire article. Each paragraph demonstrates the extents of Balko's thorough research, such as, “President Bush earmarked $200 million in his budget for anti-obesity measures. State legislatures and school boards across the country have begun banning snacks and soda from school campuses and vending machines. Sen. Joe Lieberman and Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, among others, have called for a “fat tax” on high-calorie foods” (Balko, 2004, para. 2) and, “Sen. Hillary Clinton just penned a lengthy article in the New York Times Magazine calling for yet more federal control of health care. All of the Democrat candidates for president boasted plans to push health care further into the public sector. More and more, states are preventing private health insurers from charging overweight and obese clients higher premiums, which effectively removes any financial incentive for maintaining a healthy lifestyle” (Balko, 2004, para. 4). Every segment of information

Rhetorical Analysis of Radley Balko’s “What You Eat Is Your Business” In May of 2004, Radley Balko, a self-described libertarian, wrote the essay “What You Eat Is Your Business” directly to American consumers on the Cato Institute website. Balko has also written for the Washington Post, and is the author of the book Rise of the Warrior Cop: The Militarization of America’s Police Forces (2013). Balko brought attention to the fact that obesity is not the government’s issue but solely the responsibility of the individual.

Obesity is a growing epidemic in America. Obesity has increasingly become worse in America due to all the fast food restaurants and growing appetites for Americans. Obesity also increases the risk for various diseases and health issues. Some examples of diseases would be heart disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea gallstones, and even certain kinds of cancers. Obesity can be prevented, most people just do not take the measures to prevent it. You can exercise daily, make healthier, wiser decisions on foods you intake, and you can even make a homemade meal instead of eating Mcdonalds; and portion control is the key! ( "Overweight & Obesity.")

The problem of obesity has reached the epidemic levels in the US. More than 65% of the American adults are classified obese these days. This is a very huge number. Today Americans are plagued by diseases of which 120000 are because of obesity. An obese person in America is likely to incur $1,429 more in medical expenses annually. Approximately $147 billion is spent in added medical expenses per year within the United States. Although obesity is considered a preventable condition and has been increasing within the United States, no effective treatment has been developed. Health authorities anticipate no change to this vector. Of all the big countries, only

Obesity is a major issue in America. According to Brownell and Warner, as of 2009,

I claim that in American culture, a thin body is held as the "original", normal body; whereas obesity is viewed as a `temporary disruption' to the balance of the body. According to our cultural understanding, an obese body is viewed as being in the process of constant transformation. The idea of a permanently fat person is unacceptable and an obese body must be standardized and normalized. The goal is to transform and

Obesity has rapidly emerged as a serious health issue in America. The cause of obesity results from America’s social injustices. Today, food advertisements are in all places promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. Considering the great expense of healthy foods, low income families can barely afford fruits and vegetables. These two factors contribute to the increasing obesity rate in the United States. Unfortunately, it has taken an excessive amount of Americans to become obese for America to become aware of the issue and take action. Although obesity is still an increasing problem, America is fighting to reduce the number of obese citizens. As a result of low income and the media advertising unhealthy lifestyles, America is in the midst of an obesity epidemic.

This essay discusses how social constructions have an effect on obesity and what combination of causes and contributing factors it includes can lead to obesity. `Obesity is the term used to describe someone who is overweight and unhealthy. Obesity shortens life by an average of 10 years. It is very common in the UK and results from a study back in 2014 showed that a whopping 65.3% of men and 58.1% of women are obese here. (UniversityOfBirmingham,2016) Being over weight is generally associated with being lazy and unpleasant. There are a lot of media groups that have influenced our society’s perception on obesity and many factors that lead to the disease. Obesity can be life threatening and can be the start of lethal conditions such as diabetes,

Obesity has caused great dilemma in America. It was known as an adult disease. “Over two thirds of adults are over weight or obese.”(Obesity, Jerry R Ballenttne) these numbers are increasing rapidly. Obesity is not just a appearance

In a similar manner, the powers of discourses on docile bodies become internalized creating a normalized judgement within the everyday person. Fat bodies are one of the most targeted as docile bodies. Southwest airlines approaches the controversy of fat bodies that cannot fit for their seats through the minoritizing discourse by claiming that their airline seats are “carefully cultivated...for the average joe” (Huff, 178). However, Southwest airlines viewed through the lense of the universal discourse states that actual statistical average customer is indeed a fat customer and the claimed “average joe” is the ideological construct (Huff, 179). Still, the ideological construct is so heavily embedded into daily life through diet commercials, models on magazine covers, and even the misuse of the health discourse. There is a misconception of a healthy body being a thin body and thus, someone who internalized that misused health discourse would feel shameful for eating a cupcake yet victorious for running on the