BLAH
30 November, 2002 :: 8:28 a.m.
So I did more research on the McDonald's lawsuit for causing people to be fat...because my 3 1/2 readers demanded it! I'm here for you.
Actually it was to satisfy my own curiosity. Remember this name: Caesar Barber. He is the asshole from the Bronx who started this whole thing back in July.
Mr. Barber, or as his name should legally be changed to, Fat Ignorant Bastard, it seems ate fast food 4 or 5 times a week for years. Now he is saying McDonald's and other fast food chains (apparently he is suing Burger King, Wendy's and KFC as well) have deliberately misled consumers and are responsible for his health problems.
He suffered a heart attack and was told by his doctor to change his diet and habits. He didn't. He suffered another heart attack and developed diabetes. He is 5'10" and weighs 270 pounds. FIB is claiming that he was unaware that fast food isn't healthy and that it was the responsiblity of the restaurants he ate at to provide healthy food or warn him that it could lead to health problems.
Okay, first of all you don't have to eat fast food to become fat...you can eat pretty much anything and become fat if you consume too many calories compared to what your body burns. Secondly, you would have to live at the bottom of the damn ocean or have been trapped in a well for the last 15-20 years (which obviously FIB wasn't because he was stuffing his fat face) to not know that a regular diet of fast food isn't good for you. FIB claims that because they advertise 100% beef burgers, he assumed they were healthy.
Okay, again there are several things wrong here. First, it's been in print, on television, discussed amongst people, etc. for years that too much red meat in your diet isn't good for you...yeah, there's that idiotic Atkins diet out there now, but most everyone knows that you can't just eat beef all the time and assume you are going to be healthy. Secondly, you can see grease dripping off your food at these places (mmmm, getting hungry just thinking about it) and common sense says that a diet high in fat sure isn't good for you. Thirdly, after having his first heart attack, didn't the doctors give him some sort of guide as to what foods are good for him and which aren't? If not, shouldn't he be suing his doctors and not fast food companies? I've known several people who've suffered heart attacks--they all came home from the hospital having been consulted on what types of foods they should be eating and which they should avoid and that they should excercise more.
This is a no brainer...I worked at McDonald's for a year. People were not coming in believing they were buying health food. Even people ordering grilled chicken would ask for mayonaise on it. Or request mayonaise to dip their fries in or would drench their salad with fatty dressing...about once a month I would go a day (sometimes 2 or 3) without eating because just being around the food made me feel ill. Plus McDonald's and other food places have nutritional information available...I'm not sure about other places, but at McDonald's it's usually on the wall near the registers on the drive-thru side.
People in this country need to start taking responsiblity for their own actions instead of trying to get rich. McDonald's is a large corporation and therefore I strongly dislike them. These types of places are bad for the earth, not just bad for the health of stupid people who eat most of their meals there. Large companies suck as a general rule. Yeah, I eat at McDonald's and other fast food places still sometimes--it's easy and hey, sometimes fatty food such as their french fries just taste good...but I do this knowing I'm giving money to a company I would prefer not to support and also that I am eating food that isn't particularly nutritious. If FIB wins a lawsuit like this, if the class action lawsuit that is going forward against McDonald's for targeting children and making them fat goes against McDonald's then this country is truly on a downward spiral I want no part of. This is basically saying we are too stupid to know what is good for us and what isn't...we should not be allowed to buy groceries unless we have a degree in nutrition. I know that I don't eat the healthiest...but I accept responsibility if my jeans start getting tight or I start to feel really out of shape (okay, that could be the smoking also). I'm not going to say that I'm so stupid that I couldn't help myself and no one was stopping me from my road to self-destruction.
Unless FIB or the class action lawyers can prove that McDonald's laces its food with heroin or nicotine or some other addictive substance, I think that these cases should be tossed and no case remotely this stupid should be allowed to go forward and waste time and money ever again.