Bill Maher Weighs In On U.S. Obesity: Fat Shaming “Needs To Make A Comeback”

Geoff Boucher

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Bill Maher served up a super-sized portion of steamed snark on Friday night as he weighed in on the American obesity crisis by equating overeating to racism and littering as a behavior that should be admonished in public ways.

“In August, 53 Americans died from mass shootings,” the host of Real Time with Bill Maher told his live studio audience in Los Angeles. “Terrible right? Do you know how many died from obesity? Forty thousand. Fat shaming doesn’t need to end it needs to make a comeback. Some amount of shame is good. We shamed people out of smoking and into wearing seat belts. We shamed them out of littering and most of them out of racism. Shame is the first step in reform.”

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Maher used his show-closing commentary to connect the dots between obesity and climate change, the health care crisis, and (in a roundabout way) a national surrender of our Space Age vitality. On that last point, Maher shared a recent anecdote about watching vintage footage of the Apollo 11 mission and getting a jolting insight when the camera panned over a gathered crowd and showed how “un-fat” the American public of 1969 looked.

“We look like a completely different race of people,” Maher said. “Now look at us. We wear our ancestors could have used as a sail.”

Maher had plenty more to say on the topic. He sneered at Democratic doublespeak that adheres to liberal sensitivities but also serves up a tacit endorsement of obesity public despite the public health consequences: “You’re the NRA of mayonnaise. We’ve gone to this weird place where fat is good. It’s pointing out that fat is unhealthy that’s what’s bad. Fat shame? We fit shame. Really.”

On body acceptance movement: “When did it become taboo in this country to talk about getting healthy? Weight Watchers had to literally take the words Weight and Watchers — I’m not kidding — out of their name. It’s now WW. Because merely the idea of watching your weight is now bullying. What’s next? Banning scales?”

On the modern American appetite: “We look at fried chicken and think: that’s a good start. Now put it on a bun. And add bacon. And cheese. And something no one’s even thought to put on it. Make my mouth [orgasm]. What’s Elizabeth Warren’s plan for that?”

On the stakes: “Being fat isn’t a birth defect. Nobody comes out of the womb needing to buy two seats on the airplane. Here it is in a nutshell from the New York Times: Poor Diet is the Leading Cause of Mortality in the United States. Everyone knows that obesity is linked to terrible conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and virginity.”

And a diet tip for Dems: “At next Thursday’s debate, one of the candidates has to say, ‘The problem with our health care system is Americans eat sh–, and too much of it.’ All the candidates will talk about their health plans but no one will mention the key factor.The citizens don’t lift a finger to help. And then the candidates will go back on the trail the next and try to prove they’re just as big a gluttonous slob as the rest of us…”

 

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