Love Geraldine Doogue and anything she puts out there.
Moral Compass is an ABC program. Sunday 6:30pm
Sunday 1:30pm (Rpt) you can also catch up on Iview.
New program in Australia and they touched on the O word and body image last weekend
http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s4018694.htm has the full transcript and the program video
the obesity bit featured Greg Sheridan who has lost a lot of weight
if i may copy here
Geraldine Doogue
OK. Well, I think we might leave that little thorny one and move on to something I think might surprise. A major public health concern - obesity. But it's also an issue fraught with value judgements. Here's a short summary.
Geraldine Doogue, Narration
Jokes aside, obesity has become the single biggest threat to public health in Australia. If we continue to gain weight at the current rate, studies indicate that 80% of us will be overweight or obese within the next 11 years.
What will this mean when negative attitudes towards obese people have been shown to develop in children as young as three and discrimination is experienced by overweight and obese people in every aspect of their lives?
Geraldine Doogue
So, has it become OK to pass judgement freely on people who are overweight in our communities, whether its television shows urging them to change, or the constant discussion about diet in magazines, or ghastly stories about the super-obese? Are we becoming a society that feels free to point the finger at others' bodies?
I mean, Kate Carnell, is this the last acceptable prejudice?
Kate Carnell
It's not acceptable and it's really, really damaging. I spent the last 3.5... well, 3 years of my life working as the CEO of Beyond Blue, and I can guarantee to you that a very large amount of depression and anxiety in our community is based upon discrimination, people being discriminated against, and a chunk of that is based upon body image.
Geraldine Doogue
Well, I mean, Tim, do you think that fat discrimination has become acceptable, or it is becoming acceptable? I mean, one could argue that The Biggest Loser is a very interesting example, you know, of a sort of reality TV that I think is riddled with problems about the way it treats people.
Tim Soutphommasane
I'd agree. I think there's something in our popular culture which revels in the humiliation of others for supposed deficiencies or...
Geraldine Doogue
Moral failure?
Tim Soutphommasane
Or moral failures, indeed. And overweight status is a proxy for something else - laziness or a lack of discipline, and so on. Now, is it a new form of discrimination? That's an open question, I think. When we talk about discrimination, it's usually with reference to immutable or intrinsic qualities of the person - things like race or sex or whether you're able-bodied, for example.
What sets fatness or obesity apart is that there's some measure of a contribution that comes from an individual as well. But we shouldn’t be moralising as well.
Greg Sheridan
I think it hurt Kim Beazley, politically. I think Kim Beazley was a fantastic political leader, a great guy, a fantastic contributor. But I do think his size counted against him.
Geraldine Doogue
Or Premier Barry O'Farrell said he had to lose weight in order to become Premier.
Greg Sheridan
In order to become Premier.
Kate Carnell
And so did Joe Hockey. So, they perceive that they needed to get their weight back under control.
Kate Carnell
Well, it is, but look... I think discrimination for anything, on any basis, is a problem. It's a problem for mental health. I had anorexia as a teenager, so I know this pretty well.
This body image bit has, you know... is a huge problem, whether it be underweight or overweight, this business that we judge people dramatically on the basis of body image and discriminate against them is not alright.
Geraldine Doogue
See, Susan, in Christianity, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. And it's in various big religious traditions. So is there a moral dimension to it?
Susan Connelly
I think there is a huge moral dimension to it, even having this conversation about obesity in our society, when there are 900 million people hungry in the world, brings a moral dimension to the whole thing.
Geraldine Doogue
A skewedness about resources?
Susan Connelly
Yeah, resources, the distribution of resources. You know, the fact that we've got enough food to feed the world, and yet people 55 minutes from Darwin are living on less than $1.25 a day.
Geraldine Doogue
That's the question, Greg. Is there a sort of... I mean, if it is one of the seven deadly sins, it suggests that the individual has a duty to themselves to be prudent with their attitude to food.
Greg Sheridan
Well, I think that's true. I think, you know, life is a gift from God and you've got to respect the gift. But I don't think you should be judging other people either. You know, Les Murray, the greatest Australian poet, who was certainly an amply built man, wrote a wonderful poem, Hyperventilating Up Mount Parnassus, which was a celebration of being large, and it contains the line, 'Never trust the newly thin.' And I have to admit I belong to this category myself.
Greg Sheridan
Yes, I've noticed that.
Greg Sheridan
At my peak, I weighed well over 100kg. I now weigh about 73. And that's great - I'm very happy about that. But I don't think I was a bad person when I weighed over 100kg. And I'm grateful to the people who were kind to me, even despite this appalling offence I'd committed of being overweight.
And so, I think the individual has a responsibility to look after themselves, but I don't think you should be judging people. And, really, obesity in the scale of moral failure, if you're gonna class it as a moral failure, is such a slight moral failure.
Geraldine Doogue
But, just to end, I suppose it is... What do you think should run through our heads, then, when we're all thinking about our own values and our conduct towards others who are struggling with weight, or ourselves? I mean, what do you think... After a discussion like this, what runs through your head?
Susan Connelly
Well, I should have greater compassion. What runs through my head... Because I'm overweight, I can tell you. But I see a person very overweight and I think, 'Oh, I'm not as bad as them.' I mean, that's true.
Geraldine Doogue
Greg?
Greg Sheridan
It is an enormous gift to be good-looking. It's never a gift I've suffered from myself. And... But it does make a big difference to your success in life and... You know, we've got to even the scales a bit. So, be kind to large people.
Geraldine Doogue
(Laughs) Small envy just creeping in there. Kate?
Kate Carnell
I think we've really got to see discrimination against people who are overweight the same way as we see discrimination against people on the basis of sex, age, gender, and so on. It IS discrimination, and it IS causing harm.
Geraldine Doogue
Tim ?
Tim Soutphommasane
Be kind. You could be fat yourself... one day, if you're not already.
Moral Compass is an ABC program. Sunday 6:30pm
Sunday 1:30pm (Rpt) you can also catch up on Iview.
New program in Australia and they touched on the O word and body image last weekend
http://www.abc.net.au/compass/s4018694.htm has the full transcript and the program video
the obesity bit featured Greg Sheridan who has lost a lot of weight
if i may copy here
Geraldine Doogue
OK. Well, I think we might leave that little thorny one and move on to something I think might surprise. A major public health concern - obesity. But it's also an issue fraught with value judgements. Here's a short summary.
Geraldine Doogue, Narration
Jokes aside, obesity has become the single biggest threat to public health in Australia. If we continue to gain weight at the current rate, studies indicate that 80% of us will be overweight or obese within the next 11 years.
What will this mean when negative attitudes towards obese people have been shown to develop in children as young as three and discrimination is experienced by overweight and obese people in every aspect of their lives?
Geraldine Doogue
So, has it become OK to pass judgement freely on people who are overweight in our communities, whether its television shows urging them to change, or the constant discussion about diet in magazines, or ghastly stories about the super-obese? Are we becoming a society that feels free to point the finger at others' bodies?
I mean, Kate Carnell, is this the last acceptable prejudice?
Kate Carnell
It's not acceptable and it's really, really damaging. I spent the last 3.5... well, 3 years of my life working as the CEO of Beyond Blue, and I can guarantee to you that a very large amount of depression and anxiety in our community is based upon discrimination, people being discriminated against, and a chunk of that is based upon body image.
Geraldine Doogue
Well, I mean, Tim, do you think that fat discrimination has become acceptable, or it is becoming acceptable? I mean, one could argue that The Biggest Loser is a very interesting example, you know, of a sort of reality TV that I think is riddled with problems about the way it treats people.
Tim Soutphommasane
I'd agree. I think there's something in our popular culture which revels in the humiliation of others for supposed deficiencies or...
Geraldine Doogue
Moral failure?
Tim Soutphommasane
Or moral failures, indeed. And overweight status is a proxy for something else - laziness or a lack of discipline, and so on. Now, is it a new form of discrimination? That's an open question, I think. When we talk about discrimination, it's usually with reference to immutable or intrinsic qualities of the person - things like race or sex or whether you're able-bodied, for example.
What sets fatness or obesity apart is that there's some measure of a contribution that comes from an individual as well. But we shouldn’t be moralising as well.
Greg Sheridan
I think it hurt Kim Beazley, politically. I think Kim Beazley was a fantastic political leader, a great guy, a fantastic contributor. But I do think his size counted against him.
Geraldine Doogue
Or Premier Barry O'Farrell said he had to lose weight in order to become Premier.
Greg Sheridan
In order to become Premier.
Kate Carnell
And so did Joe Hockey. So, they perceive that they needed to get their weight back under control.
Kate Carnell
Well, it is, but look... I think discrimination for anything, on any basis, is a problem. It's a problem for mental health. I had anorexia as a teenager, so I know this pretty well.
This body image bit has, you know... is a huge problem, whether it be underweight or overweight, this business that we judge people dramatically on the basis of body image and discriminate against them is not alright.
Geraldine Doogue
See, Susan, in Christianity, gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. And it's in various big religious traditions. So is there a moral dimension to it?
Susan Connelly
I think there is a huge moral dimension to it, even having this conversation about obesity in our society, when there are 900 million people hungry in the world, brings a moral dimension to the whole thing.
Geraldine Doogue
A skewedness about resources?
Susan Connelly
Yeah, resources, the distribution of resources. You know, the fact that we've got enough food to feed the world, and yet people 55 minutes from Darwin are living on less than $1.25 a day.
Geraldine Doogue
That's the question, Greg. Is there a sort of... I mean, if it is one of the seven deadly sins, it suggests that the individual has a duty to themselves to be prudent with their attitude to food.
Greg Sheridan
Well, I think that's true. I think, you know, life is a gift from God and you've got to respect the gift. But I don't think you should be judging other people either. You know, Les Murray, the greatest Australian poet, who was certainly an amply built man, wrote a wonderful poem, Hyperventilating Up Mount Parnassus, which was a celebration of being large, and it contains the line, 'Never trust the newly thin.' And I have to admit I belong to this category myself.
Greg Sheridan
Yes, I've noticed that.
Greg Sheridan
At my peak, I weighed well over 100kg. I now weigh about 73. And that's great - I'm very happy about that. But I don't think I was a bad person when I weighed over 100kg. And I'm grateful to the people who were kind to me, even despite this appalling offence I'd committed of being overweight.
And so, I think the individual has a responsibility to look after themselves, but I don't think you should be judging people. And, really, obesity in the scale of moral failure, if you're gonna class it as a moral failure, is such a slight moral failure.
Geraldine Doogue
But, just to end, I suppose it is... What do you think should run through our heads, then, when we're all thinking about our own values and our conduct towards others who are struggling with weight, or ourselves? I mean, what do you think... After a discussion like this, what runs through your head?
Susan Connelly
Well, I should have greater compassion. What runs through my head... Because I'm overweight, I can tell you. But I see a person very overweight and I think, 'Oh, I'm not as bad as them.' I mean, that's true.
Geraldine Doogue
Greg?
Greg Sheridan
It is an enormous gift to be good-looking. It's never a gift I've suffered from myself. And... But it does make a big difference to your success in life and... You know, we've got to even the scales a bit. So, be kind to large people.
Geraldine Doogue
(Laughs) Small envy just creeping in there. Kate?
Kate Carnell
I think we've really got to see discrimination against people who are overweight the same way as we see discrimination against people on the basis of sex, age, gender, and so on. It IS discrimination, and it IS causing harm.
Geraldine Doogue
Tim ?
Tim Soutphommasane
Be kind. You could be fat yourself... one day, if you're not already.
