Two stories have come across my proverbial desk in the past week that I would like to bring together for the sake of this blog. They are very different and seemingly unrelated but you'll see the correlation in a minute, be patient.
The first story is based on an argument as to whether those who have outstanding warrants for their arrest should be able to collect welfare. The argument for them being denied government aid is that they have committed crimes against their fellow citizens or the province they look to for support and are required to pay their debt to society, not add to societies debt.
The argument that speaks to them continuing to be the financial responsibility of the province (and tax payers) is such that if they do not have an income for food, shelter (hopefully), drugs and or alcohol they will steal (damaging cars/homes) and panhandle. They will cost society in an entirely different manner.
The second piece I read was an article from Time magazine entitled "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin". The article summed up blames peoples inability to lose weight on the fact that when people work out they become ravenously hungry as a result and tend to overindulge in unhealthy treats and due to their misconception of calorie expenditure vs. caloric value of a Starbucks Old Fashioned Donut they typically negate their hard work, and thensome.
Quotes from the article include "In the past few years of obesity research show that the role of exercise in weight loss has been wildly overstated" and a "Prominent exercise researcher and Chair in Diabetes and Metabolism at Louisiana State University" says "In general, for weight loss, exercise is pretty useless." Nice.
What these two articles have in common is they provide the reader with an excuse. The first article tells the reader, (and the criminal) that criminals are just that. Rather than spend the money currently going into welfare into policing, the judicial system, rehabilitation, or community reparation programs it is easier to keep the status quo. The people spoken of in the article will also believe this because they are given little choice.
The second piece, when read by someone trying to decide between a gym membership or Weight Watchers, is incredibly irresponsible. It too provides an excuse for those trusting too much in what they read. Just as the criminal mentioned above continues to be kept down and forced to relive old patterns so to will be the misinformed dieter.
- Angela Tames
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