Casual Arguments March 3, 2008

The ‘obesity epidemic’ topic that we have been getting into this past week is the perfect example of a casual argument. For the past couple of years, obesity has been on the spotlight more and more, as statistics report that a greater percentage of Americans are obese each year and many are dying of obesity-related diseases. Why so much focus on obesity? Some argue that there really is not much to worry about and that money is behind all of the attention that the word ‘obesity’ is getting. In chapter 10 of Everything’s an Argument, three types of casual arguments are explained. One is an argument that states a cause and then examines its effects. Another type of argument moves through a series of links, saying that A causes B, B causes C, C causes D, etc. The third type of argument is one that states the effect and then traces it back to its causes. The latter is the type of argument that we examined with the topic of obesity. Through measurements of body weight and size, which are just numbers, and deviation from a desired body image, people, mainly those influencing public opinion, have decided that ‘obesity’ is the effect of varying factors. While we cannot escape the effect, increasing BMI’s, where the blame should be placed and to what degree we should care about obesity are points of controversy that we looked at this past week. Causes that have been linked to obesity include increased consumption of high-calorie, high-fat foods, sedentary lifestyles (decreased physical activity), genetics, and environmental influences. One of the characteristics of casual arguments is that they are often definition based. This is something that we examined this week with the addition of the word ‘epidemic’ to the word ‘obesity’. Saying that our nation is facing an obesity epidemic seems like a long stretch of the word for many people. Because an epidemic is usually thought of as terrible, widespread, and contagious, placing obesity, which is a BMI> 30 pounds per squared inch, under this light argues that obesity, and, therefore, obese people can be terrible, widespread, and contagious. Any argument has to be supported by evidence. This past week we looked at an article in the Scientific American that commented on the inaccuracy of obesity research and the real intentions of people that provide shocking statistics about the ‘obesity epidemic’. The article was a good example of analyzing arguments by looking at the evidence provided. Arguments made about obesity, body image, and health are prevalent in our society and can be blown out of proportion or underrepresented. In either case, it is good to filter what we receive through careful analysis of the source and differentiating facts from opinions.