[cynicalpeace]

Culture definitely changes, or else there would be no different cultures.

I like bottom-up way to approach it, rather than only top-down via policy.

Be healthy yourself and hopefully that bleeds out to your family and friends. If enough people do it, you have a different culture. Certainly possible given all the cultures that do prioritize these things.

[consteval]

> If enough people do it, you have a different culture

This just straight up does not work. I will be blunt - you are not suggesting a solution, you're suggesting a delusion.

This "do nothing and hope it works" approach is not novel. It has been our one singular approach to the obesity epidemic. Has it been working? We have many decades of evidence now. No, it hasn't.

I could maybe see your perspective better if what you're suggesting is not already tried and tested. When you do something for decades at a time and the problem doesn't improve, but in fact gets worse, you have to face the reality that what you're doing just doesn't work.

> Certainly possible given all the cultures that do prioritize these things

They really don't. They just have less access to food.

Some, like Japan, get around obesity by instead having some of the highest tobacco use in the world in combination with a stressed-out population.

As fun as it sounds to reintroduce smoking culture to offset obesity, I think it might make more sense to give people access to safe drugs that help regulate their propensity for overconsumption.

[cynicalpeace]

> This just straight up does not work. I will be blunt - you are not suggesting a solution, you're suggesting a delusion.

Exercise and diet do work. Next!

> They really don't. They just have less access to food.

I lived in a fit, rural area in a "third world country" (Colombia) for 4 years, still spend several months there out of the year. The people in my town are not starving for food. In fact it is abundant and everyone has a garden and everyone walks every day and everyone knows their neighbors. The food is entirely local and shipped in from the surrounding farms every morning.

Your perspective is informed by looking at people like numbers, statistics and robots. But the truth is that humans are dynamic, social, organisms that are very capable of changing their ways.

[consteval]

> Exercise and diet do work. Next!

First off this "Next!" nonsense is annoying. Second off you're not understanding what I'm saying.

Just because something works FOR YOU does not mean this is a systemic solution!

To be perfectly clear, what you're suggesting is not novel. In fact, it's so tired I don't even know why you bother to speak it. This has been our solution for the entirety the problem has existed.

Well, is obesity fixed? No, right? So, your solution doesn't fucking work. I don't know what to tell you, open your eyes and look around.

> looking at people like numbers, statistics and robots

Yeah buddy, that's called statistical analysis. Not whatever the fuck you're doing. Sorry, I'm trying to use my brain here and come up with real solutions, I hope you can forgive me!

Oh but the people in your town in Colombia are doing good, that's just great. Clearly, you've cracked the code to solving obesity based off that. All those fatasses just need to garden!

Next up: do people know stealing is bad? Why don't we just completely do away with law enforcement and just tell people stealing is bad? I mean, it works for me! After all, humans are dynamics and yadda yadda yadda some other unscientific bullshit I pulled from my ass. Let's just ban door locks, too!

[cynicalpeace]

> This has been our solution for the entirety the problem has existed.

lol us American's eat like crap and barely walk. It has not been the solution in this country. Just because the solution is simple does not mean it is easy.

Stealing is a great example of a cultural problem. Did you know some countries are more dangerous than others? In fact, did you know in some communities stealing doesn't happen very much or at all?

Why? The people decided to behave better via mechanisms not finely levered by drugs or pharmaceutical policy. Individual behavior, cultural upbringing, economic circumstance, physical environment, etc. These things are way more important than any drug or policy and minimally impacted by them.

The rest of your argument is just ad hominem. Next!

[consteval]

> lol us American's eat like crap and barely walk. It has not been the solution in this country

Again, you're not understanding and I'm just not sure how much more I can dumb this down.

When you are fat, the thing everyone will tell you is "eat healthier and move more"

That has been our approach to the obesity epidemic since the beginning. And it's not working.

> Individual behavior, cultural upbringing, economic circumstance, physical environment, etc. These things are way more important than any drug or policy and minimally impacted by them

Literally all of those are directly impacted by policy.

If you legitimately think culture, economy, and physical environment has nothing to do with policy, go move to South Sudan. If you're truly that unbelievably stupid, put your money where your mouth is.

[cynicalpeace]

> When you are fat, the thing everyone will tell you is "eat healthier and move more"

> That has been our approach to the obesity epidemic since the beginning. And it's not working.

If you don't actually move more and eat healthier, yeah it won't work. Saying something and doing something are 2 different things. Anyone that does it will lose weight and be healthier. There's really no getting around it.

> If you legitimately think culture, economy, and physical environment has nothing to do with policy.

I never said "nothing" to do with policy. Read my comments again. I'm arguing against policy being the only solution and you took that to mean something else.

Culture and personal responsibility have a role in health. Next!