With Thanksgiving just a day away, many Americans will soon find themselves recklessly abandoning their diets all in the name of gorging. The traditional holiday fare of turkey with gravy, potatoes with gravy and pie with gravy provide ample reason to throw caution to the wind and eat until your fat gut is content.
This kind of indulgence is great a few times a year. But any sensible person should know that this kind of eating over a long period of time would lead to an expanded waistline and other health related problems. At least one would hope that people know this.
Samuel Hirsch, a personal injury lawyer, would have us believe otherwise. Hirsch is representing two teenagers, Jazlyn Bradley and Ashley Pelman, in a lawsuit filed last week against McDonald's. This is in addition to Hirsch's pending suit, on behalf of 56-year-old Caesar Barber, against McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Hirsch and his clients contend that the fast-food industry is somehow responsible for the adverse health effects of what people willingly choose to eat. Unlike second-hand smoke, nobody is blowing large chunks of meat in anyone else's mouth.
The belief that people need protecting lest they unwittingly cause themselves harm is frightening one, but it is nothing new. From legislation requiring the use of seat belts in cars to motorcycle helmet laws to the various restrictions that are placed on the purchase of tobacco, paternalistic restrictions have been on the rise. However, Hirsch's frivolous lawsuits take the cake.
The plaintiffs' claims that they were in the dark about the content of what they were consuming are ridiculous. McDonald's practically hits you over the head with health charts right when you walk in the door. Not to mention the fact that we're talking about McDonald's. For these people not to know it was fattening they would have to lack basic skills of inference and reason. Perhaps these people do, but it is presumptuous to assume that the rest of the population is of the same limited mental capacity.
Barber, who continued eating fast food after ballooning to 272 pounds and suffering his first heart attack, claims he "had no idea it could be damaging to [his] health."
Bradley's father says he never saw any information about food ingredients in the McDonald's restaurants he frequented. He even went so far as to claim, "I always thought McDonald's was healthy for my children."
For the record, the chief ingredient in a Big Mac is beef. It contains 590 calories and 34 grams of fat. Even if someone could fail to locate this information, ballooning weight and heart attacks just might be indicative of something fattening in one's diet. Now, is it the celery or the slab of meat smothered in fat sauce? Hmmm.
It is very disturbing to imagine a world where we are no longer held accountable for how our own actions affect our lives. If ignorance is the only excuse people have to blame anyone other than himself or herself, they probably deserve what they get.
The assertions made by Hirsch, that children of America are deficient of judgment sound enough to resist alluring television ads offering a free prize with every Happy Meal, are more than a little depressing.
Actually, the only winner in this gross misuse of the justice system is probably Subway. Their marketing department comes off looking ingenious for their use of spokesman Jared Fogel after he lost weight eating their sandwiches. But it does give skinny people a good target to sue.
Scott Phillips is a journalism junior. Reach him at robert.phillips2@asu.edu.
