"Get your damned hands off my fries, lady. If I want to be a fat-fat-fattie and shovel French fries all day long, that is my choice."
No, this isn’t a line from a Chris Farley “Saturday Night Live” sketch or the expressed sentiment of anyone with any bit of credibility, this is an actual quote from Glenn Beck.
In an effort to improve the overall health and dietary habits of Americans, First Lady Michelle Obama, with support from the federal government, is launching her initiative aptly titled, “Let’s Move!”
It aims to promote healthier eating habits in public schools, combat child obesity and provide more readily-available and affordable organic fruits, vegetables and fast-food alternatives in areas currently devoid of anything that doesn’t resemble a McRib.
The First Lady is also calling for a greater awareness of personal responsibility among parents and grocery shoppers nationwide, as well as increased physical activity.
Despite being overwhelmingly necessary and logical, “Let’s Move!” is being met with harsh criticism, loosely based on fact, from the ultra-conservative right wing.
Giving public voice to this skewed interpretation of the plan — well aside from the aforementioned mudslinger, Glenn Beck — is none other than Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin. Do I even need to write anything further, or do those names pretty much say it all?
Part of the necessity for this initiative stems from an estimated $150 billion-a-year burden that obesity-related problems place on our volatile health care system.
According to the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, “Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. The prevalence of obesity among children aged six to 11 years increased from 6.5 percent in 1980 to 19.6 percent in 2008. The prevalence of obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5 percent to 18.1 percent.”
Who is to say that the habits we develop as children don’t carry over into adulthood?
Originally broadcast online from the Fox News website, in an 18-minute-long tirade, Beck attempted to convince his minions that “Let’s Move!” is unnecessary and will lead to a term he calls “Friots.”
Later in the program, he addressed the monetary health care burden of obesity, in reference to the overly obese, “I say, let them die.” Beck said.
After a woman called into “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and described the dinner she was preparing for her family, Limbaugh commented, "In the not too distant future, monitors assigned by the White House who listen to this show will have to report that woman to Michelle Obama.”
He is falsely equating the “Let’s Move!” initiative to some sort of junk-food Gestapo.
In November 2010, Pennsylvania began making similar efforts to better the quality and improve the nutritional value of the food served in elementary school cafeterias.
As if every move she makes is motivated by the desire to come off as uninformed, Sarah Palin brought 200 sugar cookies into a Penn. Elementary school to, as she put it, “shake things up.” Apparently, she was under the impression that Pennsylvania was banning sweets from schools.
Obesity being caused by poor diet and little-to-no exercise isn’t some liberal conspiracy theory, it is a concrete fact. “Let’s Move!” is not only a good idea, it is flat-out necessary.
Whether Rush Limbaugh — who is quite obese himself — feels threatened or not, Michelle Obama doesn’t have a personal vendetta against French fries, this is simply her way of saying, “Come on America, we’re getting a little chubby. Why don’t we, collectively as a nation, make a more conscious effort to better our health? Let’s Move!”
Reach Ben at bkarris@asu.edu.
