Personal responsibility, where does it start and finish. Is it truly McDonald's fault that you weigh 300?

Question

I am just using McD's as an example. Please cite other examples of personal responsibility. Here's one: An armed man who tried to rob an auto parts store was subdued by the employees. He's now suing them because of his injuries.

Answer 1

Your actions... I mean you are held responsible for your actions. Otherwise, if the world was deterministic, there would be nothing but chaos on earth!

Answer 2

Personal responsibility means you need to know that you shouldn't be eating that 'garbage.' Myself, I know I shouldn't be eating it and so I only eat a little bit every once in a while. The only thing I really eat from there now is a 3 piece chicken select and a bottle of water, no condiments.

I gained about 30lbs. in the period of like 8 months, and lost about 15 of it in a month and a half, just by cutting what I ate down to the chicken select and water bit. You can't lose weight and eat what you want unless you crave small quantities of health food. I'm still working on burning that other 15lbs. off, it's really really hard.

McDonalds is just capitalizing on lazieness, and I do not blame them because I would do the same thing.

The reason I gained weight is because I didn't exercise or eat semi-healthy. So the fault is not on McDonalds but the lazieness of the person eating there.

Kevin

Answer 3

Never has been their fault and never will be.
They provide food for people to eat. Is it healthy? Not particularly.
The big question: Do you HAVE to eat there (as in you are being forced)? NO
You always have the choice to eat somewhere else. You always have the opportunity to take responsibility for your own health and exercise.
McD's provides the easy, cheap, convenient food - it is not their fault that people are too lazy and not responsible enough to maintain their health.

On the flip side to your question to help expose your logic a bit further - remember Jared? The guy who lost a lot of weight by the "Subway diet?" (Although respnosibility and exercise were a part of this diet) Do we give Subway the kudos for the "healthy" food? If McD's is held liable for people's obesity, shouldn't then the money from the lawsuit all go to Subway for the same reason?

Answer 4

Well I believe it is a bit of both. However, if they offer healthy alternatives like salads, chicken, and fresh fruit then it is completely the persons fault.

Being overweight is a sign of poor decision making for the most part. I understand that fast food tastes really good in most situations and I enjoy it myself, but I also make sure to pick healthy choices when at the grocery store. It is all about balance and making good decisions.

Now if McDonalds is the only fast food place in a good distance, you don't have time to make your own meals, and they didn't offer you any healthy choices, then it would be McDonald's fault.

That is just my opinion.

Answer 5

I do believe fast food restaurants are responsible to a certain extent. In this day and age mosty people are forced to eat fast food due to a lack of time and/or money. Why cant these restaurants serve only healthy food? Then, the average American eats three times as much as needed at each meal. At the same time, a person is responsible for their own actions.

Answer 6

I think McDonalds marketing schemes are maybe 20% to blame. They DO target kids who nag their parents, and they DO try to give their products a 'healthy image' when it's all junk food.

I don't like McDonalds, so I don't go. I don't weigh 300lbs either.

But yeah, 80% is definintely down to the eater. It's them that puts the food to their mouth at the end of the day. But if McDonalds put a picture of what their burgers actually look like (a mess!) in their ads, and told people that 1 extra value meal with coke is equivalent to whole days calories, would anyone go?

Answer 7

There is a certain ammount of psychological manipulation involved in th ad campaigns of all the major corporations............
There are even subliminal adds that you cannot percieve consciously,but can be flashed at high speed across the screen,and your subconscious will pick them up and be influenced by them.
This type of advertising was just legalized in the USA and represents to most insideous attack upon our freedom of thought yet.
In all cases the results of your overwieght can be attributed to this and other psychologucal ploys in advertising to some degree.
It is this type of manipulation by profit hungry corps.that has turned the advertising industry into tool for manipulating the minds of the unwary and unsuspecting public.

Answer 8

Well when you see a coke addict or an alcoholic or a marijuana addict or a person who has sex all the time or a pedophile or any of these what is the root problem? They all have a problem but they find a destructive outlet for their festering problem rather than facing and solving it. Same with food. America has glorified the "victim" to be an affront to real victims.

Answer 9

It's always personal responsibility - if you weigh 300, it's nobody's fault but your own. It's just a lot easier to point the finger and shift the blame on something else instead of examining yourself and working on your personal flaws.

Answer 10

Did McDonald force you to buy their food? NO!
You control what you eat, and knowing very well that eating too much fast food will cause you to gain weight, you still went and ate their food. They cannot be held responsible for your own choices.
That's like blaming the supermarket for your weight gain (if all you bought was junk food).

Answer 11

Its due to metabolic and genetic factors. I eat at least 18 cheeseburgers a week from fast food restaurants, and im 10 pounds under the healthy weight for my height.