I went to the Obesity in America deliberation, where we talked about how to stem the growing number of overweight and obese people in the United States. The students in charge of this deliberation split up the approaches between an economic approach, an educational approach and a scientific approach. The economic approach involves educating and making public the economic burden obesity places upon the government. I thought while the approach had no major flaws, it was a kind of incomplete solution to the problem. Making healthy food cheaper or more affordable does not directly lead to healthier people. The approach of course helps but there could be more done. The second approach was probably the one I liked the best. It involved educating people about the dangers of being obese and overweight and helping them make healthy choices. The third approach involved using science to engineer people to be less obese. This would of course be a solution that may create more problems than it solves. Scientific advancement often has unforeseen consequences that may have a major impact.
The deliberation itself went fairly well, except for a certain member of the crowd who was very set in his beliefs and unwilling to see other perspectives. He waited for a few people to speak before leaping in and shitting all over everyone, ascribing the obesity of people to their lack of willpower and nothing else. The way he spoke and the words he used made it very difficult for everyone else to respond. Everyone else who spoke afterward seemed to pander to his ideas. The atmosphere of room was that everyone was afraid to offend him, lest they suffer his well constructed wrath. The times that he was not speaking were pretty productive however. The dietician and the campus meal director in attendance made fairly large contributions to the debate and provided many good points.
The students that were in attendance also made many good contributions, especially in the area of personal stake. Many were willing to share their personal experience with obesity and eating healthy, which helped provide a great backing for the deliberation as well as giving it a human element. I talked a few times in the deliberation, mostly to share information from articles I had read and anecdotes about my experience with eating healthy. These were pretty well received and other people branched off these points.
In the end I’m pretty sure we decided that a mixture of the first and second approaches would be the best course of action. Educating the population about the economic burdens of obesity and also helping them make healthy choices.
All in all the deliberation was an enjoyable experience, although partially hampered by the presence by a cantankerous yet well-spoken elderly man. The discussion still managed to be productive and constructive and many good points were made in the two hours we had. In the future if possible, the moderators of the deliberation should work to prevent one person from dominating the discussion as this man did.
Nikolas John Plesons says
Sounds like you had a pretty solid experience, sorry for the angry old man. I hope you did not offend him or face his wrath….