I saw this post by Ann Althouse with her thoughts on the reasons behind this ban on trans fats that is now being waged and I could not help being reminded of the movie Demolition Man with Sylvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock, Dennis Leary and Wesley Snipes.
Anyone who has seen this movie will understand this instantly.
Althouse thinks that this war on trans fat is not because people are worried about health and more because people do not like to "see" fat people.
I simply do not believe that the so-called health side is really composed of people who are solicitous about everyone else's health. I can't prove it, but my intuition is that all the strength on the "health" side of this war comes not from people who really care whether other people are healthy, but from people who don't like having to see fat people. They are concerned about their own aesthetic pleasures, and they think fat is ugly.
She has a point. Now, me, on the other hand, would be one of those people that benefit greatly from this ban on trans fat because, although I am small and definitely not overweight, my cholesterol levels are far above even the highest ranges on the charts they send along with the blood workups they do. If you listen close enough, you can probably hear the tick tick tick coming from my heart...lol
Still, no matter the benefit to me, back to my original point of the Demolition Man, the movie and this battle against trans fats.
The movie is based on a future America that has undergone some massive changes where anything "bad" for you is deemed illegal:
* Non-educational toys
* Alcohol
* Meat and unhealthy food
* Tobacco
* Table salt
* Obscenity
* Abortion, as well as pregnancy unless one has a license
* Anything spicy
Silly movie that I found amusing and enjoyed for no other fact than it made me laugh.
So, where do we stop deeming what is bad and what is not for the public at large and letting them make their own mistakes? Do we stop at trans fats or do we start banning things like salt, because it is "bad" for you? How far does the government go to protect us against ourselves?
Is life imitating art or did the makers of this movie simply have a good read on our future?
I have to admit, although I do not read Slate much, this comment gave me a good laugh:
Put your hands in the air, and step away from the cookie.
Just a thought for the day...now back to regularly scheduled programming.