Obesity and Abstinence

A very interesting post by Crude over at Crude Ideas.

Clearly I'm a bit stupid but the comparison hadn't really struck me before. Yes, Society demands high levels of will-power and abstinence for people who can't manage their desire for one biological necessity but thinks that it is wildly impractical, not to say bordering on pathologically repressed to demand it of another.

Of course, I suspect that when we have a magic pill to eradicate weight gain and the reduce costs associated with obesity, all this emphasis on healthy eating and exercise will go by the board and we'll be back to belittling the idea that any form of self discipline is something for which we should strive. Expecting self-control from people, especially young people, is just so unrealistic...