DAILY DIARY – DEBUNK THE JUNK, APRIL 14, 2004

Receipts available as a pdf.

Take the “Does the Government Think You're Fat?” test at www.BMIscale.com. Users can plug in their height and weight and get an instant verdict on how their government BMI stacks up against celebrities and athletes.  – Posted by ConsumerFreedom.com<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office” />

Day 14, 2004:  First Order of Business, get rid of the Body Mass Index (BMI) Chart!  That’s right rip it up and throw it away or if you are so inclined send it to the paper shredder.  To my government reps:  “Stop insulting my intelligence.” If you want me to believe that <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = “urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags” />Tom Cruise, Mark McGwire, Michael Jordan, Dr. Phil, President Bush and a whole slew of others are fat or obese you have another thing coming.  So stop trying to create the “perfect” human through nebulous charts and get to work on the more important problems we need to solve.

This whole notion of a “government approved” standard which is used to classify humans as overweight or obese based solely on height and weight  and doesn’t even take into account differences between men and women is the height of junk science.  The BMI chart is nothing more than numbers being manipulated by people who have financial and business interests in keeping the public misinformed and discombobulated.     It is much easier to encourage the use of expensive pharmaceuticals and more extreme methods to an uneducated public and that appears to be the real motivation behind pressure for the public to accept the chart without question.

To add to the confusion the BMI scale was mysteriously changed in 1998 instantly creating 39 million “overweight” Americans.  As Consumer Freedom points out on their web site (www.consumerfreedom.com ), “Movie star Will Smith (6’2”, 210 lbs., BMI of 27) went to bed a hunk, and woke up a chunk.”  The BMI standard that existed prior to 1998 was equally ridiculous but at least it distinguished between men and women.  The current chart does not.

Now the World Health Organization (WHO) wants to utilize this stunning example of extreme stupidity and apply it to the rest of the world.  Great, let’s just throw individual uniqueness and variety right in the trash bin and strive to create the “perfect” human.  No regard given to male or female characteristics, cultural differences, genetic considerations, no respect for individual choice and freedom.  Just a general view that humans of all types are supposed to weigh a certain amount based on their height in order to be “normal.”

Thanks, but no thanks.  I am not interested in people who feel that height and weight are the only measure of a human being.  We should all be outraged at the simplistic notion set out in the Body Mass Index chart, I know I am.