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| Yes | 56% | 25 votes | Total: 45 votes | |
| No | 44% | 20 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesAmerica is getting fatter. We're told this all the time, news reports on television, special features in newspapers, splashed all over the Internet, America is getting fatter and facing a crisis of obesity.
Is this hyperbole? Well, most likely some of it is. And yet, right at the top of the website for the Center for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov, there is a link to a conference on obesity prevention and control. The weight of the nation is obviously of concern to them. Heck, it should concern us that they consider obesity a disease that needs to be controlled. Obesity places a strain on our workforce and an already strained health care system. As such, it is in the best interest of the nation to have a healthier populace.
So what does that have to do with the Surgeon General? Well, not a lot. To be truthful, getting a surgeon general who is not at least a little chunky isn't likely to happen. The stresses of being a doctor, coupled with the time demands, does not make it a job conducive to maintaining six-pack abs.
That doesn't mean he shouldn't try. The Surgeon General is the highest health care official in the United States. He is the one person that we are supposed to trust and take health advice from. He is not always correct, at one point in time, smoking was recommended as a digestion aid, but it is generally accepted by the public that if the Surgeon General recommends something, it is better for our health if we follow.
So as it is his job to promote health amongst the general populace, he needs to use all available methods. One of the most powerful methods the Surgeon General has is leading by example. The Surgeon General's warning on a pack of cigarettes would pack a far less powerful punch if it were side by side with a picture of him lighting up. Similarly the nation is not likely to trust a fat man when he says, "Don't be fat."
I don't want to say he has to be a specimen of perfect physique, the public is not likely to listen to that either, we are rather tired of getting that from gym commercials, but he should be relatively in shape. To have an overweight Surgeon General is to send a message that it really isn't that important a thing, even though it could be one of the more challenging health issues to face our nation.
Learn more about this author, Troy Gardner.
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No
In today's world, almost everyone has at least one vice that is a detriment to health. Be it smoking, obesity, laziness, or countless others, almost every individual possesses such a characteristic. Essentially, then, what the question is asking is whether or not it should count against the Surgeon General to have an unhealthy characteristic. The answer is a simple no.
Although it is obvious and appropriate for a surgeon general to overcome these flaws, possessing them and overpowering them can lead to more informed, more empathetic, and simply more reasonable conclusions in the office of the Surgeon General.
First, examine the benefits that come from being overweight as the Surgeon General. As an obese or overweight American, the Surgeon General would be more likely to encourage policies that would try to counteract the massive weight problem facing America today. What could this lead to other than a healthier, more fit America?
Furthermore, even greater benefits could arise from an overweight Surgeon General shedding a few pounds. As someone who has been able to lose weight, the Surgeon General would be able to know how to help other Americans lose weight. Who better to help Americans overcome a problem other than someone who has already overcome that problem?
For example, look at the current President of the United States, Barack Obama. Obama has smoked for several years, and has tried to quit many times. Just because he smokes doesn't mean he can't enact programs that will help nicotine addicts quit smoking. Perhaps, even, it is because he smokes that he decided to support anti-smoking efforts to the extent that he does.
It was not under the non-smoking Presidents George W. Bush, William Clinton, or George H.W. Bush, that anti-smoking measures and cigarette regulating poilices were enacted, but under the smoking President Barack Obama that the most comprehensive tobacco regulation package ever to reach the floor of the United States Senate was enacted.
Ultimately, though, one has to realize that it is not the physical characteristics that determine the qualification of a potential Surgeon General, but the mental attributes a nominee possesses. If a person has an honest desire and strong convictions about an issue, such as weight loss, then that person will be more likely to encourage and support measures that would attempt to reverse downward spirals, such as the percentage of people afflicted with obesity. Possession of this drive can ultimately determine the success of a nominee. And, as seen in the case of Barack Obama, this drive is often instilled by possession and detestation of the problem at hand.
Learn more about this author, Marcus Willburg.
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