by Christopher Heinz

Created on: April 24, 2009

Transportation has become a major issue regarding new energy sources. The current forms of transport use, for the most part, gasoline or another non-renewable energy source derived from oil. Because of recent oil shortages, rising prices, and damage to the environment, people everywhere are trying to use less. Miles per gallon is now a major consideration for anyone buying a new car. It is true that the heavier the load a vehicle carries, the more fuel used to travel the same distance. It is also true that obese passengers take up more space in a vehicle. However, obese passengers are passengers nonetheless, and so have certain rights.

People who are obese do not always have a choice in the matter. Those who do are free to live their lives as they choose. That does not give anyone the right to penalize them because of what they choose to eat. They have the right to go where they wish, and differentiating them in terms of price is still treating them differently. It is ridiculous to think obese passengers should be forced to pay more than other passengers. Any form of public or mass transport should set the price of a ticket high enough to cover the costs, regardless of the person's size. It may be "convenient" for companies to instead price each person differently, but it is also unfair. A person is a single unit of measurement. There is no person, obese or not, who is more than one person. Therefore, any charge for transportation is per person and the price should remain constant for everyone.

Obese people aren't more wealthy than other people. They don't have any special circumstances that allow them to spend more than others. If forced to pay more, many obese people would not be able to afford (or would not be willing to pay) the higher price. Families would go on vacation and leave any obese members behind, just on the basis of weighing more. If every person is equal, how can that be justified? How are obese passengers different as people than normal passengers? They are large, but are they less intelligent? Are they more wicked? There is no more difference between an obese person and a person of average weight than there is between a man and a woman. In fact men are very different than women, while obese people are just heavier than other people. If we treat obese passengers differently, what next? Women will have to pay more to ride a train? Minorities will pay extra for the color of their skin? The world has come a long way toward accepting the idea that we are all equal. Let's keep it that way.

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