So you can go here http://www.newsweek.com/id/73765?GT1=10645 to see how women's weight, and weight loss goals, are affected by body image.

Really? You think? I had no idea. I wonder, when calculating how much money fat people cost the economy every year if they roll charges for studies like this up in them too. I also love it when researches "discover" how and why women are they way they are. I had no idea that I, an overweight woman with a good body image, viewed weight differently than an average weight person or underweight person. I'm so glad you conducted a study and spent research money to discover this. In fact, I am so glad that it is such a priority in our country to research, understand, and yes, fix, all the fat people. Were it not for science we would all turn into a race of Jabba the Huts, keeping the skinny people on a leash in front of us. It's a good thing we can stop this before it happens.

This isn't a post about fat people and how we are perceived in society. That's a horse I've ridden till it's just about dead. Rather, this is a post about the way scientists conduct idiotic, foolish research, and then complain about the money the subjects of said research cost the economy. I know, we conduct research so that we can better understand why people are the way they are, why they do what they do and then insurance companies can better streamline the populace to make more money. If there were a pill that made you thin or a procedure then pharmaceuticals could market, insurance companies could raise premiums to pay for it and everybody's happy! Except the fat kid that doesn't want to take a pill or go through surgery.

AIDS is still out there people. Things like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis--these are all things that destroy the body slowly and painfully, never mind cancer. And yet we argue over stem cell research, quibble over sex education, and throw most of our money and attention into things like erectile dysfunction (e.d.) teenage smoking practices, and fat people. I'm not saying that all of us being fat is a good thing or that we shouldn't be aware of our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, but I am saying that there are bigger things to worry about right now. Like the fact that Bush is making noise about Iran again. Or the fact that teenage pregnancy's are on the rise for the first time since 1991--something that just happens to coincide with a more conservative government and the reinstatement of abstinence only education. Are these things not worth worrying about?

Oh, and then there's the loss of civil rights. The way America is no longer striving towards the ideal it once put forth. The way that we are no longer the freest or most equal country in the world. Our healthcare is screwy, we're still arguing about abortion, and homosexuals can't marry. Why can't homosexuals marry again? Because it destroys the sanctity of the union? I live in Las Vegas and you can take my word for it that there ain't no sanctity left anywhere. And what the hell is a government doing preserving the "sanctity" of anything? There should be no moral judgment in a government, there should be ethical judgment and it is unethical to prevent to two people from marrying in the eyes of the state. At least, it would be if we actually had separation of church and state.

But I see no headlines on the front page of msn today talking about any of these things. I see no headlines expressing outrage that there is still gender inequality in the workplace, or the irony that the very same people who bemoan the loss of the "family structure" are the same that want to do away with maternity leave and deny it to men. I see nothing about how we are going to recover our civil rights or deal with the very real issues of stem cell research or sex education.

Our moral highground has been eroded out from under us. We now stand at the top of a very unstable mountain, which may topple us at the slightest breeze. We argue for the sanctity of life and cut social programs; we tell teens they shouldn't get pregnant but never tell them how to avoid it and deal with the very real pressures they face. We tell other countries we know what democracy is even as we take steps towards something that is so not democracy. And we focus on things like fat people and smokers and drug addicts because these are concrete issues with real quantifiable people we can see, judge, and research. We have a war on drugs but no war on illegal prostitution, or slave-trade. We have a war on terror but no war on the Taliban. We have an obesity epidemic, but AIDS is just a part of life. We fight each other over issues of religion instead of working to create an environment that truly does offer freedom of religion and even, freedom from religion. Our priorities are so skewed that I worry no one can even see the ridiculousness of it anymore. I worry that we have spent so much time examining the flaws of others that we have lost the ability to examine the flaws in ourselves.

If you think I'm wrong know this: when presented with Margaret Atwood's "Letter to America" many of my students replied that she was being "unAmerican" by criticizing the country. They even went to so far as to say that because we are still better than other countries (which we're not) that we don't have to worry about what we are giving up (which we do). If the youth of America thinks it is more American to stand by the government than criticize it than what sort of democracy do we really have? Certainly not the one intended following the Revolution, and certainly not one I'm proud of.

But it's all okay. Because soon we'll know why fat people are fat and we'll be able to make everyone healthier. And that will fix everything.