What You Eat Is Your Business By Radley Balko Analysis

In his article Are You Responsible For Your Own Weight?, policy analyst Radley Balko argues that the Government has no business interfering with what individuals eat. Kelly Brownell, a Yale Chairman, and Marion Nestle a New York University professor state otherwise by arguing that the Government should intervene to create conditions that lead to healthy eating. Balko has a strong argument led with in depth examples, logical support, and credentials to support his tone along with minor fallacies. Kelly Brownell and Marion Nestle fail to go more in depth about her argument, but rely heavily on trying to counter the claims given by the opposing side. The lack of rhetorical devices in her article and inadequate organization weakens her tone as well as the appeal to their audience.

As a consumer, we feel that when we go to the store, we have freedom to choose what we want to eat. However, that freedom is limited and we do not even realize it. Stores choose what to have in stock and we are persuaded to buy the things they have. Let us go back to where the food we see today started to evolve.

The life pursued by the average young person in America is fast paced and scheduled to the point of breaking. As time has progressed this time stretched life style has impacted the need for food that isn’t cooked at home or even at restaurants that cook with traditional methods. This coupled with the swelling number of households with either a single parent or two working parents has increased the reliance on the fast food industry and in turn increased the overweight and obesity rates in the country. In his article “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko addresses this topic and places the blame not on those partaking in these delectable dinners, but in the hands of the fast food industry and their lack of understandable labeling. Zinczenko’s argument is valid and strong due to his equal use of ethos, logos and pathos.

In the article “The Fat Tax,” Jonathan Rauch ironically discusses the new public policy concern with obesity. Although the article is a satire, it’s economic analysis is actually valid. In order to get his point across, Rauch uses sarcasm, appeals to logos, and degrades the issue of obesity to help Americans better understand the “big picture.” Moreover, if the diet of American consumers does not change then maybe advertising more exercise to lose weight will cut down the obesity rate; but to be just as effective, enacting the fat tax will improve health as well.

In David Freedman’s essay How Junk food Can End Obesity, Freedman makes the claim to policy arguing that instead of demonizing processed foods, Americans should instead support the idea and production of healthier processed and junk foods. He calls on the public to recognize that while many products on the market these days are labeled as “wholesome” and “healthy”, consumers should learn to become aware of the fat and calorie content in these products because many times they have the same- if not more- fat and calorie contents as that of a typical Big Mac or Whopper. In his essay, Freedman primarily places blame on the media and the wholesome food movement for the condemnation of the fast and processed food industries saying, “An enormous amount of media space has been dedicated to promoting the notion that all processed food, and only processed food, us making us sickly and overweight” (Freedman), he further expresses that this portrayal of the

It is clear to many people that the combined eating habits of a majority of Americans are lacking in better judgement. The overall health of the country has become, and continues to be, a deep issue in which people are beginning to take a stand against. In Mark Bittmans ' article "Bad food? Tax it, and subsidize vegetables," he makes the argument that it is the governments duty to the people to look out for their well-being by taxing "bad food," such as chips, sodas and other fatty foods, and with the extra money generated, create a program that benefits the American diet. Many people may disagree, this is a stance in which I side with due to many reasons.

Zinczenko’s Rhetorical Precis In his essay “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko sympathizes for port fast-food patron, like himself ages ago,  he agrees that food industry should take some responsibility for obesity. He supports his claim by warning consumers about the dangers of fast food,as it play a factor in obesity. Within his argument, he questions other counter arguments and uses his narrative tone to show consumers that the food industry is necessarily at fault. Zincenko believes  the prevalence of fast food and the lack of healthier food alternatives is causing obesity in America.

Americans today are well-known for their eating habits. With all the options the food industry gives us it makes it hard to go to the grocery store and resist picking up that bag of barbeque-flavored chips or blueberry flavored candy. Due to these processed foods obesity is a growing epidemic in our country and who is to blame for it? In an article entitled “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko, Balko argues for less government intervention. Balko believes is it our responsibility to take care of ourselves and make it a priority.

Junk food is responsible for the growing rate of obesity. This is outlined by David freedman in his article of “How junk food can end obesity.” David Freedman has credited the “health-food” motion, and followers of it along with Michel Pollan. Freedman claims that if the America desires to stop the obesity epidemic, or at least reduce its effects, they must shift to the fast meals and processed meals enterprise for assist, now not the “health-food” movement.

In both David Zinczenko’s “Don’t Blame The Eater” and “ Radley Balko’s “What You Eat is Your Business”, the argument of obesity in America is present and clear from opposing viewpoints. Both articles were written in the early 2000’s, when the popular political topic of the time was obesity and how it would be dealt by our nation in the future. While Zinczenko argues that unhealthy junk food is an unavoidable cultural factor, Balko presents the thought that the government should have no say in it’s citizens diet or eating habits. Zinczenko’s article was written with the rhetorical stratedgy of pathos in mind.

Put Down That Cheeseburger! “What incentive is there for me to put down the cheeseburger?” asks Radley Balko in his article "What You Eat Is Your Business." He argues that, obesity does not belong in the public health crisis. He claims that obesity is not a problem that should be dealt at the cost of public money but should be dealt at a personal level by every individual.

Adam Oliver, senior lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote an article in The BMJ (2011) explaining how nudging, or libertarian paternalism, in an effective means of tackling the obesity epidemic in the United Kingdom. Given the similarities in societal structure and government between the U.K. and the U.S., his ideas can be extrapolated to the context of the obesity epidemic in the U.S. Yet where Oliver’s article, and many other arguments, falls flat is in the lack of attention paid to socioeconomic class and opportunity. According to Oliver (2011), “people are free to engage in the behaviour change intervention if they wish but are not required to alter their behaviour if they ultimately do not wish to do so,” a theory that may work in the context of the examples he gave, such as in Iceland, a country that has one of the smallest margins of income disparity, and in workplace settings where it might be assumed that everyone is earning a steady income.

Many of the most critical public health problems of our times, especially obesity, can be addressed only by implementing paternalistic, including hard paternalistic, policies. Friedman sought to provide policymakers with a guide for the effective use of paternalistic public health interventions. Friedman presented a spectrum of what he describes as five increasingly levels of intervention, ranging from those that are a paternalistic, to devising strategies, insulating strategies, and the most “hard” form of paternalism, bans or mandates. In great detail, Friedman explores different types of strategies that can be used to combat obesity within each of the levels on his spectrum. He also provides keen insights from the reaction to, and success or failure of, different regulatory tools in the areas of fluoridation, marijuana, and the regulation of genetically modified foods or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

“Don’t Blame the Eater”, written by David Zinczenko, is a short article discussing how fast food is the main cause of childhood obesity. This article came about in relations to two kids filing a lawsuit against McDonalds for making them fat. He begins his piece by sympathizing with these individuals because he used to be like them. Zinczenko then informs the reader of his background and how he fell into the category of being dependent upon quick and easy meals. In an attempt to provide a valid argument, he debates on how kids raise themselves while their parents are at work and that the nutritional values are not labeled upon prepared foods.

As a hole there should be more restaurants that promote healthy food choices. Obesity in the United States is out of proportion and something need to be don , not necessarily at the point of government intersection but this needs to be fix some way somehow. ”public health experts say that an unhealthy diet and the lack of exercise are still the two biggest culprits. ”-Felix gusson.