A+Modest+Proposal


 * Deborah, Emily, Zohaib, and Amanda **
 * APLAC-3 **
 * Arnold **
 * 23 February 2012 **

** Obesity **
 * I. Current Problem **


 * A current problem in America today can be seen almost anywhere you go. The people keep getting bigger and bigger. It is known that weight gain and obesity are caused by consuming more calories than the body needs – most commonly by eating a diet high in fat and calories, living a sedentary lifestyle, or both. There is a point in which overweight turns into a more serious issue known as obesity. Obesity is generally defined as an excessive amount of body fat in relation to lean body mass. This refers to any individual with a BMI, a calculation that assesses weight relative to height, of more than 30. Being a nation-wide issue, obesity has caused many other problems for America such as high expenses, health related illnesses, and lack of physical mobility. **
 * A. Statistic or Example: About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese. Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese. **


 * B. Statistic or Example: Based on the graph of statistics below, it can be concluded that the percent of obese people in the United States is present all over the nation with very few states having low body mass indexes. **


 * Percent of Obese (BMI __>__ 30) in U.S. Adults **
 * C. Statistic or Example: Being overweight, obese or morbidly obese significantly increases the risk of developing many other diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, osteoarthritis and much more. **
 * D. Statistic or Example **


 * Based on the above chart, it is apparent that health related issues due to obesity cost society and the government billions of extra dollars. Specifically, Type 2 Diabetes is significantly a more expensive disease to treat and is more common from weight related issues. **
 * E. Statistic or Example Obesity currently results in an estimated 400,000 deaths a year in the United States and costs the national economy nearly $122.9 billion annually. **
 * II. Intended Audience **
 * A. People who fail to meet certain weight requirements(Obese people). **
 * B. Companies that produce food(agricultural and industrial) - In particular, companies that produce junk food. **
 * C. Parents- they need to do whatever it takes (starving their kids) to keep their kids from being obese **
 * III. Proposed Solution **
 * A. Step 1: In order to eliminate childhood obesity, starve only the obese kids. If they’re always hungry, they’re not going to gain weight and are more likely to lose weight. **
 * B. Step 2: All obese people will be forced into slavery --- in charge of doing all of the manual labor. Those who are physically disabled or elderly will be put to death. The incentive for these obese slaves is the harder they work and the more weight that they lose, the closer they will be to getting back into normal society. **
 * C. Step 3: To maintain the standard of high physical activities, the use of motor vehicles such as cars and motorcycles would be prohibited from society. People would then have to walk or ride their back to their destination or to a train station to travel further distances. Planes and boats would still be acceptable ways of transportation. **
 * IV. Stated Benefits **
 * A. Benefit 1: One Benefit of such simple measures is the lower percentages of obesity nationwide. **
 * B. Benefit 2: There would be no more obese children because they would never eat more than they need to survive. **
 * C. Benefit 3: The slaves would get more exercise by doing work that others don’t want to do. **
 * V. Implied Benefits **
 * A. Benefit 1: The agricultural industry would boom due to such high rates of consumption due to slaves working on farms. By doing this, it would help the economy. **
 * B. Benefit 2: People would save a respectable amount of money that they would otherwise waste on insurance bills, doctor bills, and other bills related to obesity costs. **
 * C. Benefit 3: Better environment due to less greenhouse gas emissions because there would be no more cars. **
 * D. Benefit 4: Not only would the lack of cars help with eliminating global warming, it would also decrease American dependence on foreign countries for oil. **
 * E. Benefit 5: 4: Lastly, there would be no more diseases related to obesity. **
 * VI. Dismissed Idea #1 **
 * A. A high government official inspired by the Hunger Games decides to use the idea of having their own survival-of-the-fittest competition for obese teens (Age 13-18). These teens would be selected from poor, poverty-stricken families. Ten teens from each territory/province/state would have to fight to stay alive in different environments without any food besides what they could find in nature itself. The one who stays alive the longest advances to nationals. After that, they will meet up with other finalists and compete in a series of sports competitions. The overall winner will win free liposuction, tummy tucks, etc. whatever they need to get fixed physically. The 2nd and 3rd place winners will be put through a boot camp to lose weight. The remaining losers will be put to death. - provides another form of entertainment, surgeons who do the winner’s surgeries will receive much publicity and business, kills off the number of poor people slowly, creation of jobs (for construction of arenas, organizers, etc) **
 * B. It is too costly and difficult to hold such a huge competition especially in today’s economy. May offend the U.S.’s religious population - with 83.1% being religiously affilated vs. the 16. 1% that’s not (religions.pewforum.org/reports). - MLA: "Report 1: Religious Affiliation." The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Pew Research Center, 2010. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. . **
 * VII. Dismissed Idea #2 **
 * A. If a baby is born with Type 1 diabetes, they must be immediately killed off due to the fact that they will have a harder time to stay fit believed to be okay because it is seen as a noble act since the babies will be saved from having a harsh life with such a handicap condition. This will also create new jobs (diabetic baby euthanizer) **
 * B. It does not allow the baby to grow and let the people see for themselves how the child will turn out you don’t know if they actually will be obese or not + they could have the ability to control their diet and stay healthy. **
 * VIII. Possible Objection to Plan #1 **
 * A. Who objects?The government. **
 * B. On what grounds? On the fact that it would be too costly for the government and that in order for this plan to work, they must demand more money from the taxpayers whom are unwilling to pay if they are not obese. Also, obesity isn’t a government level issue and should be handled by people themselves. Their are more important things to worry about for the government than obesity rates. Also, more important things to spend money on than weight loss programs. **
 * IX. Your Rebuttal **
 * A. Reason 1- Imposing harsh, strict rules will ultimately lead to more problems, because this would anger not only obese people, but those against these rules or ones afraid of becoming obese. This would, furthermore, lead to violence. **
 * B. Reason 2*- People who are against these rules may become obese on purpose to show a sign of revolt. They may also start selling smuggling junk food to feed their habit. By becoming obese on purpose as well as smuggling junk food, this would lead to higher rather than lower obesity rates. **
 * X. Possible Objection to Plan #2 **
 * A. Who objects? Obese people. **
 * B. On what grounds? They may claim that they can’t help that they are obese, and that all these rules only make it harder for them to lose weight. **
 * XI. Your Rebuttal **
 * A. Reason 1- Obesity is something that can be controlled through diet and plans that we have regulated through our rules. By following these rules as well as maintaining a healthy diet, one can avoid obesity **
 * B. Reason 2*- By society become less obese, obese people may feel that they don’t fit in with society and that in order for them to fit in, they must lose weight, and what a better way to lose weight than follow our program? **
 * XII. Explain Ad Campaign **
 * A. Target Audience: Obese people, the food industry, hose that are already in shape, and parents. **
 * B. Message: Go with our plan and there will be no more obesity! **
 * C. Forum for Delivering Ad: Glogster. **
 * D. Intended Reaction from Audience: Shock from the obese due to the idea that they would have to become slaves and starve to get skinny. Not only that, but also from the idea that cars will be eliminated as a way to force people to to get up and move by walking, running, jogging, etc. which will make it harder on people for more difficult journeys. As a result, they would want to get in shape. The food industry will see that more people will be inclined to chose healthier foods and that they need to switch over to producing healthy foods to promote the “no obesity” cause. Those that are already in shape will be even more motivated to stay or do the things that they are already doing to stay in good health. **


 * CITATIONS: **
 * "Get America Fit Foundation - Health statistics in America - American obesity statistics." GAF - Get America Fit Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. **
 * . **
 * "OAC Â­ Obesity Action Coalition - Facts and Statistics." OAC - Obesity Action Coalition. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. . **
 * "Obesity and Overweight for Professionals: Data and Statistics: U.S. Obesity Trends | DNPAO | CDC." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. . **
 * Photograph. Obese Baby. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. . **
 * Photograph. Obese Kid. Web. 28 Feb. 2012. < http://healthontrack.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/obease-people.jpg>. **
 * "Understanding Obesity." Welcome to Obesity in America. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2012. . **


 * Glogster: [] **


 * Written Explanation for Glogster: **
 * Advertising is all about the creator’s ability to capture the audience’s attention in order to get his or her point across. Taking on that mindset, this Glogster advertisement focuses on the problem we are trying to eliminate: obesity. Everything from the bright-colored words, to the obscene pictures, serve the intention of catching the audience’s attention. Once the audience notices the emphasized topic, they’ll read what’s written and understand the entire message. Because this “Modest Proposal” is supposed to be satirical in nature, the proposed solutions to the problem present in the ad are exaggerated. For instance, the picture with the obese man in a tiny car is not realistic, but it demonstrates how people should find an alternative method of transportation in order to maintain a healthy weight. Another picture that is unrealistic is the muscular baby. Of course a baby really can’t look like this, but it still proves that babies shouldn’t be overweight. If they are, they must be starved in order to eliminate their chance of becoming obese when they are older. Another strategy in creating this ad was the use of rhetorical questions. They cause the intended audience of already obese people to fear becoming enslaved, which will hopefully initiate the action of losing weight. The secondary audience of non-obese people will consider staying in shape by the use of rhetorical questions. Not only are the pictures funny and exaggerated, the words used to describe what they represent tend to rhyme. This strategy enhances the effectiveness of the ad because the audience will be more likely to remember the plan and benefits to the problem. Not only should the audience want to maintain a proper weight level, they should also fear what will happen to them if they become obese. **