Moving On

In a May 29 interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Michelle Obama explains that her government-sponsored “Let’s Move” campaign promotes “…eating healthy,” and giving, “…families food choices,” while encouraging them to “…stay active.” Host Robin Roberts then asked about the questions raised that “Let’s Move” is big government telling people what they can and cannot eat or how much.

Mrs. Obama replied, “That’s never been what ‘Let’s Move’ has ever been about.” She briefly throws out the childhood obesity trope and then quickly follows by saying the campaign is to, “… give parents, the community and families the tools and information they need to make choices that are right for them and there is no one size fits all solution.”

No One Size?

That last statement caught my attention and made me wonder if the First Lady was beginning to realize that the focus should in NO WAY be on body size/shape but rather on health fostered by activity and nutrition. Is this a ray of hope that government sanctioned body shaming of children in the name of the ‘greater good’ is going to stop?

Trope Or Treat?

Falling back on the ‘inactivity due to video games/technology” trope, Mrs. Obama then gets to some actual truths, calling on the Powers That Be: “We need our mayors stepping up, restructuring our cities so kids have safer places to play. We need our food manufacturers … really thinking about how to reformulate our food products to make them a little more healthy. We need big supermarkets to locate in under-served communities.”

What a treat! Here are some of the real issues in our society: crumbling infrastructure, adulterated foods, and socioeconomically restricted resources. These are what we need to focus on to make healthy people and a healthy society in general, not individual body size or shape.

America’s Two Favorite Uncles And One Big Contradiction

Sadly, just one week later, Mrs. Obama contradicts her previous statements about “Let’s Move” not being about big government impinging on one of the most basic human freedoms, the right to choose what we eat, when, and how much.

On June 6, Uncle Sam and Uncle Walt, being duly represented by “Let’s Move” and the Disney Corporation (who owns ABC), announce that in support of “Let’s Move,” Disney will be banning all ads for candy, pop, and junk food in general from its children’s media outlets. While these changes won’t go into effect for another three years, this is the government and commercial media deciding for many American families what products they will and will not be shown in an effort to remove certain choices from consideration.  Seems to me that our ‘Uncles’ are passively-aggressively telling us the only options we may consider.

Next Week: Who decides for our families: Us or the Powers That Be?

Born and raised in Northeast Ohio with her BA and MA from the University of Akron, Mary has 20 years experience in the corporate sector working for local companies and Fortune 500s in customer service, PR, sales, advertising, and broadcast media. She currently teaches English Composition at Stark State College and UA. Her passion is living and teaching tolerance while pushing for Size Acceptance. She hopes to inform as many everyday Americans that the issue of Size is not an issue at all but merely a distraction from the real issues, such as the decline in public education, our infrastructure, economy and healthcare system. Mary loves irritating people by speaking her mind and presenting them with annoying facts, contrary opinions, and life's little ironies; when not doing that, she loves being with her family.