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The Ones We Sent Away

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#71

Post by gumby »

aa-jv wrote: post #56
gumby wrote: post #9

My dad had an Uncle Charles (probably born around 1910) who didn't live with the family. He was what was called a "spastic" -- probably cerebral palsy. The family (out in the bush) couldn't look after him so he was committed to an institution. My dad visited him as a kid. Uncle Charles had never been taught to read or write but he was an excellent chess player and (like his brother, my grandfather) could do complex a…

>Most of 20th century Australia was tough. White Stolen Generation here, checking in. Can't stand the place, personally.

Yeah, being a wog kid during White Australia was pretty bad, though of course much worse for my mum who was a woman and one of those dangerous types those laws were trying to keep out.

Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#72

Post by aa-jv »

gumby wrote: post #71
aa-jv wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most of 20th century Australia was tough. White Stolen Generation here, checking in. Can't stand the place, personally.

Yeah, being a wog kid during White Australia was pretty bad, though of course much worse for my mum who was a woman and one of those dangerous types those laws were trying to keep out.

My Mum was 17 when she had me, my father was an asshole who left her standing at the altar, but the one entity that screwed my Mum and me over, more than any other, was our own government ..

Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#73

Post by fortran77 »

foobiekr wrote: post #70
fortran77 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "what if the obesity epidemic has nothing to do with calories in vs calories out, and actually there is some toxin which the body has to sequester in subcutaneous fat and that's why everyone's getting obese" Everyone loses weight on a caloric deficit. And "doubly labeled water" experiments show that people vastly underestimate how many calories they actually eat each day. See this often cited paper: https://www.nej…

"You know, if we starve people, they lose weight. Obviously it's just self control." "Yeah. Weird. Well, guess I'll go have a donut or whatever and think it over. It's a mystery why they aren't just thin like us, must be a personal failing."

"Starving?" Hardly.

Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#74

Post by bscphil »

fortran77 wrote: post #59
bscphil wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think fat people have something wrong with them where the whole process of eat food -> feel sated is off. This isn't something that's wrong with fat people, it's something wrong with the food environment they're in. 75 years ago your idea would have some intrinsic plausibility, as only a very small number of people had obesity. Now, in the United States, we're at a point where ~40% of adults have obesity. The exp…

> People who aren't affected by this are those who are either (a) genetically blessed, and would hardly gain weight in any environment, or (b) are socially blessed, in that they are wealthier, live in places with a strong culture of exercise, and/or have easy access to nutritious fresh vegetables. or c) are disciplined enough to count their calories and stopping when they hit 2,000 kCal/day or so.

Yeah, that obviously works for a small number of people. I'm talking about the large scale demographic changes though - they're clearly the result of changes in food availability in one's environment. In an environment like that seen in most of America, the majority of people are going to be fat. You don't solve that problem by emphasizing personal responsibility, even if it can in theory work for some individuals.

Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#75

Post by ffjdkdbsl »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #14
coffeebeqn wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mental health care is still in the dark ages and the medicine we have are mostly crappy. I just got off SSRIs - the most prescribed mental health medication. It messes with your whole body since serotonin has hundreds of different uses in the body. And we don’t know why it works! It’s basically bloodletting or eating the village healers herbs

Indeed, I've seen multiple people end up with their lives completely and utterly detailed, as well as wrecking their family and fiends (yours truly included) and a result of such prescriptions. I don't understand how this goes totally ignored by the public at large.

Same here. SSRI -> different SSRI -> benzos -> antipsychotics. With some overlap.

Finally off of everything and it was fucking brutal. My life is a pale shadow of what it used to be. Relationships and finances burned to the ground.

Engaging with the mental healthcare system was one of the worst decisions of my life.

Re: The Ones We Sent Away

#76

Post by foobiekr »

fortran77 wrote: post #73
foobiekr wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You know, if we starve people, they lose weight. Obviously it's just self control." "Yeah. Weird. Well, guess I'll go have a donut or whatever and think it over. It's a mystery why they aren't just thin like us, must be a personal failing."

"Starving?" Hardly.

Point went right by you.

Most people do not count calories and calorie counts aren’t accurate anyway. The people sitting around counting calories because they have to are afflicted with the same thing that obese people are, they’re just putting in. A bunch of effort to manage it (or more likely actually aren’t).

The issue you are missing is that the real question is not “can we create a totally artificial situation where one of the outcomes is managed” but instead “why isn’t the system that manages this in healthy people working?”

In the counting calories example, it’s like saying the answer to diabetes is an insulin pump. People who d think this way are missing the point and basically are engaging in the shallowest of thought.

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