One Bad Stigma Deserves Another?

In response to Obesity Is Hilarious:

I’m not sure what we’re getting at here. Because the stigma against smoking is hypocritical, we should push a stigma against overeating? Maybe I’m reading that wrong.

I think Christie’s gag was funny, just like his post-Sandy SNL appearance. If it was making light of obesity, it was equally defying finger waggers, and that appeals to the contrarian in me. It was a cathartic middle finger to the nanny staters who would, given the chance, make it illegal for him to eat that donut just as they’ve made it illegal to smoke inside that studio.

If Chris Christie chooses to revel in his weight, that’s not our business; it’s a personal, not societal, problem. If Chris Christie says that the public must pay for whatever medical treatment he undergoes as a consequence of his weight, that is a societal problem. The stigma shouldn’t be against overeating or obesity; rather, it should be against irresponsibility and making your own problems everyone else’s.