Should fast-food eaters be given sympathy for being obese? In “Don’t Blame the Eater,” David Zinczenko thinks so. Zinczenko tries to argue that is not the eaters fault for choosing to eat unhealthy food at a drive thru daily and then becoming obese. It is the fast-food industries fault for not providing the correct information in order to know whether fast-food is healthy or not. Of course, many will probably disagree on the grounds that they are obese and eat fast food everyday. Zinczenko poorly argues that fast-food restaurants are lacking to provide information to obese eaters, tries to reach out to readers through his personal experiences, and explains the process of filing a lawsuit to overcome obesity. In the article, Zinczenko, who was once an obese teenager, defends other teenagers who are trying to sue fast-food chain restaurants. According to him, eaters are not being informed on how many calories they are putting in their body: “There are no calorie information charts on fast-food packaging, the way there are on grocery items” (392). Zinczenko blames the restaurants for not having a calorie chart; therefore, that is the reason it is not the people who eat outs’ fault for eating the restaurant's food. He asserts in his article that gaining weight from fast foot is not the food buyer's fault, but who is at fault are the fast food companies because they are not providing information to customers. Overall, the article discusses how chain food companies should not be surprised if an overweight obese teenager files a lawsuit against the food companies, because it was the fast food restaurant’s fault for causing the weight gain. In this article, Zinczenko, who is supporting fast food eaters, is saying that it’s the restaurant's fault for making them fat. Although Zinczenko believes this, I believe it is the eaters own fault for gaining weight because they are choosing what they put into their own mouth. Zinczenko clarifies, “And the problem isn’t just theirs-it’s all of ours” (392). He is saying that it is not the eaters fault for gaining their 200lbs of big macs, but the chain restaurants. However, I disagree with Zinczenko’s view that it is “our fault” for the weight gain of eaters that choose to eat poorly. If individuals continue to blame others and fast food restaurants then when will obesity truly end? The answer is it won't; the longer eaters continue to make the poor decision of eating at a drive thru for the third time in one day, the longer those eaters are going to continue to complain about gaining weight. Due to the fact that they do not have the motivation to cook a healthy meal that would cost them the same as their twelve dollar fast food meal. Zinczenko attempts to reach out to readers in a personal way by relating his own experience. He tells his readers that he went through the struggle of obesity from eating too much fast food. While I understand Zinczenko is trying to relate in a personal way, his excuse that he was lucky to lose weight is simply not that he was lucky, but that he worked out. He states, “Then I got lucky. I went to college, joined the Navy Reserves and got involved with a health magazine” (392). Zinczenko is mistaken because he overlooks the position he put himself in to be healthy compared to the eaters who have gained weight and will not even look at a treadmill. He continues to explain how he has sympathy for these fast-food eaters just because he was once one of them (391). Zinczenko is giving sympathy to these overweight patrons when he should be motivating them to workout and lose weight; not standing behind them to defend them and making excuses as to how it is not the eaters fault for being overweight. Obesity is going to continue being a problem if all citizens are doing is defending those that are overweight and obese by the choices those eaters make. Lastly, Zinczenko makes a bold move by explaining the action teenagers may take to go against fast-food industries. He tries to reach out to his audience again but fails to do so by calling the reader out directly. Zinczenko says, “Make fun if you will of these kids launching lawsuits against the the fast-food industry, but don’t be surprised if you’re the next plaintiff” (393). He is saying that citizens can make fun of obese people for filing lawsuits against fast-food restaurants, but one day it might be the person reading his book who is in that situation. By focusing on calling out the reader and saying they may be the next “plaintiff” he overlooks the deeper problem of what his article is about. Zinczenko makes a mistake when specifically calling out the reader in his statement because some readers might have been obese and were in his situation but they worked hard to lose weight. Now these reformed people are seeing and hearing about lawsuits being filed against chain restaurants for cause of obesity instead of the eater getting their lazy self up and stop making excuses for why they are overweight. David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” incorrectly argues that fast-food restaurants should be sued for the cause of obesity. Eating at a fast-food restaurant is solely the eaters decision and common sense is that fast-food restaurants are not typically healthy. Fast-food may be a leading cause to obesity but it is not forced upon citizens that they must eat it.Zinczenko poorly argues that fast-food restaurants are lacking to provide information while defending obese eaters, tries to reach out to readers through a personal experience and then says filing a lawsuit the correct way to overcome obesity.
Works Cited David Zinczenko. "Don’t Blame the Eater." They Say I Say With Readings. By Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel Durst. 2E ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 391-394. Print.