Obesity vs. Smoking

Strange post I admit, but I was thinking the other day about how smoking is still so commonly accepted in Korea. Bars, many restaurants, public spaces all smoking friendly. It's something us westerners have a tough time adjusting to (I know my eyes burned here for three months when I first showed up). Koreans say they find it a bit much but many just seem to see it as a lifestyle choice. However, they seem way less forgiving on being overweight or obese. Westerners put it down to being shallow and superficial but the truth is, obesity is every bit as bad as smoking. It just seems that one culture chooses to condemn smoking while the other chooses to condemn obesity.

The more I thought about it the dumber it seemed. In Canada a smoker is somewhere between bank robber and pedophile on the list of bad guys. I was all in favour of making the smokers go in to special rooms to smoke. I was even in favour of making them go outside to smoke. But in many North American cities you can not smoke outside at the park. I mean, once you are outside that soccer mom giving a smoker dirty looks is doing far more damage to my lungs with her SUV than the guy having a cigarette is. Second hand smoke certainly isn't healthy and the smell is just awful but only constant exposure to it (say by living with a smoker or working in a bar with smoke) is proven to cause any real long term damage - thus why I favour making smokers go outside to smoke. In Korea though, smoking is a lifestyle choice and you have to deal with it. Complaining about it is rude and can hurt the other person. In Canada, you can get them fined hundreds of dollars for having a cigarette in the same open, outdoor public space that you occupy, even though it in no way effects you. But here's the thing, Obesity is the same. The mayor of Toronto got a bit of slack recently when he vowed to cut 50 lbs by June (he is 325 lbs with an ideal weight of around 220) because he said that he could not do his job effectively being so overweight. But here's the thing (and I never thought I'd be typing this) Rob Ford is right. You try carring around a 100lbs backpack all day and see how much energy you have by mid-afternoon. Carrying all that extra weight boggs you down, so presumably others who are more fit are doing more. How about airplanes or buses? I flew down to Vegas a few years back. $150 each way. On the flight down I get a guy next to me who's excess rolled over the arm handle and well in to my seat. I figured he was taking up about $45 worth of my chair. In countries with socialised healthcare systems obese people cost the system more than smokers do as obesity can lead to more long term illnesses than smoking. Something like 1 in 4 smokers gets lung cancer and another quarter get other cancers or lung illnesses as a result of their habit, but the other 50% basically get away with it. Obesity doesn't match up that well. In Korea these people are scolded for being lazy and bad examples even when the person is in no way effecting you personally, their body is still seen as something that you need to comment on to encourage them to get healthy. In Canada, you can get fired for complaining that you 150lbs overweight coworker has called in sick again and you have to cover for their lazy ass as you are discriminating against them.

I don't know what the point is exactly except that I think it's funny that two totally different cultures have massive hangups about someone else's bad habits and poor lifestyle choices.