Obesity

A two line response? Oh this is gonna be fun! Incoming text wall!My opponent's only sentance just says a few random downsides to obesity. However, this is going to be massively insufficient of a reason to show, as con put it in the first round, "that there must be ways to stop the obesity." If she cannot fulfill her own BOP, then you have to affirm the resolution. My BOP, as stated and agreed upon by myself, is to show why it must continue. I contend that without obesity, as well as leading causes to obesity, the world would end as we know it. My argument shall make one assumption that my opponent may challenge, if she so desires. That assumption is that Fast food restraunts are a leading cause to obesity, and that so long as fast food restraunts exist, obesity shall always remain constant. I feel like this is a perfectly valid assumption, and that it would be highly counter-intuitive for con to attack this assumption, but if they so wish to then they can do so. Anyway, I shall proceed with my case now.>> ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE FAST FOOD INDUSTRY <<It's easy to look at a McDonalds and just think "Wow, what a bunch of fatties" or, in my teenage boy case, "God I'm starved. How much money do I have?" without actually considering the worth of that very fast food joint. Fast food is, arguably, a major factor in the American economy. More than 3 million people work in the fast food industry in the US alone[1]. Even in a bad economy, McDonalds has reported an increase in third quarter by nearly 11 percent[2]. The fast food industry spent 4.2 billion dollars in 2009 on advertising alone[1]. Spending on fast food has been rapidly growing ever since the '70s. In 1970, Americans spent 6 billion on fast food[3]. Fast forward 30 years, to 2000, and now Americans spend 110 billion in just that year alone[3]. On average, americans spend more money overall on fast food than they do on things like personal computers, computer software, new cars, and higher education (such as colleges and universities)[3]. American spending on fast food is more than the combined total of our spending on things like movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music[3]. McDonalds ALONE is responsible for 90% of job growth in America[3]. The impact of places like McDonalds on the work-place are almost indescribable. To quote Eric Schlosser:[3]"In 1968, McDonald’s operated about one thousand restaurants. Today it has about twenty-eight thousand restaurants worldwide and opens almost two thousand new ones each year. An estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonald’s. The company annually hires about one million people, more than any other American organization, public or private. McDonald’s is the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes - and the second largest purchaser of chicken. The McDonald’s Corporation is the largest owner of retail property in the world. Indeed, the company earns the majority of its profits not from selling food but from collecting rent. McDonald’s spends more money on advertising and marketing than any other brand. As a result it has replaced Coca-Cola as the world’s most famous brand. McDonald’s operates more playgrounds than any other private entity in the United States. It is one of the nation’s largest distributors of toys. A survey of American schoolchildren found that 96 percent could identify Ronald McDonald. The only fictional character with a higher degree of recognition was Santa Claus. The impact of McDonald’s on the way we live today is hard to overstate. The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross." Without places like McDonalds, I don't feel like it would an understatement to say that as a society, economically and socially, we would be devastated. >> IMPACT OF REMOVAL OF FAST FOOD <<In order for my opponent to successfully refute my case, she MUST advocate for the removal of fast food restaurants, otherwise I'm still fufilling my BOP by advocating them as a massive benefit to our economy. Without the fast food industry, everything that's connected to them takes a massive blow to profits. Advertising, the meat industry, toy companies, all of these things would be hurt. Needless to say, the current recession we're in right now would be nothing compared to what would result from removing fast food from our nation. If our economy is trashed, then the global economy will further fall into the dumps. With our economy in the dumps causing the world economy to go into the dumps, then we would be forced to look to other means to feed our people. As Lieutenant Colonel Bearden writes[4]:"As the collapse of the Western economies nears, one may expect catastrophic stress on the 160 developing nations as the developed nations are forced to dramatically curtail orders. ... [T]he stress on nations will have increased the intensity and number of their conflicts, to the point where the arsenals of (WMDs) ... are certain to be released. ... [O]nce a few nukes are launched, adversaries and potential adversaries are then compelled to launch on perception of preparations by one's adversary. ... Without effective defense, the only chance a nation has to survive at all, is to launch immediate full-bore pre-emptive strikes. ... [R]apid escalation to full WMD exchange occurs, with a great percent of the WMD arsenals being unleashed."Thus, if we remove fast food to remove obesity, then we trash our economy. If we trash our economy, then the world economy is trashed. When the world economy is trashed, as Bearden explained, we get nuclear war. Nuclear war will always outweigh harms of obesity on two levels:1. Nuclear war would mean the essential end of the world and destruction of all man-kind. The death of a few from obesity related illnesses will never compare to the extinction of the human race.2. Even these obesity related illnesses can be treated and/or cured. Death is unique in that it cannot be treated back for or reverse in the way that most diseases can. Once you're dead, you're basically dead and nothing can really be done about it. This means that we are going to need fast food if we want to survive. Which means that obesity needs to stay around. Which means that you have to affirm the resolution. Vote pro.Sources:[1] - http://www.livestrong.com...[2] - http://www.montrosepress.com...[3] - http://www.nytimes.com...[4] - (Liutenant Colonel Bearden, The Unnecessary Energy Crisis: How We Can Solve It, 2000,http://groups.yahoo.com......)