Yesterday, I wrote about a study that linked obese people to global warming.  The finger-pointing at fat people has been constant and innocuous, so far.  But it is a disturbing trend that is growing.

There's laws so that some restaurants only cook with a certain kind of fat.  Popcorn in movie theaters can only be cooked in a certain oil.  Now some politician wants a tax on fast food.  Another wants calories listed on the menus.  One even wanted wait staff to refuse to serve anyone who was overweight.  Research studies abound about obesity and sleep, diabetes, heart failure...  You name it, there is a study linking it.

Let me point out one thing.  If you see a fat person, you have no idea if he has lost 50 pounds in the past year.  You just see him as fat.  So no matter how "good" he's been, he will still be condemned.  This disgust and finger-pointing has led some people to anorexia and bulimia.  Anorexics would rather starve to death than be thought of as fat.  And while I'm at it, let me point out something else.  Most fat women have been molested as children.  Being fat could very well be a psychological defense mechanism.

We need laws to protect us from criminals.  A criminal is someone who decides for you what he is going to do with your life and your property.  A criminal is limited on how much damage he can cause, because of how many people  can be victimized at any one time.  A law that's built on the specious purpose of reducing obesity victimizes all of us.  This causes far more damage than any gang could perpetrate.

Overweight people are not criminals.  Laws that affect every single citizen are criminal.  Yesterday, it was the smokers.  Today it is the obese.  Tomorrow it will be you.