DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

In case you hadn’t already heard, an obese diabetic named Caesar Barber has filed a lawsuit against the fast food industry for not warning customers that the food they serve is unhealthy.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I believe the fast food industry is guilty of a great many sins, and I believe the world would be a better place without them. Regular readers will have to forgive me for mentioning it again, but I guarantee Barber’s lawyer will have a copy on the prosecution table during the trial: Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation details the ways in which fast food is abusing agriculture, ranching, and its own employees, and although Schlosser doesn’t blame McDonald’s for making customers obese, he makes a strong case that McDonald’s engenders fast-food addictions in children.

Also: There is shit in the meat.

On the other hand, I believe in personal responsibility. Many of the editorials about Caesar Barber’s lawsuit rightly point out that overeating leads to weight gain, and further that oversalted, fried convenience foods are unhealthy. This is common sense, not a Burger King trade secret. Barber didn’t grow to 270 pounds overnight… it took years of self-abuse (and a lack of self-control) for him to become huge and diabetic.

So, it’s hard to be sympathetic. And yet, wouldn’t it be great if the fast food industry got a little payback for the damage they’ve been doing?

I found an editorial that beautifully captures my ambivalence. It’s too rude for print, by which I mean, it’s a lot more fun to read that a typical op-ed piece: Mark Morford asks, Should America Sue McDonald’s?