Cheap junk food – worse than a high salary?
England, Europe’s fattest country, has big problems. More than one in five police officers are obese and the problem is getting worse. Meanwhile, proposals for solutions are getting stupider. Pay cuts are now proposed for police officers who fail to lose weight.
Evening Standard: Police face the sack for being fat
This is yet another sad manifestation of today’s ignorance and prejudice against people with weight problems. The problem will hardly be solved by kicking harder on the afflicted, neither with pay cuts nor with insults. That the latter is a real past proposal by the British health minister is just mindblowing.
Obesity is more common in poor people and cheap junk food (like sugar and starches) is probably the biggest cause. Lowering the salaries of the victims will hardly help.
When this initiative doesn’t make fat people slim, what will be next? Restaurants where fat people are not allowed? Buses they may not ride in? Park benches they aren’t allowed to sit on? Where will it end?
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Some politcians really scares me in their ignorance.
I'm not saying it wouldn't be better and easier on a LCHF diet, but even following pure conventional wisdom, cutting out junk food and doing regular exercise will probably get the police force to a fitness level benchmark that will pass the test.
It;s a real shame that they're not being given sound advice on how to lose weight, but if they are not able to do their job because of it, then maybe they need to rethink their lifestyle in ways slightly more obvious (and 'conventional') than cutting carbs and increasing good quality fat... ie exercise more, eat more wholefoods and vegetables... and they will be most of the way there
That said, I don't think obesity should be the test, but instead be replaced with pay based on fitness. To get a position on the force, a test is applied. I simply that a similar or even stricter test should continue to be applied.
And to confuse this with discrimination against obese is simple thinking. What about age? If an officer continued to stay on the force long past the point at which he could physically get around I would want him to be removed or at least relegated to a desk role. That isn't age discrimination.
Basically, the discrimination shouldn't be on merely being obese, but based on what the obesity inevitably leads to...which is reduced job performance for the majority of overweight officers.
If an obese officer can move as fast, for as long, as his lean peers then I see no reason to penalize him in any way.
A fitness test, not a fatness one is what is needed.
What an awful person you are. So only people that you think have acceptable looks are allowed to be policemen? You disgust me.
I don't see that there's any ignorance or prejudging going on here. How does this decision reflect ignorance? How does it prejudge? Incidentally, after reading the article to which this article linked, it appears the pay is based on the ability to pass a physical test, it is not based on weight or BMI.
So, if any prejudice occurred I think it was yours in suggesting that the bias was against those with weight problems, as opposed to those unable to pass a fitness test.
Well, it depends on the applicability to the job. How about if you try to reframe this as "Do you think people better at their job should get paid more to do that better job?"
See, the fit cops ostensibly do a better job.
In general, those with lower IQ do have lower salaries. Makes sense.
As to the other points, as I said in the first of this comment, it depends on the applicability. If I'm hiring a software engineer, I'll pay him less or more depending on skills. His looks won't be a factor. If I'm hiring a model/actress/exotic dancer, then I think attractiveness will be a big factor in salary.
Should older people get less salary? I have positions within my companies that benefit greatly from the experience and knowledge of people older than I am. Without meeting them though, if I'm hiring someone for manual labor I'll pick the 25 year old over the 85 year old. Applicability to job.
This idea that we shouldn't make informed decisions, pick the best person for the job, and reward those who do a better job is ridiculous. It's the grown up equivalent of "everyone gets a ribbon." Well, I for one will say shove your participation ribbon up your butt. Reward me for being the best or among the best, and let me decide if I care to pursue excellence in that area of interest.
I'm a big kid, I can handle finding out I'm not the best at something, even if I tried really hard.
You may have a point in that it's mainly the media coverage that's nasty. Not having read the actual proposal, just a number of reports in the media, it may be overblown. Let's hope so.
Having to pass a fitness test – if your job actually requires fitness – would be reasonable. Paying people with weight problems lower salaries is not.
I thought of teachers and cops in the U.S. today when saw the following on a piece of art at the Philadelphia Art Museum today: "If you pay them peanuts, don't be surprised if they act like monkeys." When we hear of some--I repeat some--police officers. et al, who don't do their jobs well, we can in part blame not just bad diet, but lousy pay which often leads to bad diets.