In America, like as every other country, has it’s issues. Being First World, The United States is already doing better than a lot of other countries. As majority of Americans have access to clean water, an abundance of food, shelter, etc. , there’s one thing that the country takes for granted, and that would be it’s freedom. There are many countries who are denied this, and along with many women, denied rights to even leave the house without a man. Feminism is one issue that is hurting our country today.
Along with that, people are abusing drugs and potentially giving up the great life they have been given in a country where you have endless possibilities. Some Americans have also become extremely gluttonous pertaining to food intake, causing health to decline and raising risks of developing diseases. Obesity is not hard to come by, considering that today, four out of ten Americans are obese (Ambinder, 2010, para. 1). Ambinder (2010) says the following in his article: In 1960, when President-elect John F.
Kennedy fretted about fitness in an essay for Sports Illustrated titled “The Soft American,” roughly 45 percent of adults were considered overweight, including 13 percent who were counted as obese; for younger Americans, ages 6 to 17, the rate was 4 percent (para. 3). Since his time in office roughly fifty years ago, the obesity rates doubled. Now, there is a pretty big difference between overweight and obese— overweight is just considered being extra weight, while obese is shamefully called grossly fat, in terms of the dictionary.
People who make and understand these labels given to them are less likely to be motivated to become healthier— feeling so down about one’s self from crudeness isn’t very motivating and it lacks compassion. A physician, named Paul Craig wrote, “No one loves a fat girl except possibly a fat boy, and together they waddle through life with a roly-poly family,” (Brown, 2016, para. 4). For example, being in a public gym (mostly full of able-bodied and in-shape citizens) while being three times the size of everyone around you, while receiving looks of all different intentions, can’t be a factor in pushing people forward to live healthier lives.
Along with people in that kind of environment, the healthcare providers of the obese individuals could also bear encouragement and advice on things such as nutrition instead of breaking them down emotionally (Abraham, 2016, para. 7). The negative effects of becoming obese are alarming; not just mentally, but also physically. Depression is more likely in obese individuals, along with missing important daily functions such as work or school. They also have tougher times finding a relationship (Ambinder, 2010, para. ). Risk of disease has lightly been expressed, but the diseases that an individual is at an increased risk of developing are life-threatening and may force you to change your lifestyle, such as type two diabetes or heart disease. In sixty-percent of type two diabetes cases, weight gain is the leading cause of it. The country wasn’t always concerned with weight— the year 1942 changed that. The most broadly referenced record of weight standard was created by an insurance company.
They used five million different policies to work and create what they thought seemed “desirable,” and soon America adopted a standard of they “should” weigh (Brown, 2015, para. 3). As time advanced, people have become more and more interested in taking the easy way out of things like weight loss, such as fad diets, diet pills, or weight loss supplements. The first “weight loss drug” was a thyroid medication given to people who already possessed good health but wished to be sylphlike (Brown, 2015, para. ). As years went on, things such as chemicals for weight loss and laxatives were created. These are not safe alternatives, though, because side effects have been catastrophic for something that is only short-term. Whether it’s improper use of diet pills or cold and cough medicine, drug abuse among Americans has been a crippling issue facing our country for years. The country has become known for it’s drug use; “America remains the world’s top consumer of illicit drugs,” (Dickinson, 2016, para. 6).
Studies have been done and show that one tenth of Americans over twelve have used an unlawful drug in the last month. Drug abuse is up to killing thirty thousand people annually within the country. There are surveys stating that over 3. 5 million people confessed to injecting a type of drug who were over eighteen years old. A problem within this problem would be lack of support for users to receive treatment, and along with that, would rather users be incarcerated for their disease.
Just putting someone in jail won’t open their eyes to what they’re doing wrong, it will make them resent whoever put them there because they got taken away from their cherished high; because of that, recidivism is increased. Continuous users are also highly related to child neglect and abuse, putting their addiction in first priority over their loved ones; this also means putting them at risk when potentially selling or making the drugs that they have a sickness for.
Their job performance increasingly declines and it becomes hard for them to maintain being employed (The Impact of Drugs on Society, 2006, para. 1-5). As these numbers and conditions continue to worsen, the country needs to do more for people like this. Obama, during his presidency, sought out thirty-one million dollars for this year’s drug budget. He realized that people need help, and not all people who are addicted are criminals; people of this country are sick with addiction and need help getting back to their lives, their families, and to be in good health again.
While in office, Obama raised the budget from the beginning to the end twenty-five percent. Another great thing that President Obama did was appoint someone with personal recovery experience to become our country’s drug czar; having personal connection with it will show a compassionate leader and will hopefully help many people who are suffering. Along with that, the “junkie” stigma needs to end, and Americans need to recognize these people as suffering opioid abuse disorders (Dickinson, 2016, para. 1-8) Support is such a big factor that is needed in treatment.
Not only should we support those bettering themselves, but our country should all support one another, because collaboration is needed to make a successful country. America already does that with our voting systems, because it gives adults a say on how they want things to be, and who they want in charge. A specific group is also another rising issue in our country; feminism is becoming more and more popular because the media is making it seem like women in America have lost their rights, that they aren’t equal to men, and men cause major issues in women’s lives.
Feminism shouldn’t be a thing; Humanism should be a thing. Women shouldn’t want to be more than men, they should want to be equal, or else there is quite a bit of hypocrisy going on. Women can do anything men can in our country already; women can vote, own property, marry another woman, run for political offices, and can make way more than men depending on the position and hours worked (McKenna, 2016, para. 1-6).