When I saw one of my favorite podcasters had an episode out regarding Ozempic, I thought oh goody, and put it on as I was cleaning the house earlier. I didn't know anything about the guest, one Johann Hari, but that's not usually a problem. The whole point of these podcasts is to be exposed to people you don't know about.
Having endured about 25 minutes of the podcast before I couldn't take any more, I wished I'd Googled him beforehand. For a so-called journalist, Hari talks (and frankly looks) like someone you wouldn't trust to distinguish between a Cappuccino and a Latte, let alone talk to you about critical healthcare decisions. Still, I listened to enough to hear this guy tell how he was first introduced to the dangerous fad diet drug at a Hollywood party and how he immediately jumped on it, since we all know obesity's bad, m'kay?
Hari, who's just written a book about this little liquid miracle, adopts the faux-neutral attitude of "well, I chose to risk it, but like you should know there's side effects and stuff. totally worth it lol.". Talking of the rapid heart rate and nausea he experienced after starting on the drug, Hari went on to quote doctor whoever, saying "well, there's two types of drugs - drugs that don't work and drugs with side effects".
Well, I thought, that's reassuring.
What caught my attention, listening to this garbage, was how he spoke about obesity as this plague visited upon humankind. He actually said something like "well we all know obesity is unhealthy". And I thought, wait a minute. It's not obesity that's unhealthy. Obesity is a by-product of unhealthy lifestyle. Obviously, there is some room for genetics and hormonal issues, but by and large, most people who are overweight are so because of their lifestyle. Hari himself, in describing how Ozempic suppressed his appetite, freely admitted the immense fried chicken, mayo-heavy breakfasts he'd start each day with, followed by huge lunches, snacks and so on.
Said he tried dieting, tried losing weight in a real, healthy way, but it didn't work. So naturally, he switched to a worrying, dangerous new drug instead. Smart man, this Hari. As a writer during the most entitled incarnation of our species, Hari seems to have bought into the all-too-popular mentality of the 21st century:
I tried it. It was hard. I quit.
This bizarre, so-called "tolerant" world we live in has somehow convinced us that it's mean and "fatphobic" to say that you can and will lose weight through radical lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. It's mean, m'kay? But it's true. It's hard. Very hard, many times, but true. The change can be made, addictions can be kicked, albeit at significant cost to your time, effort, and sometimes pocket.
So instead we tell people it's not really their fault, because obesity is the wrath of God or some shit and has nothing to do with how you live anyway, and they totally deserve this psycho drug. And it does seem to work. Before I turned it off, I heard Hari saying that almost 50% of Americans want to get on this drug. It's massively in use already. And tolerant as I may be, I don't really believe that half the population of the US is fat because of genetics and impossible, rare conditions, you know?
Seems to me far more likely that they're making shit choices, all the while supporting these corporations and making them a truckload of money, are getting fat, and then put on a drug that tricks their pancreases into telling their body it's full when it's not. Doesn't it seem to you like you should leave your pancreas well alone? And generally shouldn't mess with the natural, healthy directives that a body uses to regulate itself?
Sounds like a no-brainer to me.
The massive abuse of children involved in the rise of Ozempic aside, I don't really care. I'll bet you anything that X years from now, we're learning all about the terrible dangers and side effects of this madness. I'll bet you a lot of people will then come along and claim they were duped, they were victims.
I'm not a fan of victim mentality, as some of you know. These people won't be victims of anything other than a lifetime of poor choices and a lacking sense of ownership. And I don't think people deserve a whole lot of sympathy for that.
I do think there are a couple of interesting/worrying things we can take from this unfolding story:
- You should question twice (at least) anything that facilitates and enables poor lifestyle. The way forward, both as individuals and as a society, is constant improvement. It's helping each other be better, not cut down the guilt of another fucking Krispy Kreme.
- When the establishment's trying to minimize/playing "honest" by telling you "sure there's side effects, but that's totes normal", you should be concerned. They did the same with vaccines, they do the same with a whole host of other normalized dangerous drugs, and when somebody does die, they go "oops what can you do, freak coincidence". Well, sure, but how many more of these drugs are you gonna allow into your body before the coincidence becomes you? And are you willing to be that?
- Losing weight and creating a healthy lifestyle is hella hard. It's made harder by inflation, increased work hours and job volatility, and a society that just won't stop layering on the pressure without ever making allowances for you to implement healthier habits that allow you to cope. That's a sign of a very sick society, when we willingly accept that sure, it's not normal, the world's mental, I can't cope, so I'll just start ingesting poison.
I mean, if you want to do poison, go with cyanide or arsenic or something traditional, you know? :)
