The Young and Obese

The food production industry replies to the demands of consumers, but are they still to blame in the childhood obesity epidemic? Is it possible that consumers are not always fully aware of the psychological and scientific manipulation that food companies use in order to even marginally increase their sales? On February 20, 2013, Michael Moss of the New York Times published an article titled, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food,” in which he gives several small case studies that show the reasoning behind food production and its sales due to the perspective of an insider from that specific industry. After dealing with some of Moss’s listed case studies, we must each ask ourselves the question: Who is to blame for childhood obesity?

The Proof: Morality Dominating Society

Morality plays a role in all aspects of our society, especially science. Chapter 21 in Shafer-Landeau’s “The Ethical Life” is an excerpt from the book Moral Scepticism and Moral Knowledge, by Renford Bambrough. Bambrough begins with the example of a child given anesthetics before a painful surgery and explains how this scenario places a moral obligation to make sure that the child is not in unnecessary pain. Next, by establishing the existence of moral knowledge, Bambrough tries to refute popular arguments made against the reality of moral knowledge (Bambrough 217). He places focus on five objections.

Does one size fit all?

“They say, I say” argues that in order to make a compelling argument, it is best to first summarize or quote the opposition’s beliefs, then to move on to your own claims. This is because the author argues that in order to keep your audience’s attention, it’s important to explain early on to your audience what you are responding about. Although I agree with the author in that this approach is the most beneficial approach to writing an argumentative paper, I also believe that this approach should be reserved for more advanced writers.