Steven Assanti is going to Die

At some point, his addiction to food became like being addicted to certain drugs, he is losing himself, going hollow

Breaking a severe food addiction is probably one of the most difficult things to do because it comes with the side effect of being a human requirement. Switching your diet, while effective in theory, isn't effective in practice primarily because there's a certain satisfaction to be had with a poor, gluttonous diet that cannot be replicated with a healthy lifestyle.

Recovering from addiction often results in an individual never touching the substance again, but what can you do when the source of addiction is something you have to partake in? Every day will be a shadow of the pleasure you know you can receive. You'll always look to the burgers, the chicken, the pizza, and the other culinary masterpieces of the greasy diet when you're eating because, simply put, it tastes better, makes you feel good (in the short term), and has more of an allure than a garden salad and a low-sodium casserole. Dietary habits over the long-term can also give you psychological predispositions that are either very difficult to break or outright impossible to change after enough time.

Every day becomes a question of how much trust you have in your restraint, a concept that becomes infinitely more difficult if you have no real support structure. There isn't a doctor that will help you and most friends, if you even have any, won't know what to do. Most people probably subtly encourage the habit without knowing it. True support and assistance in turning around from a serious food addiction is extremely rare. There is no cold turkey, there is no abstinence, and there is no official system in place to help those who suffer.

I'd say this situation does well in highlighting this issue. A normal hospital setting cannot give him the help he needs (and discharging after repeated breaches of a medical plan is both understandable and necessary), but can a mental health facility give it to him? I doubt it. What choice does that leave someone who suffers but doesn't possess the right set of circumstances to pull themselves out of the river?

I think that's an important question to answer. It's a shame that most people opt to vilify a single party in this situation or to outright discredit his worth as a human being as a result of what can only be described as an exceptionally sad life. Where one might see a sub-human fatty who deserves to have his rights mercilessly ripped out from under him, you could also realistically see someone who has slowly suffered more and more with each passing year until their very perspective on the world has warped to the point that they are incapable of seeing the dangers of their lifestyle and are incapable of challenging it (and winning).

People jump at the opportunity of reducing another person's worth which is a dangerous precedent to set. Conditional empathy and rights are not indicators of a moral or otherwise positive society.
 
Well, the problem with empathizing with this guy seems more about how he acts like a douchebag than the fact he's a fatty.
 
Maybe he shouldn't be in a hospital but rather some sort of an addiction centre? I mean, I don't really know, but from what I can gather these are my conclusions about the story:

1. Man is very very fat
2. Man is a jerk
3. Man needs help
 
You won't meet a lot of pleasant, well-adjusted anything addicts, unfortunately.

Pretty much this. Rational politeness isn't the expectation with addicts. Their brain chemistry is entirely geared towards whatever it is they're addicted to. Everything else is secondary. Meth and heroin addicts don't sell their kids for a hit because they were always terrible people and hate children. Suicidal tendencies are also quite common if a severe addict can no longer access their addictive substance and cannot handle the withdrawal or subsequent mental breakdown.

That isn't to say that you have to ignore the fact that the guy is being a douchebag. By all means, acknowledge the behaviour and set your foot down. Utterly outcasting the individual, however, is a poor decision IMO.
 
Maybe he shouldn't be in a hospital but rather some sort of an addiction centre? I mean, I don't really know, but from what I can gather these are my conclusions about the story:

1. Man is very very fat
2. Man is a jerk
3. Man needs help

Yes. Part of the problem is that we don't really know what to do with people who need looking after constantly, who don't have people around them to do that, and don't readily fit into the categories that we put into institutions that can. They usually end up passed either to hospitals or prisons, where people who are well-intentioned and dedicated but ultimately trained to do something fundamentally different have to try and work out what to do with them, or find somebody who can help them. All too often, this falls between the cracks of doing a difficult job with too few people and too little money. It's particularly bad in the justice system, which often ends up picking up the slack that we get when being 'tough on crime' is politically popular but preventing that crime through investing (much more cheaply and effectively) in equality and opportunity is not.
 
I think this guy probably can't walk so someone has got to be bringing him the food. The article said he ordered a pizza but there has to be someone to open the door or something. Maybe he managed to get some unsuspecting person to bring it to him.

Anyway, could his father at least make him stick to the diet by not bringing him whatever he wants?
 
Do you see mental illness as a choice?

Mental illness does not correlate with addiction. The latter is purely a choice, and abusing substances, or in this case food is always a case of the person choosing what to put inside their body.
 
I would suspect it is easy to treat nice, attractive people well. I would hope we would have the humanity to treat ugly, nasty people well too.

Whatever happened to 'treat others as you expect to be treated?'.

'Nasty' people deserve no kindness unless they stop being nasty.
 
Mental illness does not correlate with addiction. The latter is purely a choice, and abusing substances, or in this case food is always a case of the person choosing what to put inside their body.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Right, of course. Just choose to stop, why on earth hasn't anyone else figured that out? Just be happy. Just don't be anxious. Just don't seek that next hit even though your brain chemistry has altered to such an extent that you go through extreme physical pain if you don't get it.

Just a choice, of course!
 
Mental illness does not correlate with addiction. The latter is purely a choice, and abusing substances, or in this case food is always a case of the person choosing what to put inside their body.

Would that it were so - unfortunately, it isn't.
 
Whatever happened to 'treat others as you expect to be treated?'.

'Nasty' people deserve no kindness unless they stop being nasty.

Yes, perhaps we ought to treat people as if our situations were reversed. Would the doctors in this case be willing to die if some decided they were too nasty to deserve treatment?

What will you say when the nurse decides you are too unpleasant to live?
 
Yes, it is pretty obvious that Assanti is way beyond the point of being able to function properly in the sense of manners as well, but that is to be expected. How would anyone cope if they weighted as much as five other people?

Shame on that rag, the daily mail, for presenting the videos as if they are crusaders for decency.
 
I'm considering starting a thread on Steven Assanti and how he's effected by global warming, and visa versa. Good idea?
 
Yes, perhaps we ought to treat people as if our situations were reversed. Would the doctors in this case be willing to die if some decided they were too nasty to deserve treatment?

What will you say when the nurse decides you are too unpleasant to live?

"Sorry Ma'am, okay go ahead and off me, you insane, twisted, murdering freak of nature."

But are they really deciding this or just saying, sorry, if you can't help yourself we can't force you to. Not like they're taking an ax to the guy. Nice place to take him in at the beginning for treatment.
 
You can't be that fat without enablers. Those catering to his whims are to blame for his condition & ultimate demise.
 
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