Charging obese more is mean

It appears obesity is to be freely discriminated against and openly ridiculed. We tread on thin ice when using gender, race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation as topics for humor and conversation. Society frowns on negative verbiage on those topics; witness Michael Richards. But it appears the ice under our feet is thick and stable when it comes to using obesity for comedy.

Just the other day a radio talk show host mentioned "pressurized cargo hold" as a solution to accommodating obese people on air planes. It was meant to be funny, but in reality it was cruel, insensitive, disgusting, and should not be tolerated by station management.

This negative treatment of obesity will continue until we come to consensus it is a medical condition no different from other conditions once hidden or ridiculed. As late as the 60s, the Cubs' Ron Santo had to hide his diabetes lest it impede an otherwise hall-of-fame deserving career. Today, diabetes is openly discussed.

Nobody wants to be obese. Some of us have little choice. It's more complex than simply dieting, or addressing the condition simply via free will. Obesity is epidemic. It needs to be considered and treated as the disease it is. It's a mistake to think the obese are satisfied with their health.

United's policy is a prime example of callous treatment of the obese. Instead of coming up with a policy that addresses obesity in a sensitive way, United feels free to simply kick obese people off their flights, or to charge them double. Does United have a higher cost to accommodate the obese, absolutely? Yet, I don't see United passing out reduced rates to the thin folks. Is the airline industry going to charge fares on a per pound basis?

United says it decided to act on the 700 complaints they received from people who were uncomfortable because they had to sit next to an obese person. The airline probably also gets complaints their current seats widths are uncomfortable for the average size customer, yet it chooses to do nothing about that.

I suggest United reconsider their policy and ask people requiring extra space to notify the airline ahead of time so the airline can make an effort to accommodate them. They do that with other medical maladies requiring extra accommodation so why not with obese passenger also?

Gary Carmichael

Des Plaines