The human brain evolved over millions of years. Most psychologists agree, it's good at responding to immediate threats.

It's terrible at responding to slow, gradual threats, even when they're far more important. As Brian Merchant writes in Vice, "Humans have, historically, proven absolutely awful, even incapable, of comprehending the large, looming... slow burn threats facing their societies." In Collapse, Jared Diamond chronicles how leaders of past civilizations failed to address clear dangers because it was easier to shrug them off and downplay them.

Weight stigma is likely to drive weight gain and poor health and thus should be eradicated. This effort can begin by training compassionate and knowledgeable healthcare providers who will deliver better care and ultimately lessen the negative effects of weight stigma.

It’s morally lazy to hope for things turn out better without doing anything to adapt to the present reality. In fact, the word “hope” lately seems to mean accepting horrible situations as given, resigning to let things happen, and abandoning principles because acting on them takes too much effort.