What do fat people, MoveOn.org and the Swift Boat Vets for Truth have in common? They are also the products of “iatrogenic government.”
In medicine an iatrogenic condition or ailment is one that is caused by the physician, either deliberately or by accident. Give too much medicine, or the wrong kind, and the negative consequences are iatrogenic.
The late Sen. Pat Moynihan coined the phrase “iatrogenic government” to describe problems that were created by the intent to cure. What he had in mind was the tendency of the drug war to create more problems than it solves. But the same thing goes on all the time.
Take fat people. As you’ve no doubt heard, obesity is on the rise in the United States - its prevalence among adults has grown by 74 percent since 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Obesity (and sedentary lifestyles) may soon outpace cigarette smoking as the No. 1 cause of preventable deaths in America. And that’s the ironic part. The War on Tobacco has helped to create the need for a War on Fat.
Interesting article.
