I'm not into the whole "conspiracy theory" thing, but I think a large part of it is because the food companies are funding studies about obesity, skewing results, and trying to make it seem like the reason everyone is fat is because they don't exercise enough. Michelle Obama had tried to run a campaign against childhood obesity and attempted to focus on clean eating, but it soon became about exercise. Even some people I talk to IRL seem to think lack of exercise is the problem. My mom was complaining that she was gaining weight, so I told her to stop eating so much. And she replied, "it's because it's too cold out, I haven't been walking the dogs." Some obeast I was talking to a while ago on Whisper said he was 35, already had a heart attack, but couldn't do anything about his weight because he worked too much and couldn't get to the gym. I don't know how, but the food companies here in North America have convinced the general public that it's lack of exercise, not over-consumption of food, that causes obesity. It's becoming so common-place that nobody questions it anymore. Even 50 years ago, an obese child was a rarity, and the parent(s) would be met with scorn and criticism. Nowadays, something like 1 in 5 children is overweight or obese. It's because society is making it taboo to criticize fat people. We see it here every day with all this HAES and body positivity bullshit. If we made it unacceptable to be fat, more people would stop being fat - for example, it's frowned upon to be naked in the streets, so almost nobody ever does it. I've pretty much given up on society when it comes to the whole obesity epidemic. All my efforts are now focused on raising my son with a solid understand of nutrition, showing him how to prepare meals at home, and making exercise fun for him. I'm hoping this will equip him with the understanding and knowledge to make him a little shitlord.