Of course, and there are addicts that are unable to quit their tobacco addictions. They deserve compassion as both addictions are difficult and painful to live with, but there is no point in being proud of a preventable disease. At that point it's nihilism, not pride.

Smoking was identified as a public health concern due to excess deaths, and the government set laws and regulations to reduce smoking. Obesity is now the second largest cause of preventable death, second only to smoking. Preventing deaths will require reducing obesity, not through shame of course, but not through fat…