> Really? Worse then actual suffering and societal costs is the treatment of obesity as a disease and not a character flaw? Not only should people suffer, but they should be shamed for it.

What an overly sensitive response. How ridiculous is Hacker News? Where did I say anything about [1] the suffering, [2] societal costs, or [3] treatment of obesity as a disease?

Mentioned it's political and has a media component to it, get attacked. There factually are people, like the parent comment, who will not fairly discuss the issue on neutral terms. Derailed into personal attacks, insensitivity, or straw man arguments like the above comment. How can HN parade itself as intellectual discussion when it can't even handle benign comments.