I've never heard of things like alcoholism pride, for instance (maybe I'm wrong). What makes obesity so different that it gets these defenders, despite the indisputable link with a wide array of health issues?
Alcohol is substantially engrained in culture, country music or top 40 playlists. Today listening to a country playlist, about 70% of songs mention beer, whisky, or tequila.
And you could say, they're talking about a cool beverage every few days; and then you'll see the Social posts normalizing that a bottle or 2 of wine a night is normal, or that "it's 5 o'clock somewhere" as if alcohol every day at 5 is healthy. But then you'll meet a reformed alcoholic who started from these references. And then you'll hang out with "normals" with a person who is sober or even a moderate drinker and realize that the majority of American adults do have a problem with alcohol (they even feel uncomfortable if someone is asks for a water), it's just normalized
This is one of the reasons, people are moving away from the term, and using "unhealthy alcohol use" as a term for the condition, and also “a person with an alcohol use disorder” or “a person with a drug use disorder" rather than alcoholic or addict.
so once you are addicted, you'll stay that way, even if your consumption ceases completely (at which point you're an addict who doesn't exhibit problematic consumption). that's why clean alcoholics (or any clean drug addicts) are usually advised to stay teetotal indefinitely: they'll usually bounce back to their old patterns very quickly if they have a fallback.
False dichotomy.
If the stats show that being overweight increases your risk "X-fold", I promise the doctor is suggesting weight loss, which is at least a partial solution.