Hacker News Reader

Comment by newZWhoDis | Hacker News Reader

I don’t understand the bizarre haters that show up in every GLP-1 thread.

America is fat, and the health consequences of that make COVID look like a regular Tuesday.

“If people just X” clearly isn’t working, we need results and we need results fast. The state with the lowest obesity rate in 2025 is higher than the state with the highest obesity rate from 1990.

View on HN

I'm not a hater (or OP), but I think it's because GLP-1s are often talked about as if they're a kind of miracle drug. And it's very rare that drugs don't have some kind of side effects, especially after long term use. They might not even be universal, and we might not know what they are for years.

Yes, I understand there's an obesity epidemic, I also understand that GLP-1 drugs can have benefits outside of overeating. But with any drug, it's worth being thoughtful about its use.

Whatever we do, we mustn't address the root cause. There's no money in it.

You're absolutely right. As we all know, the perfect must be the enemy of the good, and so we must shun and ban anything that might be helpful until we spontaneously reach a utopian society where there are no problems at all.

They’re not suggesting perfectly addressing the root cause, just actually addressing it at all.

And it's being addressed, but doing that takes a long time. In the meantime, real people are suffering actual hurt that is alleviated by this medicine.

Obesity is self inflicted, which means very low self control. Being obese and taking the easy way out signals zero willpower. It's laughable.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com