'Fitness Motivator' John Burk Goes Off On Overweight People, Calls Them Lazy And Repulsive
A Iraqi war veteran and self-proclaimed fitness motivator has gone viral for his video message to overweight people posted yesterday. Unfortunately, it’s because he spent five minutes calling them lazy, repulsive, and basically a blight to society.
John Burk, currently an instructor at the Ft. Stewart Noncommissioned Officers Academy, according to his Facebook page, moonlights as a motivational speaker on social media, with video and picture manifestos on fitness layered through his Facebook , Instagram, and YouTube feeds.
This latest video, posted on his public page’s wall and elsewhere, has amassed over five million views. “Your personality might be beautiful, but your body is not,” said Burk in the video. “It is not OK to be overweight.”
Though Burk takes time to discuss issues like the fast food industry and dutifully mentions that his video isn’t intended for those suffering from thyroid issues, the majority of his rant is aimed at decrying the excuses people make in order to stay obese. “It’s just sheer laziness,” he said.
Burk especially turns his ire at overweight and obese parents for not taking “an active role” in their children’s lives and being the cause of their obesity. And he spares little sympathy for children who are bullied about their weight.
“And then you’re going to wonder why your children are getting made fun of in school. Yeah, that’s a fact of life, people. Bullying is out there, there are bullies out there. Who are they going to go for first? Overweight kids,” Burk said. “That’s just how life is.”
While there’s plenty to criticize about his rant, especially the idea that even regular diet and exercise will do much to drastically lower people’s weight for a sustained time, perhaps the biggest howler is said in the first few seconds of the video. “Scientific studies have shown that it is not healthy to be overweight. There’s nothing good about it.”
While Burk is right to note that excess weight has been linked to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, it’s hardly a set destiny. And several scientific studies have shown that weight alone is a poor indicator of future health issues. A 2013 meta-analysis concluded that fitness level was a better predictor of early death than BMI, with the overweight and fit having similar mortality rates to the thin and fit.
And Burk’s shrieking admonition of overweight people not working out enough is predicated on the vacant idea that exercise will make you appreciably thinner; since according to his logic, the only reason they’re fat is because they don’t. A healthy dieting and active lifestyle will do wonders for longevity, but for the majority of people, it will only lower their weight by a few pounds, if at all — no matter how much Burk yells at you. Burk’s belief, shared unfortunately by many people, only serves to motivate people into stopping those lifestyle changes when they don’t magically drop 15 pounds.
Obesity is a serious health issue, but it’s decidedly not one that can be solved by mean-spirited and inaccurate slogans. And despite Burk’s insistence that he’s not “fat-shaming,” it’s hard to see how his swear-filled rant is anything but.