The Reemergence of Cliques - Fat People Versus Thin People

A study claims that obesity is essentially contagious, according to an article in the NY Times yesterday. People who have obese friends are 57% more likely to become obese themselves. The solution "to avoid becoming fat" according to the Times article's author, Gina Kolata, may be "to avoid having fat friends." Even one of the study's principal investigators suggests making "friends with a thin person... and let the thin person's behavior influence you and your obese friend."

Looks to me like this is the start of a great divide. If people follow the advice to avoid being friends with fat people, high school-type cliques will reemerge as a form of social demarcation, but on a worldwide scale. I think that would be hilarious. Imagine the pranks the groups would play on one another? It would be like high school all over again. It could even turn into an epic war, where thin people are constantly trying to outrun their fatter counterparts to tire them out, and the obese are trying to catch up and sit on the thin to squash them. It would be like one giant game of cat and mouse between the two biggest cliques in the world!

Ahh, the things I think of at work to distract myself from the tedium of data entry. :)