Educare (Mar 2009)
Fysisk fostran och föraktet för svaghet
Abstract
Health and public health issues have always been of official concern. Usually, these issues are described as rather morally uncontroversial. The reason for that is simple. It is better for all – individuals as well as society as a whole – if the public are in “good shape”. Often, this is also the main reason behind suggestions regarding physical education in schools. Hardly anyone seems to think that this is a major problem, certainly not from a moral point of view. If something is wrong, it is never described as a problem regarding physical education as such. In my article, I suggest another view on this. I claim that there are internal problems with modern health ideology. I argue that the ideology focus on normalization rather than health, is something that lies within the liberal-conservative and paternalistic health discourse. Moreover, the health ideology (as we know it) and the health discourse imply values that can be described as fascist. By this I mean that the moral imperative in the health ideology express contempt of weakness, especially when it comes to issues such as so called obesity.
