Competitive Eating is Wrong

Molly Schuyler, a competitive eater, has set a record by eating a 72 ounce steak in three minutes. What are we to make of this?

The easy thing to say is that there's something wrong when a society accepts as sport competitive eating. It's the easy thing to say because it's the right thing to say.

Really? Competitive eating? Doesn't that sort of competition mock those in the world who have little or nothing to eat? Yes, we know that questions of poverty and poor nutrition aren't so easily solved and that there is no direct connection between eating contests and world hunger. Still, how can we in good conscience condone such contests when there are in fact so many in the world with little, if anything? This is before any questions about the harm the eaters may be doing to themselves, but at least in that area they're only hurting themselves. That doesn't make what they do right, however, and is actually just a side issue. No one should overeat just to show that they can.

There are things which shouldn't be done simply because they can be done. Competitive eating is one of them.