It’s just McStupid. An appeals court on Tuesday revived part of a class-action lawsuit blaming McDonald’s for making people fat. This time, instead of focusing on the fact that the people in question had no idea that eating Big Macs every day was unhealthy, they are now making claims pertaining to deceptive advertising, likening it to past cases against big tobacco.

Since when has advertising not been persuasive to some degree? That’s its purpose. If I could blame every misleading ad for physical or psychological damage, I would be suing nearly every company in America. (Personally, I still think I deserve my money and my three hours back for sitting through Matrix Revolutions; talk about false advertising!)

But, unlike the tobacco companies, McDonald’s never lied about the health issues associated with their products in their advertisements or secretly added substances to make their burgers more addictive.

Samuel Hirsch, the lawyer bringing the case, called McDonald’s “physically or psychologically addictive” and “a very insipid, toxic kind of thing.” To that, I will agree. There is a deep iconic connection in our society towards McDonald’s. It’s one of the few things we can always depend on in our world. If you order a cheeseburger and fries, it’s going to look and taste exactly the way that it did the very first time you had it, and it will taste that way every time after that. It will always be fast and it will always come individually wrapped just for you. It’s a constant in an inconstant world.

McDonald’s is ingrained into our minds. I could probably sing every jingle they ever played on TV. Almost all of us can remember the thrill of going out for a Happy Meal or going there to hang out with friends as a teen, without any uncool parents. Nearly one in eight Americans have worked at a McDonald’s at one time in their lives (I earned my first paycheck at the Golden Arches). Those emotions carry over to adulthood.

I will admit one of my guilty pleasures, specially on cold winter mornings like this, is a warm Egg McMuffin all neatly wrapped up in its crinkled paper. But, I know I simply cannot eat them everyday. Besides that I don’t have the money. Common sense, the food pyramid, the nutrition chart and my Mom tell me that it’s simply unwise to eat like this all the time.

Now I’m not saying the McDonald’s doesn’t have at least a half a dozen major sins slathered on its buns, but that isn’t what is at issue here. When do we as a society draw a line between personal responsibility and scapegoat blame?

If this family is so concerned with the damage done to their health and their bodies, then why are the spending so much time and energy sitting in those courtrooms, trying to point fingers? No amount of money is going to reverse the health of these kids. Go grab some fruit and take a walk!

Moni Wood is a continuing education student in English. She can be reached for comment at [email protected].