By Casey Film
Round Table editor

When a story about a 600-pound woman shows up on the morning news, the natural assumption is that said woman is in the midst of a difficult struggle to achieve a healthy weight. However, such an assumption would be wrong in the case of Donna Simpson, a New Jersey woman who has set a goal to weigh 1,000 pounds.

It is sad to say, but Simpson’s real desire may not be for food, but for attention, and that desire is killing her.

Simpson already weighs in at 602 pounds, but in order to achieve the title of “world’s heaviest woman” she needs to take in over 12,000 calories a day and gain another 398 pounds.

Simpson insists that her excessive consumption is enjoyable for other people to watch, and that she is not hurting herself by taking on so much weight. Some may say that she is seriously fooling herself, but her exceptionally unhealthy behavior is getting her exactly what she wants: publicity, hype, and attention in droves.

The story of the 600-pound woman has already appeared on most of the major news stations like FOX, MSNBC, and CNN. Her weighty undertaking has also circulated through countless lesser known tabloids and news websites, not to mention the talk shows that have brought her up.

Put simply, there are few people who don’t know about Simpson and her dream to weigh 1,000 pounds.

People have always needed an accolade or two to fuel their self-esteem. At the same time, there have always been people who do outrageous or even harmful things to themselves or others to get it.

There are plenty of reasons why humans seek attention. Insecurity is an obvious reason, but also pride or overconfidence can result in a strong desire for the spotlight.

An article on 2knowmyself.com said, “Arrogant people may seek attention because they have the feeling that they deserve to be in the center of attention. In this century, where everyone is connected to everyone else through the internet, and the media, anyone can become famous and get the attention they want. You Tube is fueled by this concept; average people who can achieve world-wide fame just by doing something odd and (maybe) funny in front of a camera.

Consider the “balloon boy” incident earlier in the year. After a few days of speculation it eventually came out that Richard and Mayumi Heene had planned the entire hoax in an attempt to gain a reality TV show. They may have been sent to jail, but they certainly got enough attention in the process.

Then the White House party crashers come to mind next. Tareq and Michaele Salahi enjoyed considerable time as “high-profile fixtures in the Beltway social scene,” even before they showed up at the state dinner.

Everyone likes bit of recognition, and with the help of today’s media, anyone can get it. All they have to do is something extremely out of the ordinary, like pledge to weigh 1,000 pounds or slip past White House security, and they can have their story posted on every news site on the internet.