I’m not surprised. Carl Sagan saw this coming in 1995
I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…
That is scarily accurate
Because history often rhymes. It probably wasn’t hard to look into the past and see what would become of the future
Chuck D made a song:
I am at a loss as to how we could have regressed like this. At a complete and absolute loss.
As a 90s kid I remember the zeitgeist of the time (and even in the early 2000s) that the world was ever in a forward march and we will never stop going forward…
Holy shit they were not just wrong, but how wrong was scary. I will also never forget how on the internet shortly after 9/11 (albeit those view points predate 9/11) made the whole clash of civilization between the rational and intelligent and scientific west and the barbaric Muslim world that is stuck in the 12th century or something.
They made the then scientific lead of the west a result of a core, rock solid trait of the west that was reached purely through discussion and debate and based only on facts. Meaning it cannot be done away with that quickly.
But barely in the past 15 years (maybe even less) view points that would be seen as an absolute joke became mainstream, and not only that, the same loonies are the ones in charge now. Ironically in the early covid-19 time many were acting all shocked that Muslim countries not only had lock downs and that there was no resistance to them… as if Muslims are in such denial of modern anything that they think they cannot be barred from being sick or something.
And then they claimed that the Muslims morons who DID defy lockdowns and became super spreaders were purely unique to the Islamic world. Never mind the fact that religious people of all stripes (Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians… my god the Christians! Christians Koreans were singlehandedly responsible for making covid-19 a problem in Korea!) Fucked up, they still acted like it was purely a Muslim problem.
I wonder how many of them now even realise just how fucking FAST the entire world order they claim is a deep intrinsic trait is falling apart.
I blame the rise of social media - especially the video version - for giving a voice to the idiots and letting their sheer high quantity distort facts with clickbaity and rage inducing headlines
This may or may not be the darkest timeline (it’s pretty close)… but it’s 100% the stupidest.
I think you will enjoy this recent episode of the This Machine Kills podcast.
We discuss Quinn’s analysis of “new fusionism” or a mutant strain of neoliberalism that crystallized in the 1990s, which sought to ground and defend neoliberal policies through their own bastardization of biological sciences — cognitive, behavioral, evolutionary, genetic, and so on. They then used scientism to justify and propagate political ideas and economic models based on hardwired human nature and hierarchical differences between races, cultures, and intelligence. The fringes of the 1990s have now become the mainstream of the 2020s.
Fuck me. Except now they are anything BUT scientific. And if I remember correctly (and i have to rely on 20+ years old memories since none of those old forums were archived anywhere) many of the people posting probably had no idea where their own ideas came from, which would explain a lot.
They were certainly wrong about the “deep state” existing.
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You know what they call “alternative medicine” that works?
Medicine.
Thank you Tim!
Thank you God, for curing the cataracts of Sam’s mom!
The brain worm commands it
I don’t think I ever knew he was also diagnosed with Mercury poisoning. Pretty sure that has cognitive impact
pharmaceutical industry pushing patented pills, powders, pricks, potions, and poisons
Look, I’m not here to defend the pharmaceutical industry, but at least they’re fucking REGULATED.
Unlike, say, the supplement industry which he so loves… That’ll tell you: take these 50 expensive potions and you’ll get better, not the thing that has been rigorously tested & proven over generations.
Sounds like we’re going back to the “four humors:”
The “four humors” are a classical theory, developed by ancient Greek physicians like Hippocrates, that suggests human personality and health are determined by the balance of four bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. An excess or deficiency of these humors was believed to influence both temperament and susceptibility to illness.
This theory was influential in ancient and medieval medicine, influencing how people understood and treated illness and even personality. While no longer considered a scientifically valid theory of human health, it’s a significant part of the history of medicine and offers a glimpse into ancient philosophical and medical thinking.
Except now we are actually using a contemporary version of it to rule our health care system.
I’m sorry, where did this guy get his relevant PhD(s) again?
He probably thinks PhD means Pretty huge Dick. Which he does not have either.
The rest of the world should forbid all travels in and out of the US. And bring back lazarettos for those that must travel there.
FUCK IT! Why not also throw out all the work of Koch and Pasteur!
Have you not been following the “raw milk” craze? We’re already there!
Back in the 80’s or 90’s there was this one show in Spanish “Erase Una Vez LA Vida”. You just have your kids watch that a few times and they will be experts in the human body. Including the knowledge of how viruses are always lurking around trying to fuck us all up:
It’s a french production, btw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time…_Life
They made a whole bunch of different series about different topics
Loved it as a kid. Still think about it from time to time
That’s cool I was wondering if it was in English too. I think it would be an interesting thing to show my kids.
It was sold all over the place. There’s probably an English language version floating around.
It was a thing in Germany as well :)
Get your mmr and tdap boosters 💉
wow he is really going all out to sell his supplements huh
RFK JR is really into roids and methylene blue right now.
Cool.
The future of US healthcare looks like this
“Alternate theory.” Oh dear god, it’s miasma, isn’t it.
Ok… he was aiming for miasma, but missed. We’re doomed.
He wrote an entire section on it in his 2021 book vilifying Fauci, titled The Real Anthony Fauci. The section is titled “Miasma vs. Germ Theory,” in the chapter “The White Man’s Burden.” […] Kennedy contrasts his erroneous take on miasma theory with germ theory, which he derides as a tool of the pharmaceutical industry and pushy scientists to justify selling modern medicines. The abandonment of miasma theory, Kennedy bemoans, realigned health and medical institutions to “the pharmaceutical paradigm that emphasized targeting particular germs with specific drugs rather than fortifying the immune system through healthy living, clean water, and good nutrition.”
Edit: Apparently “The White Man’s Burden” is a racist poem by Rudyard Kipling from 1899 about how the US should colonize the Philippines… the “half devil, half child” people of the Philippines… Curious what that has to do with antiquated ideas about illness, but I’m afraid reading his book might give me brain worms. That’s how contagions work, right…?
Excuse me? In the chapter “The What, Now!!!” Holy fucking christ… dude is pre-Darwinian in his takes.
Edit: autocorrect
Also, I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.
It’s worse than you think.
The miasma part is pre-germ. The worst part is what’s following. The immune system and healthy living part is an ideology that is popular in the New Age beliefs. It was very popular in some communities in the 60s and 70s. But, it’s an older ideology about health. The Nazi themselves used this and believed (at least partially) in the immune system bullshit. They all base their beliefs on a German umbrella term and movement, the Lebensreform (German Wikipedia for a longer article )
It was promoted by wealthy bourgeois that lived in urban and industrialized areas of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The intent was a natural and healthy lifestyle to counter the detrimental effects of industrialization, urban living, and “modernity” on health and overall well-being. It included for example organic food, alternative medicine but also spiritual and religious beliefs.
I highly recommend reading some lines about it. It helps to understand RFK Jr. and where his bullshit comes from.
I hate that in part because as someone who’s health has been damaged by industrialization (and by illness in my youth) they get even that part wrong.
Yes, a healthy diet and frequent exercise help me, but more important is avoiding pathogens and avoiding harmful pollutants.
When there was an outbreak of cholera in London in the 18th century, leading physicians of the time came up with the idea that sewerage was creating a “deadly miasma” and advised people to move to the country. This of course simply spread the outbreak to the rural areas where it was even more deadly.
The London sewerage system was created to deal with miasma, it wasn’t until late in the 19th century that it was discovered that cholera was spread from contaminated water supplies.
It looks like these things are all over the board, going from useless and detrimental, to actually good, most of them contextual.
It’s like rfkj got brain damage and then tried to make sense if it. It’s like he almost gets it but then veers off to the side.
I was actually just talking to a person about this. How it’s pretty easy to pursue truth of a topic and continue down the wrong road, all just from a wrong premise or even a missing fact that gives you the wrong perspective and direction. Continuing to deepen an “understanding” of something, stubbornly. Add cognitive biases to a deep impairment, and now you’re ready to run the United States apparently.
Rfkjr has been a twisted little moron his entire life. Any impairment he has he’s lived with for decades.
The white man’s burden is also used referentially to call out people who do things like travel to poor countries to build houses even though they have far less building experience than locals and the money they paid to get there would have gone much further, had it simply been donated in the form of building materials.
I don’t know how RFK Jr. is using it, but it almost certainly makes no sense.
Edit: oh, voluntourism! I knew there was a term for it
Ah yes, that makes sense. I pointed out this problem when I was a church kid on a mission trip to build shitty houses. I was told “it’s ok, it’s not really about the money spent now on flying you all here and feeding and housing you for two weeks, it’s that people who went on missions as teens are 500% more likely to donate to missions later.” It was the beginning of the end for me in the religious world.
Honestly, good for you for realizing young. I was around 20 when a coworker got annoyed about a company that sends a pair of shoes to people in need for every pair purchased and a lightbulb went off in my head.
Ah, yes. The “Put local makers out of business and then abandon the area” model. :: chef’s kiss ::
No, you don’t get it! The benefit is not in the houses and wells that we must show those savages how to build. The blessing is the chance to spend time with their white saviors.
The
silverquicksilver lining is that plague doctor masks might be making a comeback, at least?Thank you for saying this I_Fart_Glitter
