What upsets me the most about this, aside from the dead babies, is that the only reason this sort of lunacy has suddenly become extremely popular is because certain people have suddenly figured out how to make a ton of money on it. The biggest impetus behind all of this is its profitability, not any ideology.
And, I think that the people who are fighting against this kind of bullshit often overlook that.
For me it’s the politicians. There will always be a few misguided souls but the politicians who manipulate their concerns are the real evil. They know what they’re doing, they know the consequences, but greed for power and sociopathic tendencies means they don’t care.
It’s not that there are nutcases but the new focus on manipulating them brings it all out in the open and spreads it like bed bugs
When the pandemic was at full force, i worked for some lady tgat did foot massages. At least that’s what i gathered from what it said on her car. But she saw herself more as a doctor or even super doctor than someone who rubs feet.
I often heard her on the phone telling people/customers/future customers to not get vaccinated becase you get shingles from it, vaccines are the real illness, autism, whatever. Instead they should just massage it away. I don’t even think she was straight up scamming people, she just lived on Facebook, or a bit of both. Her customers more often than not took her advice very seriously. I know that because they often gave me a weird look because i was wearing a mask and they would deliberately hug and talk really closely without masks when i was around.
I worked for one of her customers not too long ago, pure coincidence. She has long covid now, she can’t walk up the stairs anymore without being out of breath. She told me she has long covid, while also explaining me that she doesn’t believe in covid.
I kinda forgot where i was going, but some people just have to believe what they want to believe.
Supplements. Iodine, colloidal silver, sea moss, and methylene blue. Completely unregulated “cures” for everything from the common cold to erectile disfunction. And if it doesnt work clearly you took the wrong dose or are possessed by demons.
Going viral on social media. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok… YouTube, too. If you start getting a certain number of views per hour or views per day, they start paying you for it because of the ads that play during your videos.
Making insane bullshit that gets a lot of clicks and views is an extremely profitable industry, especially if you’re some idiot who is otherwise unemployable. This is why all of those crazy AI slop videos are suddenly very popular, because if you post ones that go viral, they get a lot of affiliate rewards from all of the views and add impressions. Basically, that translates into cash.
Reduced short term costs. Vaccines aren’t free and operate on a fairly slim profit margin.
More customers in higher profit services. Emergency, surgical and palliative care have significantly higher profits especially since chargemasters are largely given a blank check on which to write the charges on.
“But surely this is bad for the insurance industry who will push against this.” Nope! The biggest obstacle to them raising rates is that to avoid any legal pushback there needs to be something to point at for why their costs increase. Insurance rates will, and currently are, going to rise significantly faster than any payouts.
This isn’t some “Alex jones conspiracy” it’s the entirely predictable outcome of a privatized healthcare system and is only going to get worse. The Alex Jones types are taking advantage of the crisis by selling snake oil cures for it, but they aren’t a primary driver of the problem.
Yes, although, even with my decades of experience and media literacy, if I were made the chairman of the FTC today, I know that it would, unquestionably, take a decade or more for the FTC to modernize. And by that, I mean, it would take at least that long for the FTC to come to really understand how modern social media works, and how it, under the constitution, really should (and should not) be regulated.
I fully support the FTC being a regulatory body that, to a constitutional degree, regulates communications on the Internet. But what does that mean? What are the limits of that? What is and is not constitutional? It’s gonna take at least a decade before we even have a conceptual framework for it, and then many decades after that of evolution, just as the medium, itself, evolves.
For me, right now, the priority is to get this process started. Currently, a lot of of the FTC is not only struggling with its own existence, but how they can maintain their own current operations under Trump’s chainsaw slashing of federal workforce.
Are you confusing the federal trade commission and the federal communications commission?
The FTC probably has little say here, they’re largely focused on finance and stocks
The FCC really shouldn’t have the power to regulate speech because they can do drastic chilling of it when they can, using things like removing broadcast rights.
The FDA (food and drug administration) on the other hand and possibly even the DEA (drug enforcement agency) should be dealing with a lot of the things associated with quackery. Antivax is tied to quackery such as homeopathy. The fact things like mms (miracle mineral solution- bleach to drink as a cure all) and homeopathy are able to spread and be sold is a sign of regulatory failure
I apologize I must have misinterpreted based on you saying that the FTC regulates the internet, but I looked it up after your comment and it looks like they’re involved in consumer protections as well.
Feel free to block whomever you’d like though. Have a nice day.
You aren’t wrong in thinking this guys a jerk. You had a valid and polite response questioning the basis of his comment and instead of saying anything of value to back up his statements, took offense snd mouthed off for no reason.
The biggest impetus behind all of this is its profitability, not any ideology.
Yes and no: to many, including most of the most powerful people in the US in particular and the world in general, “fuck everyone else, I want more money and/or power right now” IS their foundational ideology.
It’s like Ayn Rand, but with less grandiose justifications and even more “might makes right” and victim blaming.
In other words, a particularly toxic mix of fascism and anarcho-capitalism.
OK, I think the most useful thing I can say right now is that, while you are not wrong in the archetypes that caused the problem that let us here, there are a lot more contemporaneous nuances to the problem, and which complicate any possible solutions than there used to be. Put simply, wow, very used to be your problem. That was once black and white, it is now not simply shades of gray, but it is the shades of grey on multiple dimensions.
So, it’s a similar problem, but one which affects many more people than anyone realized, previously, and then so many more complicated ways that we, even as an entire society, are struggling with trying to figure out exactly what they all mean, let alone how to deal with the problems that present themselves.
And while that is quite its own thing, what truly differentiates the progressive from the regressive is the willingness to both acknowledge that this is happening, along with the willingness to acknowledge that it must be dealt with in the terms of a public service and good, rather than a private corporate need right for exploitation.
Edit: even as we continue, discuss this, my point becomes clear: whenever intuitive degree this issue occurs, it is an extraordinarily nuanced and complicated situation which requires at least as nuanced and complicated solutions. Nothing is black-and-white. There is no one simple answer to anything.
Money is part of it but I do believe it’s an ideology. You’ve long had the grifters and con artists selling snake oil and other flim flams, but the ideology here is why people buy in.
People have completely lost trust in authorities. In the US its current form really goes back to the Vietnam War and its destruction of Johnson’s great society project. But since then American culture has grown increasingly distrustful of the government and it’s been a major tool of the republican party (despite nixon) as a means to sway support for deregulation after the new deal era of the government actually radically improving lives. This has spread over to all institutions, especially medical ones. (Honorable mention to things like the tuskeegee syphilis experiment and the cia using vaccine programs to run DNA tests)
Grifters and quacks have encouraged it, but it’s reasonable that they’re distrustful, they’re questioning authority. It’s just that they’re doing it unreasonably and against overwhelming evidence. There’s a whole bunch of fallacies and fears as well as being sheltered from the reality of disease (then doubling down when facing it). But the ideology is crucial here
What upsets me the most about this, aside from the dead babies, is that the only reason this sort of lunacy has suddenly become extremely popular is because certain people have suddenly figured out how to make a ton of money on it. The biggest impetus behind all of this is its profitability, not any ideology.
And, I think that the people who are fighting against this kind of bullshit often overlook that.
For me it’s the politicians. There will always be a few misguided souls but the politicians who manipulate their concerns are the real evil. They know what they’re doing, they know the consequences, but greed for power and sociopathic tendencies means they don’t care.
It’s not that there are nutcases but the new focus on manipulating them brings it all out in the open and spreads it like bed bugs
Besides the tiny coffin industry, where is the money in anti-vax?
When the pandemic was at full force, i worked for some lady tgat did foot massages. At least that’s what i gathered from what it said on her car. But she saw herself more as a doctor or even super doctor than someone who rubs feet.
I often heard her on the phone telling people/customers/future customers to not get vaccinated becase you get shingles from it, vaccines are the real illness, autism, whatever. Instead they should just massage it away. I don’t even think she was straight up scamming people, she just lived on Facebook, or a bit of both. Her customers more often than not took her advice very seriously. I know that because they often gave me a weird look because i was wearing a mask and they would deliberately hug and talk really closely without masks when i was around.
I worked for one of her customers not too long ago, pure coincidence. She has long covid now, she can’t walk up the stairs anymore without being out of breath. She told me she has long covid, while also explaining me that she doesn’t believe in covid.
I kinda forgot where i was going, but some people just have to believe what they want to believe.
Supplements. Iodine, colloidal silver, sea moss, and methylene blue. Completely unregulated “cures” for everything from the common cold to erectile disfunction. And if it doesnt work clearly you took the wrong dose or are possessed by demons.
Radium water used to sold as a cure all until it rotted out the jaw of a rich guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radithor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers
Oh hey Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson have joined the chat!
Yes, it’s also a talking point for the entertainers to appease their tribe.
What’s your bright spot today, buddy?
Selling a fuck ton of snake-oil as an alternative.
They aren’t mad at the pharma industry so much as they are mad they aren’t getting a piece of the pie.
Going viral on social media. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok… YouTube, too. If you start getting a certain number of views per hour or views per day, they start paying you for it because of the ads that play during your videos.
Making insane bullshit that gets a lot of clicks and views is an extremely profitable industry, especially if you’re some idiot who is otherwise unemployable. This is why all of those crazy AI slop videos are suddenly very popular, because if you post ones that go viral, they get a lot of affiliate rewards from all of the views and add impressions. Basically, that translates into cash.
Based on the comments a lot of idiots take the AI slop videos and ads seriously.
Reduced short term costs. Vaccines aren’t free and operate on a fairly slim profit margin.
More customers in higher profit services. Emergency, surgical and palliative care have significantly higher profits especially since chargemasters are largely given a blank check on which to write the charges on.
“But surely this is bad for the insurance industry who will push against this.” Nope! The biggest obstacle to them raising rates is that to avoid any legal pushback there needs to be something to point at for why their costs increase. Insurance rates will, and currently are, going to rise significantly faster than any payouts.
This isn’t some “Alex jones conspiracy” it’s the entirely predictable outcome of a privatized healthcare system and is only going to get worse. The Alex Jones types are taking advantage of the crisis by selling snake oil cures for it, but they aren’t a primary driver of the problem.
This. If we had normal FTC that would go after.
Yes, although, even with my decades of experience and media literacy, if I were made the chairman of the FTC today, I know that it would, unquestionably, take a decade or more for the FTC to modernize. And by that, I mean, it would take at least that long for the FTC to come to really understand how modern social media works, and how it, under the constitution, really should (and should not) be regulated.
I fully support the FTC being a regulatory body that, to a constitutional degree, regulates communications on the Internet. But what does that mean? What are the limits of that? What is and is not constitutional? It’s gonna take at least a decade before we even have a conceptual framework for it, and then many decades after that of evolution, just as the medium, itself, evolves.
For me, right now, the priority is to get this process started. Currently, a lot of of the FTC is not only struggling with its own existence, but how they can maintain their own current operations under Trump’s chainsaw slashing of federal workforce.
Are you confusing the federal trade commission and the federal communications commission?
The FTC probably has little say here, they’re largely focused on finance and stocks
The FCC really shouldn’t have the power to regulate speech because they can do drastic chilling of it when they can, using things like removing broadcast rights.
The FDA (food and drug administration) on the other hand and possibly even the DEA (drug enforcement agency) should be dealing with a lot of the things associated with quackery. Antivax is tied to quackery such as homeopathy. The fact things like mms (miracle mineral solution- bleach to drink as a cure all) and homeopathy are able to spread and be sold is a sign of regulatory failure
Removed by mod
I apologize I must have misinterpreted based on you saying that the FTC regulates the internet, but I looked it up after your comment and it looks like they’re involved in consumer protections as well.
Feel free to block whomever you’d like though. Have a nice day.
Removed by mod
I couldn’t help matching your tone
You aren’t wrong in thinking this guys a jerk. You had a valid and polite response questioning the basis of his comment and instead of saying anything of value to back up his statements, took offense snd mouthed off for no reason.
Yes and no: to many, including most of the most powerful people in the US in particular and the world in general, “fuck everyone else, I want more money and/or power right now” IS their foundational ideology.
It’s like Ayn Rand, but with less grandiose justifications and even more “might makes right” and victim blaming.
In other words, a particularly toxic mix of fascism and anarcho-capitalism.
OK, I think the most useful thing I can say right now is that, while you are not wrong in the archetypes that caused the problem that let us here, there are a lot more contemporaneous nuances to the problem, and which complicate any possible solutions than there used to be. Put simply, wow, very used to be your problem. That was once black and white, it is now not simply shades of gray, but it is the shades of grey on multiple dimensions.
So, it’s a similar problem, but one which affects many more people than anyone realized, previously, and then so many more complicated ways that we, even as an entire society, are struggling with trying to figure out exactly what they all mean, let alone how to deal with the problems that present themselves.
And while that is quite its own thing, what truly differentiates the progressive from the regressive is the willingness to both acknowledge that this is happening, along with the willingness to acknowledge that it must be dealt with in the terms of a public service and good, rather than a private corporate need right for exploitation.
Edit: even as we continue, discuss this, my point becomes clear: whenever intuitive degree this issue occurs, it is an extraordinarily nuanced and complicated situation which requires at least as nuanced and complicated solutions. Nothing is black-and-white. There is no one simple answer to anything.
Money is part of it but I do believe it’s an ideology. You’ve long had the grifters and con artists selling snake oil and other flim flams, but the ideology here is why people buy in.
People have completely lost trust in authorities. In the US its current form really goes back to the Vietnam War and its destruction of Johnson’s great society project. But since then American culture has grown increasingly distrustful of the government and it’s been a major tool of the republican party (despite nixon) as a means to sway support for deregulation after the new deal era of the government actually radically improving lives. This has spread over to all institutions, especially medical ones. (Honorable mention to things like the tuskeegee syphilis experiment and the cia using vaccine programs to run DNA tests)
Grifters and quacks have encouraged it, but it’s reasonable that they’re distrustful, they’re questioning authority. It’s just that they’re doing it unreasonably and against overwhelming evidence. There’s a whole bunch of fallacies and fears as well as being sheltered from the reality of disease (then doubling down when facing it). But the ideology is crucial here