• slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org
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      14 hours ago

      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.

    • Catma@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      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.

    • blave@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      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.

    • SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      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.