you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[+] 54 points 1 year ago (20 children)
  • [–] 15 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Besides the tiny coffin industry, where is the money in anti-vax?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 47 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    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.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 1 year 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.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 3 points 1 year 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.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

    This. If we had normal FTC that would go after.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 5 child comments
  • [+] 6 points 1 year ago (5 children)
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    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

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [+] -3 points 1 year ago (4 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    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.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [+] -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I couldn't help matching your tone

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Yeah I picked my second paragraph carefully. It clearly meant "you're being an asshole, but I can understand being in a bad mood and being a jerk because of it, so take a breather and reevaluate your attitude or fuck off" I didn't expect to get called a cunt like that though lol, and it was clearly an American use not Aus/UK style lol.

    I'll admit, I could've been politer, and irl I probably would've, but "rational conversation" told me I had no reason to care if they continue communicating with me.

  • source
  • parent
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • load more comments (-1 replies)
  • 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.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    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

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    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

  • source
  • parent