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[+] 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?

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 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.

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (5 children)

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

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  • [+] 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

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  • [+] -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.

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  • [+] -3 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I couldn't help matching your tone

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  • [+] 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.

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  • 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.

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  • [–] 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

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  • [–] 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

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  • [–] 100 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    This is Idaho in 20 years. If they successfully spread this madness, it could be the whole US.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Where do i buy iron lung stocks?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Ever since i saw a movie as a kid with a guy in an iron lung, these apparatuses fascinated me. The mix of then modern technology and the name and the kinda brutal look of it, i always wanted one to hang on a wall or something.

    I had no idea i might have to use one at some point. It's like they say, if America gets a cold, the whole world gets sick. And they are bleeding out of their asses right now. Thanks

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  • [–] 46 points 1 year ago

    “It’s literally landmark,”

    "Literally."

    I guess a gravestone is sort of a landmark. Idaho will be needing a lot more of those.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    She transitioned to work as a homeopath and advocate, ultimately returning to her home state of Idaho.

    Well, if she's a homeopath, then surely she must have informed medical views.

    Manookian has said publicly that she thinks vaccines are “poison for profit,” that continuing to let daycares require vaccination would “put our children on the chopping block,” that measles is “positive for the body,” that the virus protects against cancer, and that it can send people “into total remission”—an assertion she made on an Idaho wellness center’s podcast in April.

    Manookian told ProPublica she believes infectious diseases have been made “the bogeyman.”

    Well, I guess that claiming that measles are good for you and that infectious disease has been made a boogeyman is consistent with opposing vaccines.

    I do have to say that "COVID-19 cures cancer and is fantastic" is a new one on me, though.

    EDIT: Wait, sorry. It sounds like she's claiming that measles cures cancer, not COVID-19. Still a new one on me.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    If the patient dies of measles, then, technically, they're now immune from cancer.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    Well, probably.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks

    Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 – October 4, 1951)[2] was an African-American woman[5] whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line[B] and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day.[7][8]

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago

    The act makes it illegal for state and local governments, private businesses, employers, schools, and daycares to require anyone to take a vaccine or receive any other “medical intervention.”

    So if I ran a PRIVATE daycare, I couldn't refuse to accept people who weren't vaccinated? I knew this was stupid, it always, but I am just blown away by how stupid. The layers of dumb are confusing.

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  • [+] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    That's happening to an extent, but don't forget these are real people that care. They don't want their communities to suffer so they do their best. Even if their communities are hostile to their efforts.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    We'd still have polio and smallpox if they had their way.

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  • [–] [M] 24 points 1 year ago* (7 children)

    Hey OP, this is an important topic, but currently your post title violates rule 4. Please change it to match the article headline, or it will have to be removed.

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  • [–] 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    I’m not sure if it happened in this case but Ars is known to use A/B titles. It auto selects the title more people clicked on after a couple hours.

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  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

    Sure that's why I didn't just pull it down for the violation. I'll give it some time, but I still have to enforce the rule eventually.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I'm amazed at how determined the nation is to return to the 1800s. Wonder if they'll bring back muskets and riding horses again.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    They're not "anti-vaccine" they're "pro-plague"

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  • Other than potatoes and Micron I'd ignore anything produced in political nutjob Idaho.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Leslie Manookian "a unique background in finance and holistic health"

    Well, fuck you Leslie, you're a professional scammer.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Wild. I wonder if quarantines for the unvaccinated are also deemed "medical intervention". How about handwashing and bathing?

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    Not a fan of user editorialized titles. Don't tell me how to feel before I even read the article.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Not sure why you're being down voted. This post breaks rule 4. When I saw it, I was literally thinking this could not be the title of the article and sure enough it wasn't. Rule 4 is in place for good reason. Perhaps @throws_lemy@reddthat.com will want to update before the post is removed?

    As for the article... I'm so tired of this dangerous, foolishness. People so easily forget how important vaccines are when they aren't being ravaged by death. Do we really need to get back to that point in order to decide, "oh vaccines are a good idea after all?"

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  • [–] 21 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    He's being down voted because the title of this post is the original article title. Check the URL. Ars does A-B headlines, the URL always matches the A headline, but it looks like the B headline is what they eventually landed on.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Never underestimate how much bless grand father nurgle gives his followers. Its insane they eat this up but they really are feeling euphoria being ravaged by disease and parasites.

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  • [+] -9 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I dont mind dead stupid babies.

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  • 6 comments in c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 16 points 1 year ago
    [–] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Wouldn't call it success... more like corruption in plain sight...

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    The woman who is behind this insanity is a homeopath. She thinks water has a memory. 'Nuff said.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Time to deploy bioweapons to take care of the problem.

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