Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

qz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 221 posts

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#31

Post by legitster »

tomcar288 wrote: post #7

i'm not saying anything about the content of infowars but I can't believe how much money people will spend on "supplements", and pills and artificial products. and yet, somehow don't have any money for fruits, vegetables and beans. i can only imagine, there's something broken in how people are being raised.

What makes you think it's a money thing and not just personal preference?

Also, for some of the things they are selling, like Chaga mushrooms or colloidal silver, there is not really a grocery store equivalent that has the same ingredients.

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#32

Post by [deleted] »

prepend wrote: post #15
tomcar288 wrote: post #7

i'm not saying anything about the content of infowars but I can't believe how much money people will spend on "supplements", and pills and artificial products. and yet, somehow don't have any money for fruits, vegetables and beans. i can only imagine, there's something broken in how people are being raised.

People understand they have a problem and don’t know what to do. They prioritize things they think will help, to the exclusion of generally healthy and good things (veggies, etc). I think it’s human nature, although I’m sure good parenting helps. Although I know some really smart people who spend $100/month in athletic greens and other well advertised snake oil. Pretty much all OTC supplements are bogus or have littl…

[deleted]

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#34

Post by infecto »

nimbius wrote: post #10

I once read an inspiring post from a european user who explained why these companies generally succeed. Namely, that formal treatment and healthcare for the underlying condition targeted by the "wellness" product is prohibitively expensive for American customers, and so snakeoil thrives in the absence of legitimate medical science. you could literally bankrupt these companies in less than a fortnight with single paye…

As opposed to the massive Homeopathy industry in Germany? I think the overall healthcare industry plays a part but I would bet that this is more of a human problem and less of an "american healthcare system is bad" issue. Germany has a massive homeopathic industry including brick and mortar stores, you could go to Asia and look at traditional chinese medicine. People love the idea of easy fixes where you can drink something or apply a herbal cream and your problems go away.

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#35

Post by andrewclunn »

nimbius wrote: post #10

I once read an inspiring post from a european user who explained why these companies generally succeed. Namely, that formal treatment and healthcare for the underlying condition targeted by the "wellness" product is prohibitively expensive for American customers, and so snakeoil thrives in the absence of legitimate medical science. you could literally bankrupt these companies in less than a fortnight with single paye…

Is it a lack of access or a lack of faith in "big pharma" and the bureaucratic medical industry? If a large part of the motivation is a distrust institutionalized medicine, then trying to use this as justification for government run healthcare isn't going to win you any additional support.

Not saying these "wellness" treatments are legitimate, but your response has the smell of a beltway elitist pretending to represent the interests of the scammed without understanding their motivations or views.

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#36

Post by HideousKojima »

nimbius wrote: post #10

I once read an inspiring post from a european user who explained why these companies generally succeed. Namely, that formal treatment and healthcare for the underlying condition targeted by the "wellness" product is prohibitively expensive for American customers, and so snakeoil thrives in the absence of legitimate medical science. you could literally bankrupt these companies in less than a fortnight with single paye…

Got any numbers on US sales for these sorts of products vs. in the EU or elsewhere? I spent two years in the Czech Republic and Czechs seemed just as likely to believe in all sorts of woo as Americans. In fact the irreligiousity of Czechs seemed to make them more likely to believe in new age mumbo jumbo (while Americans seem more likely to favor sketchy faith-based alternative healing methods, at least if they're religious).

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#38

Post by acchow »

nimbius wrote: post #10

I once read an inspiring post from a european user who explained why these companies generally succeed. Namely, that formal treatment and healthcare for the underlying condition targeted by the "wellness" product is prohibitively expensive for American customers, and so snakeoil thrives in the absence of legitimate medical science. you could literally bankrupt these companies in less than a fortnight with single paye…

Any examples of such underlying conditions?

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#39

Post by stcredzero »

tootie wrote: post #29
tomcar288 wrote: post #7

i'm not saying anything about the content of infowars but I can't believe how much money people will spend on "supplements", and pills and artificial products. and yet, somehow don't have any money for fruits, vegetables and beans. i can only imagine, there's something broken in how people are being raised.

Ideas about wellness have been complete bullshit for 99% of human history. I think you could very plausibly argue that we're at an all-time peak of rational thinking about our health despite the existence of Goop.

Ideas about wellness have been complete bullshit for 99% of human history.

False, depending on what you mean by human history. Science on macronutrients was in that category once. Now it's science fact. So we've had some wellness which was borne out as fact for over a century. Human written history doesn't go back far enough for 99% history/100% bullshit to be correct.

Actually, some inklings about vitamins go back even further.

Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products

#40

Post by [deleted] »

nimbius wrote: post #10

I once read an inspiring post from a european user who explained why these companies generally succeed. Namely, that formal treatment and healthcare for the underlying condition targeted by the "wellness" product is prohibitively expensive for American customers, and so snakeoil thrives in the absence of legitimate medical science. you could literally bankrupt these companies in less than a fortnight with single paye…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN