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

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

#141

Post by FredPret »

tomcar288 wrote: post #104
striking wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're underestimating how many people live in food deserts and basically don't have access to fresh food. That might seem like a nitpick against a larger argument, but I think it serves as a good example for why you need to take a close look at the environment that these people exist in as a whole, and that it likely goes beyond their innate habits or those of just their immediate family in childhood.

A single fruit tree can yield 100-200 lbs of fruit (apples, pears, oranges, etc), conservatively. All you need is 40$ for a fruit tree and some water, and some space, and 5-10 years. Plant 5 of those and now you've got 500 to 1000 lbs of fruit per year. If the free market refuses to provide what people want, then we can create our own food and let the execs wonder why they keep loosing market share every year.

You just described exactly how everyone in an ideal free market should behave.

Fruit is a tough one though: there are many hidden costs in providing it at scale. The 7 year waiting period is huge; add cost of the land, picking, transport, and spoilage. Fruit are fragile and stay fresh for a very short time.

There’s a reason fruit companies have tiny margins: here are the numbers for Fresh Del Monte: https://valustox.com/FDP

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

#143

Post by AlbertCory »

Since I just watched Idiocracy last week at a friend's recommendation:

The hero encounters vast numbers of people who robotically say about a Gatorade-like product: "It's got electrolytes!"

He asks them, "Do you even know what electrolytes are?"

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

#144

Post by Spivak »

Aunche wrote: post #71
striking wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're underestimating how many people live in food deserts and basically don't have access to fresh food. That might seem like a nitpick against a larger argument, but I think it serves as a good example for why you need to take a close look at the environment that these people exist in as a whole, and that it likely goes beyond their innate habits or those of just their immediate family in childhood.

People who value fresh produce are going to go out of the way to get it. If enough people do this, environments will adapt to that demand. NYC Chinatowns used to be quite poor and discriminated against, but they were still able to establish their own supply chains that provides cheaper and fresher vegetables than anywhere else in the city because vegetables are a quintessential part of Chinese cuisine. Food deserts,…

> a concept that assumes that demand follows supply

This is wayyyy too black and white. What is cheap and available is what becomes people's diets and historically folks are extremely creative with the stuff that's around. This is pretty much the entire story of culinary history and likely where all your favorite dishes originated. One of the reasons tea was so unbelievably popular in western Europe was because the staple diets of most folks was stale bread and people needed something to wash it down that didn't taste awful. Cheese follows a supply of milk and a demand to not have it spoil.

So you're right that just having the supply there doesn't work because there's no pressure to actually use any of it. The most economical foods by a wide margin non-perishables. When you get your CSA box you've already paid for the veggies so you're motivated to use them up before they turn but at the grocery store why would you even bother when you have anything else more important to do? If you were just handed a sack of apples you might find a way to use them all but "paying money to do more work" in an environment where every adult in the household works a full-time job, plus having kids or social obligations is quite the ask. Buying those apple bars is a much easier buy than fresh apples because they don't have an timer attached to them, you're guaranteed to extract all the value even when you're busy and not home for a few days.

And this isn't some new phenomenon, "cutting out work for wives and mothers trying to put food on the table every night" is an entire industry. Go look at any food ads from the 20th century.

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

#145

Post by digging »

colechristensen wrote: post #63
gumby wrote: post #48

Worth reading just to learn of the existence of "activated cashews" Our enzyme-rich, activated, and dehydrated cashews are a mineral-dense protein. Pure, alkaline water awakens the nuts' dormant properties, increasing digestibility and micronutrient, vitamin, and enzyme count. These raw, activated, bio-available nuts are a low-glycemic source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. As well as a product for sale at infowa…

Processing corn with alkali actually does improve its nutrition, maybe there’s something real going on here too? I wouldn’t automatically discount it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixtamalization

It isn't that a liar can't say something true, it's just that you know they are willing to say something untrue to manipulate you. So the correct response is to automatically discount what they say until it's verified.

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

#146

Post by digging »

anigbrowl wrote: post #68
striking wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're underestimating how many people live in food deserts and basically don't have access to fresh food. That might seem like a nitpick against a larger argument, but I think it serves as a good example for why you need to take a close look at the environment that these people exist in as a whole, and that it likely goes beyond their innate habits or those of just their immediate family in childhood.

The food desert concept is way overblown. They exist to some degree, but a lot of people choose to buy shit food when it would be equally convenient and affordable to buy something good. People walking around with 32oz (~1 liter) soda cups are not unable to find anything else to drink, they're sugar addicts.

Surely such a misanthropic shifting of blame to the poor themselves is well supported by research?

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

#147

Post by FredPret »

Cheer2171 wrote: post #47
throwup238 wrote: post #5

I swear to god this whole simulation is starting to come apart at the seams. Goop ? Someone named a "modern lifestyle brand" company Goop ? And people are actually buying their shit? I think whoever is running the show should just hand the reigns to the Dwarf Fortress guys. At least their bugs are believable.

Similar to Chesterton's fence, if you don't understand why the Goop brand has become incredibly popular for a particular demographic, maybe you aren't qualified to critique it. In short: It is supposed to sound exactly as ridiculous as you think it sounds. The Goop line most famously includes a candle that is marketed as smelling like the creator's vagina. It is supposed to generate outrage among people of your demog…

I agree. Goop’s making money. If it works, it isn’t stupid.

Hell, we have major corporations called “Google” (baby sound) and “Apple” (I’m so used to the name that it sounds normal, also, I love them. But a fruit? Really?)

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

#148

Post by tomcar288 »

striking wrote: post #11
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.

You're underestimating how many people live in food deserts and basically don't have access to fresh food. That might seem like a nitpick against a larger argument, but I think it serves as a good example for why you need to take a close look at the environment that these people exist in as a whole, and that it likely goes beyond their innate habits or those of just their immediate family in childhood.

azurestandard or other wholesale companies sell large bags of orangic beans for just 50$ for 25 lbs (even in CA!). That's nearly 25 days worth of food for just 50$, much much cheaper than going to McFatBurger everyday.

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

#149

Post by Aunche »

freedomben wrote: post #106
Aunche wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who value fresh produce are going to go out of the way to get it. If enough people do this, environments will adapt to that demand. NYC Chinatowns used to be quite poor and discriminated against, but they were still able to establish their own supply chains that provides cheaper and fresher vegetables than anywhere else in the city because vegetables are a quintessential part of Chinese cuisine. Food deserts,…

I've been heavily involved in a city council before that was trying to attract stores (especially a grocery store), so I'm pretty familiar with how it works, and this mostly incorrect. In fact, people going out of their way to get the produce elsewhere works against a new store, because the stores see that as cannabilization should they open a new closer location. The decision to open new stores is mostly based on "n…

By "go out of the way," I just mean make some sort of sacrifice when it comes to getting fresh produce (e.g. gardening or paying more for vegetables). Even when we're talking about leaving your area, you're still increasing demand for vegetables somewhere, which prevents food deserts from spreading.

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

#150

Post by robocat »

hrdwdmrbl wrote: post #18

This is the horseshoe theory of... radical extremes?

I've not heard of horseshoe theory: https://soapboxie.com/us-politics/horseshoe-theory-political...

The quick skim I looked at seemed to discuss the word fascism a lot. Perhaps the horseshoe theory is better represented by adding an authoritarian/libertarian axis to the left/right axis: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Political_Compass

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