Earlier quoted context omitted.
The erosion of institutional trust became much more widespread post Covid. As it should have.
Why?
Because if you are honest and tell people they only have to wear a mask if they are sick, nobody would wear a mask.
Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
161–170 of 221 posts
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you really think the government should regulate use of the word "medicine"? Ditto for claims like "works naturally". I think it's pretty clear that this stuff is alternative medicine. Your suggestion would be like forcing astrology books to include warnings. I think you have to treat people like adults here, which includes realizing that they are going to do/buy dumb things. Only when those things come at a signif…
Yes, I do believe that the government should regulate use of the word “medicine” in trade. It also regulates a lot of other words, like “ketchup” and “ice cream”. The government regulates what “12 fl. oz” means when you buy a can of root beer, and regulates exactly how the number of calories should be printed on the wrapper for a chocolate bar. Notice how a lot of desserts in the frozen section of your grocery store…
> It also regulates a lot of other words, like “ketchup” and “ice cream”.
It shouldn't.
> The government regulates what “12 fl. oz” means when you buy a can of root beer, and regulates exactly how the number of calories should be printed on the wrapper for a chocolate bar.
This is reasonable regulation.
> I’m glad that this isn’t the Wild West of snake oil salesmen like we had back in the day. People used to really get hurt! I think more of these regulations would improve the situation even more—herbal supplements, for example, should be labeled with the quantity of ingredients more accurately—right now, it can be a bit of a crapshoot due to the variations between vendors or even between different batches from the same vendor.
As long as true information and real medicine are available, it won't be "the Wild West of snake oil salesmen". And that should be the focus here, rather than attacking or regulating false information. Meanwhile if people choose to buy shit on InfoWars or venture down the homeopathy aisle at CVS, we should roll our eyes but let them be.
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#163I was surprised to see how much money Infowars was making shown in the court documents. "Let us make our prime target market idiots" seems to be a profitable path.
This is why scam e-mails and calls are often so transparently stupid and obvious. They are filtering for idiots from the get-go.
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 so…
What? The homeopathic market in Germany is not what I would call big, it's well below 1% of the medical budget from all numbers I can find
I saw numbers that its a over a billion dollar industry. Lots of homeopathic practicioners and from my sample size of news articles, seems to be a hot topic in recent German history. Perhaps "massive" creates too much of a spin, my only point was that alternative medicines and pseudoscience exists out of the America and its not accurate to paint it as an American problem.
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#165i'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.
It's more about the cult of personality of Alex Jones or Gwyneth Paltrow. They aren't buying products to be healthy, they are buying products to be more like/to support their favorite celebrities. While thinking about "blame", don't ignore that some people are working pretty hard to find & target these products to whales.
But who looks at Alex Jones and thinks "I want to have what that guys having"?
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#166Should this article have a year in parentheses after the title? It's from six years ago (June 2017).
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#167Can’t help but be reminded of the excellent observation:
> This always struck me as funny about the wellness world: how some people would brag about their mainstream credentials (“Trust me,” they’d say, with a straightening of their tie. “I’m a doctor”), while others felt that their legitimacy lay in the fact that they had no credentials. (“Trust me,” they’d say, jamming their thumbs mockingly toward the doctors. “I’m not a doctor.”)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/25/magazine/big-business-gwy...
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#168The anti-authority/anti-expert theme in American politics isn't a left or right phenomenon. There's a fundamental breakdown in institutional trust within American society which is present on both sides, and the similar approaches to wellness are a vivid expression of this.
The unfortunate reality of the breakdown in trust is because the institutions are behaving in a way that would reinforce this. It is easy to look at the extremes like Qanon, but even if you look beyond the surface on any institution in this country, it is really hard to be positive or hopeful about anything. For example it is hard to trust in the Supreme Court once you notice that judges (on both side of the politica…
This is an expected consequence of over monopolization of industry. You lose all the natural power of moderation that comes from the market. With that gone, corruption is left unchecked, regulatory bodies are captured, and collusion is purchased to gaslight everyone over the truth.
You also should never trust any court, in particular, the Supreme Court. A court has no special access to facts, yet it operates with complete authority, as if it's process was entirely without error. They are a compromise that only makes sense when all other civil remedies have been exhausted because there is no mechanism to guarantee an improved outcome from their involvement.
Which highlights the basic point here, any institution of appreciable size and without competition cannot possibly remain uncorrupted by it. It's essentially impossible to build any government institution that is worthy of "trust."
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#169Since 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?"
> "Do you even know what electrolytes are?"
They're what plants crave.
Re: Infowars and Goop sell the same exact pseudoscientific "wellness" products
#170Worth 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…
Brings me back to the “activated almonds” /fit/ meme: https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/139/802/964...
The above picture is apparently not satire, but entirely genuine.