Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers • Hacker News Board

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#21

Post by karolinepauls » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:11 PM UTC

larrled wrote: post #16

It is interesting we now call this stuff “conspiracy theories.” We used to talk of “snake oil” or people would make jokes about yoga and health food in the 70s. Currently it’s taken on a newspeaky sort of political flavor with the phrase “conspiracy theory.” In the 90s it was “alternative health” or “eastern medicine.” Interesting how views changed on ways of knowing/cultural relativism in such a short period of time…

The way loosely-defined "we" call(ed) things in different periods of time isn't a good basis for conclusions, especially in topics in which there was basically no good science 50 years ago.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#22

Post by Apreche » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:12 PM UTC

voidUpdate wrote: post #11

Has anyone done an analysis of the prevalence of these "alternative medicines" in countries with free healthcare vs no free healthcare? I keep seeing this stuff coming out of America, but not from somewhere like Scandinavia (possibly because of the language barrier). I do see it a decent amount in the UK, but our healthcare isn't amazing, even if it is free

It proliferated in America because of a law in the 1990s called the DSHEA which greatly loosened regulations on what could be sold and advertised. Before then, all this was illegal. Once it became legal it became a multi-billion dollar industry. So now even if a politician is against it on moral grounds, they are afraid of harming the economy and eliminating all those jobs.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#23

Post by hermannj314 » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:15 PM UTC

It is very easy to say that people are dying of cancer because of anti-science beliefs during treatment, I do not refute the claim that the outcome would be better if this individual listening to the best medical advice available.

However, I do think the blaming the patient is a distraction. I see more anti-science from industrialists and politicians when their industries receive scientific recommendations for regulation.

There was more anti-science in the decades of poor policy decisions that lead up to a young woman getting non-Hodkings lymphoma than anti-science displayed by her in the moments when she had to choose how to respond to it.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#24

Post by fullshark » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:22 PM UTC

josefritzishere wrote: post #9

Is it premature to blame RFK?

This isn't blaming RFK, it's yet another traditional media piece blaming social media for something bad happening.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#25

Post by pixxel » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:31 PM UTC

randomtoast wrote: post #14

tetris11 wrote: post #3

I'm seeing this with my cousin currently. Her husband as well as her brother are peddling vitamin injections, physiotherapy, keto diets, for what is essentially late-stage lung cancer. She needs sugar - energy - to build up her stores so that she can walk into a chemotherapy clinic, but they're (perhaps rightfully) scared that they'd just be feeding the tumor instead of her. Doctors orders should be questioned, of co…

I don't know, if the doctor can only provide treatments that extend life for a limited time and may cause significant side effects. I might prefer to forego all treatments and focus on living the remainder of my life to the fullest.

[dead]

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#26

Post by pixxel » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:34 PM UTC

ljf wrote: post #12

fullshark wrote: post #10

Someone choosing an alternative cancer treatment than their doctor's recommended treatment and dying is very common, and the most likely culprit isn't social media but someone doing their own research (i.e. google / chatGPT), and going down alternative medicine rabbit holes.

True - but once you start engaging with any of this stuff on social media, you just get pushed more and more.

[dead]

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#27

Post by xenonite » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:43 PM UTC

tetris11 wrote: post #3

I'm seeing this with my cousin currently. Her husband as well as her brother are peddling vitamin injections, physiotherapy, keto diets, for what is essentially late-stage lung cancer. She needs sugar - energy - to build up her stores so that she can walk into a chemotherapy clinic, but they're (perhaps rightfully) scared that they'd just be feeding the tumor instead of her. Doctors orders should be questioned, of co…

Why should she need sugar to walk? It is perfectly viable to let the muscles burn ketones instead. There is no need to eat carbs (unless there is a problem in the fat digestion system etc.)

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#28

Post by mnmalst » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:48 PM UTC

bilekas wrote: post #18

> The children absorbed outlandish ideas, including that the Royal Family were shape-shifting lizards, says Gabriel. "As a young child, you trust your parents. So you see that as a truth," he says. At what point does someone step in and call this child abuse, at the very least these parents are not capable of raising their children in a safe manner. > Kate Shemirani styles herself as "the Natural Nurse" on social med…

> Maybe it's callous to say but seems like Darwins law should settle these things.

This was my thinking as well.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#29

Post by larrled » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:50 PM UTC

karolinepauls wrote: post #21

larrled wrote: post #16

It is interesting we now call this stuff “conspiracy theories.” We used to talk of “snake oil” or people would make jokes about yoga and health food in the 70s. Currently it’s taken on a newspeaky sort of political flavor with the phrase “conspiracy theory.” In the 90s it was “alternative health” or “eastern medicine.” Interesting how views changed on ways of knowing/cultural relativism in such a short period of time…

The way loosely-defined "we" call(ed) things in different periods of time isn't a good basis for conclusions, especially in topics in which there was basically no good science 50 years ago.

We agree it’s not a constant “we.” And also a lot of the current usage is secondary to pandemic politics where certain demographics and career slots benefitted or alternatively were hurt by covid related policies. My conclusion is only that language and culture change and influence one another.

Re: Our sister died because of our mum's cancer conspiracy theories, say brothers

#30

Post by soco » Mon, Jun 23, 2025, 1:51 PM UTC

hermannj314 wrote: post #23

It is very easy to say that people are dying of cancer because of anti-science beliefs during treatment, I do not refute the claim that the outcome would be better if this individual listening to the best medical advice available. However, I do think the blaming the patient is a distraction. I see more anti-science from industrialists and politicians when their industries receive scientific recommendations for regula…

It's not a zero sum game. You can and do have both anti-science attitude: the self-serving profit-increasing from the industrialists, and the self-aggrandizing alienating from the alt-news consumers. And politicians will follow whatever pays them and votes for them - aka both of those.