chat

Yeah lol that’s the one.

I mean, it’s really not the worst possible belief system one can have. He’s essentially just laser focused on improving Americans’ diet and lifestyles to become healthier. Which…isn’t a bad thing. And he’s right that things like diet and exercise will keep the body strong to fight disease.

But he leans on this understanding of the immune system where it is literally the only thing that decides whether one gets sick or not. To the point where germs don’t matter - which is where the logic behind that video going around where he’s wants the NIH to stop studying infectious diseases comes from. Why study infectious diseases if they don’t actually make you sick? It really all depends on the strength of your immune system. And therefore, why put resources towards public health if all we really need is stronger immune systems?

And so then we get to what I think is the most dangerous part of this, which is that he’s essentially individualized disease. When you get sick, it’s your own fault. Like we saw during Covid, it’s the fault of underlying disease, obesity, age. If someone is young and healthy, then we blame diet, processed foods. Maybe they used drugs or used to, or they’re a former smoker. Anything but Covid itself. And so if you die, or get disabled, hey it’s a tragedy, but you brought it upon yourself because of some personal failing or inherent imperfection. Eugenicist thinking.

And private healthcare loves this since it gives them any number of reasons to deny coverage. Kennedy went on an on today about “putting people in charge of their own healthcare.” I totally agree with lifestyle changes so that people can be healthier, but first of all we haven’t created a world amenable to healthy lifestyles, and second of all we don’t need to flirt with germ theory denial to live healthier.

Sorry went off a little there lol