Originally published at: RFKjr's anti-vax efforts had a devastating effect on Samoa | Boing Boing
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Now we don’t just have measels at Disneyand, we have malaria in Texas and Florida
For two very different reasons, tho.
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2019
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Shouldn’t he still be in prison for killing Laura Palmer?
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This guy is every bit as evil as the GOP 2024 flock of candidates.
Which is why conservative billionaires like Jack Dorsey are funding him, and why fascist pundits are supporting him.
And yet there are already a bunch of self-described “progressives” supporting him for the Dem nomination. Not enough for him to win it, but it shows that there are still a lot of crunchy “wellness” and brocialist idiots still out there.
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Vaccine hesitancy isn’t responsible for the return of malaria in Texas and Florida since effective anti-malaria vaccines are only now starting to become available, but the timing of the anti-vax movement all but ensures a lot of people won’t protect themselves when they have the means to do so.
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And those who are both left-leaning and ignorant see the name ‘Kennedy’ and think “he’s one of us.”
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If RFKjr wasn’t so clearly a danger (and he is) he would be a fascinating psychological study in how to become mentally adrift. This guy had the ‘best’, well most elitist, possible education, his family support would likely have steered him away from any cult-ish nonsense, he had really no social pressure to become as his has and yet: nutzo conspiracy theory piled upon no-evidence idiotic belief. Where does it come from?? Why is there no retreat? Is there really a particular profit in that sort of shameful behavior? apparently there is -sigh- (from today’s Krugman):
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a crank. His views are a mishmash of right-wing fantasies mixed with remnants of the progressive he once was: Bitcoin boosterism, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, assertions that Prozac causes mass shootings, opposition to U.S. support for Ukraine, but also favorable mention for single-payer health care. But for his last name, nobody would be paying him any attention — and despite that last name, he has zero chance of winning the Democratic presidential nomination.
Yet now that Ron DeSantis’s campaign (slogan: “woke woke immigrants woke woke”) seems to be on the skids, Kennedy is suddenly getting support from some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. Jack Dorsey, who founded Twitter, has endorsed him, while some other prominent tech figures have been holding fund-raisers on his behalf. Elon Musk, who is in the process of destroying what Dorsey built, hosted him for a Twitter spaces event.
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“…while folks are all too certain the CDC and FDA are out to chip them.”
I appreciated the links citing the measles and malaria outbreaks.
Can you point me in the right direction towards the information that establishes the above statement. I’m curious about the context of its origins, as in how widespread these beliefs are, what factors contributed to this specific fear taking hold, if there are any demographic correlations between any population groups, etc.
If we want to help people, and uplift society, we have to understand how this belief first ignited and the way in which it was able to spread. Anything less perpetuates a false belief in one’s own superiority and allows us to devalue others and justify our wishing nothing for them.
Similarly, what are the contributing factors and actions that have transformed the current list of G.O.P. presidential contenders as evil? Hiow is their evil compared to the competition?
Bold absolutist statements being directed towards people who think differently than we do requires bold and absolutist supporting information. Otherwise we can quickly fall into the same punishing mindset that they’ve directed at us. Rinse and repeat.
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It’s always interesting to see how these lunatic beliefs spread, but let’s not pretend that the people who buy into them deserve any respect or that they’re going to accept our best wishes for the general welfare to the point of joining us. That’s not going to happen with these self-defeating fools.
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I won’t belabor this, my opinion is pretty well known, but as a physician, God, this guy irritates me!
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We don’t “wish nothing for them.” We wish they would protect themselves and others from deadly disease instead of spreading lunatic conspiracy theories which harm society.
Heck, I’m more than happy to foot my share of the bill to keep these people healthy even if they aren’t because I know fighting pandemics is in everyone’s interest.
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I see denial and blatant misinformation campaigns at work in both. 
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And here we are with the climate change deniers, anitvaxers, insurrectionists, mass shooters, children in cages, the raise of fascism, roll back on abortion and human rights…
I mean all the progressive changes in the last few decades were earned by sweat and blood of people that considered not only those are basic human rights but they are crucial for their survival. And guess what, it was never 100% population, not even close. Those people fight for their rights despised the opposition, oppression, and resistance. So your call to get “everyone” onboard is fruitless and unrealistic. You can’t get the slavers to give up their slave. Same deal here. You can’t get people stepping on other necks their whole life to sudden gain sympathy and treating the “lesser others” as their equal. It’s just not possible.
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i assume he doesn’t believe any of it himself, and is merely out for the cash.
my take away is: never underestimate people’s willingness to be evil for the sake of notoriety and the almighty dollar.
eta:
An investigation by The Associated Press finds that Children’s Health Defense has raked in funding and followers as Kennedy used his star power as a member of one of America’s most famous families to open doors, raise money and lend his group credibility. Filings with charity regulators show revenue more than doubled in 2020, to $6.8 million.
According to tax filings, Kennedy was paid $255,000 by Children’s Health Defense in 2019.
eetaa:
the Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit Kennedy founded to “fight corruption, mass surveillance and censorship that put profits before people.” Kennedy profited plenty from it, earning more than $500,000 in salary and bonuses
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You will footing their share of the bill no matter what. It’s just cheaper to get everyone healthy but it’s seem to get lost in the “I got mine, fuck you” crowd.
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Maybe so. But measles is back because of anti-vaxxers; malaria because of climate change.
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we had that conversation three years ago, check out the this thread–
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Both of which are caused by what @PsiPhiGrrrl said - disinformation campaigns and denialism…
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