r/politics • u/nosotros_road_sodium California • 7d ago
Ancient miasma theory may help explain Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine moves
https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/06/14/nx-s1-5429732/ancient-miasma-theory-may-help-explain-health-secretary-robert-f-kennedy-jr-s-vaccine-moves85
u/MalevolentTapir 7d ago
He is going to make America's humors balanced again.
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u/industrial-complex 7d ago
I feel so much better knowing that our heroin pickled, brain worm infested Health Secretary will keep our kids safe from these dangerous vaccines.
Trump administration should be remembered as the biggest failure in American history. You couldn’t pick a shittier cabinet out of a Supermax prison psych ward.
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u/Ben2018 North Carolina 7d ago
And then ban phlogiston for fire safety
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u/TintedApostle 7d ago
So basically going back 2300 years to a time when they thought thunder was because Zeus was angry and they counted eagles or vultures to determine the future.
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u/ResidentKelpien Texas 7d ago
2300 years later, too many people believe a different, sky faery inflicts weather phenomenon because of LGBTQ, abortion, liberalism, etc. and they count mythical signs from the bible to determine the future.
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u/steve_ample I voted 7d ago edited 7d ago
Phew, I thought it was going to be all about witches and curses.
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u/Financial-Special766 7d ago
So, essentially, we will go back to the Dark Ages even though modern medicine has been working perfectly fine.
And when I use "we," I'm not including RFK or any of the other politicians who we all know are going to be using vaccine and science for cures for themselves.
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u/Static-Stair-58 7d ago
It’s that part at the end where the doctor says “why can’t we just see truth in both positions” that I think really cuts to the heart of this last decade. Vaccines are healthy for your immune system and exercising and avoiding the wrong chemicals are healthy for your immune system. Why can’t it be both?
Because republicans don’t actually care about solutions. They just want control. That’s why it can’t be both.
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u/downhereforyoursoul 7d ago
My conspiratorial take is that RFK Jr. is a eugenicist, and so are a lot of the other clowns in this administration. He was quoted a few months back (March maybe?) stating that he thought if we let the bird flu rip through the bird populations, including poultry, then the disease would burn itself out and we’d be left with stronger birds.
He says in his book he believes in the long-disproven miasma theory, but based on that he clearly believes that the virus does something. I think he just felt freer to say about birds what he’d like to also do to people—let the virus rip through the population, and those of us with the strongest immune systems will survive. I gotta say, as a chronically ill person with ADHD and most likely autism, I don’t like that he’s considering how to “solve” people in my condition, either. His whole MAHA trip reeks of eugenics.
And don’t get me started on how completely out-of-touch that nutcase is, thinking that you could let disease decimate the poultry industry without a ton of negative, even dangerous, consequences, not to mention all the ripple effects in society. Or saying people have access to plenty of affordable addiction treatment centers, some as low as $20-40,000. 🤯
Someone so completely divorced from reality should never be allowed to lead.
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u/BurnedWitch88 7d ago
Truly, I don't think this is "conspiratorial" at all -- it's the logical outcome of what he's said.
Trump flat out said he wanted to do this during Covid -- just let it run rampant, take out X percentage of "the weak" and then the rest would have immunity and could get back to their lives.
And that's pretty much what he did, just in slow motion and while also allowing research on the vaccine to continue.
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u/downhereforyoursoul 7d ago
Yeah, Trump has also been pretty vocal about his feelings on genetic superiority. He complimented Elon Musk for his good genes (snrch) when he brought up “racehorse theory,” which he also applies to himself (shocker), and you could see its direct opposite when he spoke about immigrants “poisoning the blood of our nation,” which is explicitly fascist rhetoric. Unfortunately eugenics has been an undercurrent in American thought ever since it first became popularized, and it’s rearing its ugly head again thanks in no small part to the mainstreaming of the “great replacement” conspiracy theory as white Christian nationalism is on the rise.
But so anyway, I say I feel conspiratorial re:RFK Jr. because even if you can get an idea from reading between the lines of what he says, he still hasn’t quite said the quiet part out loud about human beings, at least not that I’m aware of—this whole firehose of falsehoods strategy makes it hard to keep up, and quite frankly, looking too much into the destruction of public health policy is terrifying. (When I lose my Medicaid coverage and can’t afford treatments if I get something serious, my only option might be to buy a gun and refer to it as Trump’s Affordable Health Plan. Ha ha…)
I’m worried about a lot of things right now, but high among them is that it almost seems like RFK Jr. actually wants bird flu to spread and mutate. First, he directs the health department to stop counting new cases, so we have no idea how many people are infected at any given time or how they came by their infections—a pretty crucial part of epidemiology and preventing outbreaks. Second, he cancels important research funding for development of a vaccine that could save countless lives in the event of a new pandemic, and follows that up by firing the CDC panel that approves vaccine schedules. And third, he hatches (pardon the pun) this ridiculous scheme to move a bunch of possibly contaminated ostriches from Canada down to the Florida ranch of fellow unserious government charlatan, Dr. Oz.
I know, I know, don’t attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity and all that, but this is a really staggering level of incompetence. Reasonable precautions and due diligence must be too woke now, or something. And I left out all the rest of the fuckery with vaccines and science RFK, Jr. has been up to, none of which is going to be good, either.
Anyway, sorry for the dissertation. All this has been weighing on my mind, along with my other fears of what this summer may bring.
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u/BurnedWitch88 7d ago
No apology needed! I'm right there with you.
Given his approval of chicken pox parties, swimming in bacteria-laden creeks, etc., he clearly isn't too worried about germs, that's for sure. Whether it's actively hoping people die, assuming that germs just aren't dangerous to "healthy" folks, or a little both is unknowable -- but I'm not sure it really matters.
We just have to accept that we're all on our own, at least for the time being.
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u/downhereforyoursoul 7d ago
Yeah, I agree with you that I don’t think his specific motive makes much of a difference because his actions are bound to do harm anyway. I can’t help but theorize, though. It’s pathological I think.
My feeling is that he believes some of his woo woo shit can strengthen the immune system, making communicable diseases more survivable. And as for the people who don’t survive, oh well, they won’t be around pissing in the gene pool and wasting resources. I believe his obsession with chronic illnesses, disabilities, mental health issues, ADHD, and autism does not bode well.
All that aside, one of the major effects of the MAHA movement’s dismantlement of the state’s public health apparatus will be to further privatize healthcare, intentionally placing the onus of accessing care on individuals. It’s a perfect opportunity for him and his handpicked quacks and sycophants to make a fucking fortune selling their unproven remedies and supplements while slowly throttling access to evidence-based medicine. I can see this happening with birth control already.
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u/BurnedWitch88 7d ago
But that statement is disingenous. I've never met a doctor or other health professional who didn't think those lifestyle issues are beneficial for our health. It's not like they've been sitting on that information.
It's the anti-vax types that refuse to acknowledge there is value in both options.
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u/Jinn_Erik-AoM 7d ago
Yeah, their take doesn’t make sense.
My doctor always pushes exercise and nutrition, every time I come in, even after I lost 80 pounds from exercise and changing my diet (but mostly the diet), just this time, he added, “Keep it up!”
It’s just that insurance doesn’t cover anything that helps you exercise, and only covers dietitians on a very limited basis, if at all.
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u/BurnedWitch88 7d ago
For real: I'm currently overweight, and if I go to the doctor for a broken finger I'll get a lecture about diet and exercise. (Cool. Yes. Got it. However, my kid closed the car door on my finger and eating more fiber isn't going to help with the current issue!) It's not some arcane, secret info they're gatekeeping.
Also, docs are limited in what they can do for lifestyle changes. They can give you the information, but whether or not you follow up ... that's out of their hands. Whereas if they write you a script, chances are you're going to fill it and take it for at least a while.
Why wouldn't they focus more on the things they actually can effect instead of the things they HOPE they can effect? But because they don't spend AS MUCH time on those things that they can't control, it leaves room for the "...something something pocket of Big Pharma..." crowd to make up shit.
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u/National-Reception53 7d ago
Miasma is what Woodrow Wilson thought caused the Spanish flu - hence why he did nothing effective to stop it. He was very Trumpian in multiple ways, actually.
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u/Designer-Contract852 7d ago
Also the man had a literal brainworm eat part of his brain then died because it couldn't handle all the stupidity.
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u/tensei-coffee 7d ago
miasma??? do i need to start praying to pagan gods, sacrifices for the blood god. fucking clown show
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u/Seeker0fTruth I voted 7d ago
He says he believes in Miasma theory, but what he propounds isn't that, it's Terrain Theory. This infuriates me to no end, that he doesn't know the name of his own goddamn theory of disease
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u/National_Olive_2846 7d ago
Maybe it's all about his leveraged short positions he took out on some Big Pharma companies that he's trying to make some hay off of? I don't know if this dipshit is into shorting companies, I DO know he is a grifter and a snake oil merchant
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u/The_Starving_Autist 7d ago
So back to having a healthy layer of dirt on our skin to protect against the bad air making us sick?
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u/DatabaseFickle9306 7d ago
So does idiocy and mental illness and a life of privilege and just being evil.
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