Why are RWers embracing bunk "natural cures"?
Used to be that “natural cure” promoters, ya know the people who promote extracts of God knows whatever in place of scientifically proven medicine, used to be the exclusive domain of hippie new age holdovers on the left. But more and more, the radical right is promoting this bullshit.
Some of it can be traced to the hatred of “experts” that permeates large segments of the right. There’s a certain population, especially in rural America, that would do the exact opposite of what anyone with an education level above 10th grade suggested, purely out of spite.
And a lot of it has to do with the various conspiracy websites promoting theories about pharmaceutical companies being out to kill us as part of some drawn out plan of genocide.
But these people hated hippies for 50 years. Suddenly, they’re besties? This seems to have started around the time of the Tea Party revolution. Which makes me think there’s more going on here.
Permit me to indulge in my own theory for a minute. The Holy Grail of Tea Partiers is gutting Medicaid/Medicare entirely. But this is not popular among civilized folks.
But in the last couple Medicaid fights, I noticed something. Right-wingers were telling worried disabled people to just try “natural cures.” A lot of disabled people, myself included, had anti-Medicaid family members telling us to try these bunk “alternative medicines” instead of fighting to keep our access to actual treatments
Worried about losing epilepsy meds? Smoke pot (even if it would violate your lease). Cancer? Try goji berries. Mental illness? Fresh air!
Why? I’m thinking they increasingly want to push these bunk alternative medicine treatments to make themselves feel better about fighting to deny medical treatments to their disabled family members. If they fight to take away their cousin's epilepsy meds and they don't go along with smoking pot as an alternative, it's their fault if they die.
Kinda like “separate but equal.” Ableds can have actual medicine while the disabled and poor can go with alternative medicine (even if it is overpriced bullshit)
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