• Lesrid@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      I don’t think the answer is as simple as memes would like to believe. Personally I suspect the issue, in part, has to do with the cost of healthcare in the US.

      Much like Republican voters have a need to pretend the GOP is actually helping them, I think holistic medicine rubes and anti-vaxxers have a need to discount the efficacy of unaffordable healthcare. They don’t need to worry about the price being a multiple of their income anymore, because they just now decided every doctor is a quack and a conman.

      • SausageWallet@lemm.ee
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        2 months ago

        I think what also plays into it is apathetic doctors. People go to the doctor for help, if they have a doctor that doesn’t actually care about helping them and only spends a couple minutes with them before getting shooed out the door, this causes people to seek alternative forms of medicine. Another thing that happens is the doctor comes up with a treatment plan and insurance denies it. So once again, this is something that would cause people to seek alternative medicine. They get desperate for a fix for whatever problem ails them and the snake oil salesmen are right there ready and waiting for them on TikTok/Instagram/Facebook.

        So between apathetic doctors and rising medical costs along with fear mongering on social media about medications being “poison” and natural cures being better, oh and let’s also add in there easily gullible idiots, you get where we’re at today.

    • Monzcarro@feddit.uk
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      2 months ago

      So this is fun: actual snake oil (the type made by Chinese railway workers) probably had some medicinal benefits. However, white “doctors” co-opted this for their medicine shows; it contained no snake and was just mineral oil, so this is where the term has its origins.

      Maintenance Phase podcast did a great episode on medicine shows.

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I believe cod liver oil does have some benefits too. My understanding is that historically one of the primary uses was to stave off rickets, a childhood disease. This actually worked because the oil is high in vitamin D, that thing these kids actually needed.

  • MrJameGumb@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    So now they’ll still have the measles but also be spewing out of both ends nonstop… Lovely.

    • doctortofu@reddthat.com
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      2 months ago

      You see, they don’t trust Big Pharma and multi-billion dollar corporations, that’s why they do their “research” using only small artisanal free range websites like Facebook, Twitter and TikTok…

  • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Technically the vitamin d content would be good for you, but something conservative, holistic, and witch doctor enthusiasts seem to lack is any belief in or understanding of any micro-organism which absolutely won’t lose to your body just because you drank some extra calories.

  • Co_A_Gu@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    I mean, it’s not the worst thing in the world. In Norway it’s a pretty normal supplement, I’ve taken one tablespoon every(ish) morning in the months with a R in them, but that’s mostly because we don’t really see the sun… so fatty fish is one of the few natural sources of vitamin D we have.

    • ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net
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      2 months ago

      Stop spreading misinformation.

      You need warm pigeon blood, followed by a strict diet of roasted onions and three hail Marys.

  • VaalaVasaVarde@sopuli.xyz
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    2 months ago

    Guess someone at the cod liver oil factory was successful at starting a rumour.

    But more likely it was some crackpot theory that got amplified.

  • Zier@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    You will be able to see who the anti-vaxxers are by the diarrhea shooting out of them.

  • SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    It is amazing the hoops people will jump through to avoid actual proven medical treatments. “So rubbing this toad on my face and turning 5 times will protect me? Hell yah, beats the toxic vaccine!”