I want to better understand the "Crunchy MAGA" right wing wellness phenomenon

[Anonymous]

^ alternatively, here is her substack, no need to sign up
https://drjessicaknurick.substack.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

I don’t know what you are referring to - what food product is illegal in Europe but not in USA or Canada?
Certainly not food dyes, the same 5 we use here are used in Europe and Canada.

[Anonymous]

If you want choices, grocery stores like Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods have banned artificial dyes from all of their private-label products. No one is stopping you from buying their versus, candy, yogurt, etc. that use natural coloring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

+1. This board is filled with cum laude English majors who think they're basically scientists because they and our public health officials hate the same people.

It's the same crew that felt obliged to explain to you in high school how actually their liberal arts college was the best school for their intended course of study, as if to suggest they passed up their Harvard admission offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s Mother Nature’s way of thinning the herd. We’ve gotten very good at reducing death rates from communicable diseases, women generally survive childbirth, 23-weekers routinely survive, and children with genetic malformations are living way longer than in any other time in history. Kids used to waste away within years due to inborn errors of metabolism or things like CF. Now those kids can easily live to adulthood and pass those genes on to entire generations. Old people routinely live well past the time pneumonia or cancer or heart disease would have taken out their grandparents.

All of these things are great on the surface, and wow science! But there can be little doubt it’s bad for the planet and the fitness of the species to let our growth rates continue unchecked. Like when you see foxes killed off, there is an explosion of rabbits, until the coyotes are tempted to move back in and restore natural order.

So in humans Mother Nature starts with the stupid and the antisocial and uses them to move on to the vulnerable. She gets her way eventually, she always does. Think of how the plague spread. People running around spreading their disease everywhere even when under quarantine.

Kind of amazing when you look at it that way - she uses the stupid and the antisocial to do her work. Part of the programming built right in from the beginning. And she’s doing it now.

Yes. And this is why I support gutting USAID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

+1. This board is filled with cum laude English majors who think they're basically scientists because they and our public health officials hate the same people.

It's the same crew that felt obliged to explain to you in high school how actually their liberal arts college was the best school for their intended course of study, as if to suggest they passed up their Harvard admission offer.

You are describing a figment of your own imagination and not a real person. Like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

+1. This board is filled with cum laude English majors who think they're basically scientists because they and our public health officials hate the same people.

It's the same crew that felt obliged to explain to you in high school how actually their liberal arts college was the best school for their intended course of study, as if to suggest they passed up their Harvard admission offer.

You are describing a figment of your own imagination and not a real person. Like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.

lol someone who no doubt fits the description disagrees while working in a Don Quixote allusion. Chef's kiss.

[Anonymous]

dcurbanmoms are mostly liberal arts majors and bad-at-math law school attendees who later in life (once the academic coast was clear) claimed “without evidence” that they now “f**king love science.” Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

I don’t know what you are referring to - what food product is illegal in Europe but not in USA or Canada?
Certainly not food dyes, the same 5 we use here are used in Europe and Canada.

Google is your friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They tend to be undereducated and struggling to grasp scientific concepts. They don’t like to feel stupid so they cling to conspiracy theories.

This is hilarious. It’s actually upper middle class striver midwits who don’t like to feel stupid so the parrot the “experts” without understanding the incentive structures influencing those experts.

These “sophisticated” Dems who trust the FDA also fancy themselves more… European… in intellect and outlook, without realizing that most of our “expert-approved” food products are illegal in Europe. I guess those Euros are conspiracy theorists!

I don’t know what you are referring to - what food product is illegal in Europe but not in USA or Canada?
Certainly not food dyes, the same 5 we use here are used in Europe and Canada.

+1

Not to mention other countries also use some other food dyes we don't. But keep parroting the right wing talking point about food dyes while we all drink water with PFAs!

[Anonymous]

The European Union (EU) has stricter food safety and additive regulations compared to countries like the U.S., which results in some common American food ingredients being banned or heavily restricted in European foods. Here are key additives and ingredients typically not found (or tightly controlled) in EU foods:

1. Artificial Food Dyes (Certain Ones)

Banned or restricted:
• Yellow #5 (Tartrazine)
• Yellow #6 (Sunset Yellow)
• Red #40
• Blue #1 and Blue #2

In the EU, these dyes must carry warning labels if used, which has led many manufacturers to replace them with natural colorings like beet juice, turmeric, or paprika extract.

2. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)
• Used in citrus-flavored sodas in the U.S. (e.g., Mountain Dew).
• Banned in the EU due to concerns over bromine buildup in the body, which may affect the nervous system and thyroid.

3. Potassium Bromate
• A dough conditioner used in commercial bread-making in the U.S.
• Banned in the EU because it is a possible human carcinogen.

4. rBGH / rBST (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone)
• Growth hormone used in dairy cows to increase milk production.
• Banned in the EU since 1999 due to animal welfare concerns and potential health risks.

5. Azodicarbonamide (ADA)
• A bleaching agent and dough conditioner found in some breads and fast food buns.
• Banned in the EU because it can break down into carcinogenic byproducts like urea and semicarbazide.

6. Synthetic Preservatives (Some Types)
• BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene): used to preserve fats and cereals.
• Banned or restricted in the EU due to potential links to cancer and endocrine disruption.

7. GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)
• Heavily restricted. Any GMO-containing products must be clearly labeled in the EU, and many EU countries ban GMO cultivation outright.

8. Titanium Dioxide (E171)
• Used as a whitening agent in candies and toothpaste.
• Banned in the EU since 2022 because of its potential DNA-damaging effects.

9. Certain Artificial Sweeteners
• Some sweeteners like Cyclamate are banned in the U.S. but allowed in the EU in limited quantities, while others like Saccharin are allowed but more tightly regulated in Europe

Also for the defenders of bureaucracy:

In most of Europe, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is prohibited by law. This is a major contrast with the United States and New Zealand, the only two developed countries that allow it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the very short line from wellness influencer to right-wing nutjob has been around for a long while. I think it's a need for individualist control and a lack of interest in others or the collective.

Also, the line from wellness influencer to any kind of cult member (right wing or left) has been around for a long time. Yogi Tea? Hari Krishna? Name the next ten products / businesses that are allied with cults you can think of? Whether the cult is on the left or the right, joining one is about wanting a sense of belonging, of being in the club and of being part of a group that helps you make sense of a crazy, individualistic country that is clearly going in the wrong direction in a lot of ways.

MAGA is first and foremost a cult. So is MAHA. They joined together. Neither is logical. Neither is mainstream.

[Anonymous]

Yawn. So what is the current administration planning to do about the PFAs in our water, farming soil, etc?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The European Union (EU) has stricter food safety and additive regulations compared to countries like the U.S., which results in some common American food ingredients being banned or heavily restricted in European foods. Here are key additives and ingredients typically not found (or tightly controlled) in EU foods:

1. Artificial Food Dyes (Certain Ones)

Banned or restricted:
• Yellow #5 (Tartrazine)
• Yellow #6 (Sunset Yellow)
• Red #40
• Blue #1 and Blue #2

In the EU, these dyes must carry warning labels if used, which has led many manufacturers to replace them with natural colorings like beet juice, turmeric, or paprika extract.

2. Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO)
• Used in citrus-flavored sodas in the U.S. (e.g., Mountain Dew).
• Banned in the EU due to concerns over bromine buildup in the body, which may affect the nervous system and thyroid.

3. Potassium Bromate
• A dough conditioner used in commercial bread-making in the U.S.
• Banned in the EU because it is a possible human carcinogen.

4. rBGH / rBST (Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone)
• Growth hormone used in dairy cows to increase milk production.
• Banned in the EU since 1999 due to animal welfare concerns and potential health risks.

5. Azodicarbonamide (ADA)
• A bleaching agent and dough conditioner found in some breads and fast food buns.
• Banned in the EU because it can break down into carcinogenic byproducts like urea and semicarbazide.

6. Synthetic Preservatives (Some Types)
• BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (Butylated hydroxytoluene): used to preserve fats and cereals.
• Banned or restricted in the EU due to potential links to cancer and endocrine disruption.

7. GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)
• Heavily restricted. Any GMO-containing products must be clearly labeled in the EU, and many EU countries ban GMO cultivation outright.

8. Titanium Dioxide (E171)
• Used as a whitening agent in candies and toothpaste.
• Banned in the EU since 2022 because of its potential DNA-damaging effects.

9. Certain Artificial Sweeteners
• Some sweeteners like Cyclamate are banned in the U.S. but allowed in the EU in limited quantities, while others like Saccharin are allowed but more tightly regulated in Europe

Also for the defenders of bureaucracy:

In most of Europe, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is prohibited by law. This is a major contrast with the United States and New Zealand, the only two developed countries that allow it.

Meh, get back to me when the MAHA administration regulates environmental contamination like Europe. They have the complete opposite approach at EPA. Food dyes are a distraction while they pull the rug out from under us with regard to environmental chemicals that get into our farming, water and food. But sure let's rant about dyes (some other dyes of which EU allows while the US bans)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yawn. So what is the current administration planning to do about the PFAs in our water, farming soil, etc?

Exactly. I'm all for regulating hormone disrupters, pharmaceutical advertising and food dyes. Trump is destroying the government agencies and system (and legal basis) that would do these things. He's pushing us further away from meeting your movement's goals.