I suppose I should have seen the MAHA nonsense coming after the Ivermectin nonsense during Covid. I should have realized that MAGAts would have no problem convincing themselves that bad things were actually good for them. I should have realized it because I live in West Virginia and this happened:
West Virginia health officials are investigating whether lawmakers and others became ill from drinking raw milk at the Capitol shortly after passing a law loosening restrictions on drinking it.
So far, state and county health officials say they haven’t received reports of raw-milk-related illnesses. Raw milk may contain dangerous bacteria, including Listeria, Salmonella and E. Coli.
State Health Officer Dr. Rahul Gupta said officials also are probing whether someone illegally distributed it, which could yield fines of $50 to $500.
Delegate Scott Cadle said he brought in raw milk last week and drank it with friends. He said the milk was fine, and an unrelated stomach virus circulating the Capitol kept him from working Monday.
Sure, Jan.
Meanwhile, earlier this week 21 people in, of course, Florida were sick after they drank raw milk. I literally laughed out loud when I read this:
Raw milk appears to be gaining in popularity, despite years of warnings about the health risks of drinking unpasteurized products.
Of course it is: MAHAts are dumbasses.
And dumbasses love to congregate. There’s a MAHA housing development, complete with pesticide-free working farm and stupid conspiracy theories:
More than a decade later, Aberlin Springs has a multiyear waiting list, with nearly a dozen homes under construction. Landscaped with fresh mulch and tightly trimmed hedges, the yards have all the trappings of upper-middle-class suburbia: swing sets, Weber grills and Solo Stoves. Red, white and blue flowers bloom for the Fourth of July.
At a recent open house, Ms. Aberlin, 60, introduced the property to a group of prospective residents, visiting from Cincinnati and other nearby towns in their polo shirts and weekend khaki.
Ms. Aberlin embraced the central tenets of MAHA long before Mr. Kennedy popularized the term last year. A seasoned real-estate agent and home builder, she struggled for years with a mysterious illness that sapped her energy and left her unable to walk. Frustrated by medical consultations that never seemed to help, she said, she stopped taking her prescribed medications and began eating only grass-fed meat and raw fruits and vegetables — a diet now endorsed by influencers in the MAHA movement.
Within two months, Ms. Aberlin said, she was walking again.
Wait, what? That’s got to be a lie.
The experience left her highly suspicious of American agriculture, especially the pesticides sprayed widely on farms across the country. She started believing that “dark forces” had brought pesticides to the United States after World War II in an effort to kill Americans — a conspiracy theory Ms. Aberlin shared shortly after starting the open house tour.
OK, there you have it. And in a nice bit of unplanned synchronicity with JamieO’s piece from earlier this week:
Before she moved here seven years ago, Ms. Lauchlan said, she had planned to work full time for Mary Kay, a multilevel marketing beauty company that she joined in her early 20s. She had intended to hire a nanny so that she and her husband, a lawyer, could both fully devote themselves to their careers.
How nice for them.
One thing that was news to me is that MAHAts are now opposed to sunscreen:
More Americans are questioning the safety of everyday products, driven by a growing distrust in conventional health advice, pharmaceutical companies and federal regulators. Among them are supporters of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again movement, who have helped revive skepticism of sunscreen ingredients such as oxybenzone and titanium dioxide.
Some people are also looking for natural alternatives, and they say skin irritation they have experienced from certain products has caused them to shift from conventional products. As a result, alternatives like homemade creams and mineral-based sunscreens have become more popular. Some people are also choosing to stop using sunscreen entirely.
Of course, none of their claims are valid:
Veena Vanchinathan, a board-certified dermatologist in California and a member of the American Academy of Dermatology, said the hesitation regarding sunscreen use in wellness spaces is not supported by current scientific evidence. She explained that just because a sunscreen ingredient is absorbed into the body doesn’t mean it is harmful.
“We see small amounts of absorption from many everyday products without any proven risk,” Vanchinathan said. “Our skin is designed to function as a barrier, not a sponge.”
Her bigger concern is that people are skipping sunscreen altogether or using ineffective unproven alternatives like coconut oil or beef tallow. This could lead to more preventable sun damage, especially among younger people who are influenced by wellness content online.
The beef tallow thing seemed pretty unbelievable to me, but then I got this from a friend:
I am not kidding – someone I used to work with apparently has gone MAHA and she asked last week if there is anyone who knows how to deal with flies for her “natural sunscreen.” After a few questions from people asking why the sunscreen was attracting flies, she finally said that she is using…beef tallow.
If you are slathering yourself with cow grease to go and sit in the sun for a few hours, you just might be a deep-fried dumbass.
This sums this post up:
