I Can't Even React to That
Aug. 12th, 2021 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
writerkitArs Technica has an article about... germ theory denialists.
And yes, sure, looking at the content it seems like it should be the same people who shop at Goop and we've known about their existence for a while, but the Goop people tend to be more New Age. I've interacted with a decent number of the New Age laying-on-of-hands people (because going about in the Wiccan community you can't really avoid meeting these people), and in my experience most of them actually don't deny the existence of germs. They add toxins on, and have very bad theories about the cause of things not obviously caused by germs, like chronic illnesses and cancer, but while they'll go for "naturally antibiotic plants" over "Big Pharma," they admit germs exist. Because you can sell people fancy charged garlic right alongside the toxin cleanses, if people believe both are a thing, and you make more money.
But the outright promotion of germ theory denial as a major subculture is new.
And yes, sure, looking at the content it seems like it should be the same people who shop at Goop and we've known about their existence for a while, but the Goop people tend to be more New Age. I've interacted with a decent number of the New Age laying-on-of-hands people (because going about in the Wiccan community you can't really avoid meeting these people), and in my experience most of them actually don't deny the existence of germs. They add toxins on, and have very bad theories about the cause of things not obviously caused by germs, like chronic illnesses and cancer, but while they'll go for "naturally antibiotic plants" over "Big Pharma," they admit germs exist. Because you can sell people fancy charged garlic right alongside the toxin cleanses, if people believe both are a thing, and you make more money.
But the outright promotion of germ theory denial as a major subculture is new.
