4 ms·
He's almost the perfect example of the colloquial stereotype of "Dunning Kruger Syndrome", which is why he's so dangerous. I've made this example before, but i
by tombert 10mo ago
He's almost the perfect example of the colloquial stereotype of "Dunning Kruger Syndrome", which is why he's so dangerous.
I've made this example before, but it bears repeating.
I know absolutely nothing about chemistry, medicine, or healthcare policy. I am wholly unqualifed to be in charge of anything involving healthcare. Suppose that, despite all reason, I am appointed into a HHS secretary anyway. This would be bad, but because I know that I know nothing, my potential for damage is actually pretty limited. I would have to defer a lot of decisions to advisors, who would likely be doctors and chemists and data scientists. I probably wouldn't make a lot of "progress", and I would likely more or less just maintain the status quo, but I probably wouldn't make things much worse.
RFK Jr. is the worst, because he doesn't know any more about health or medicine than I do, but because he's read a bunch of idiotic blogs and Facebook pages he thinks he knows better than the entire medical establishment, and because he thinks he knows everything he feels qualified to start cutting funding for American medical research and blame everything on people not eating enough beef fat.
People have been (understandably) focusing on Trump's descent into authoritarianism, but it's possible that that gets somewhat fixed once he's out of office, but I think that the damage that RFK Jr. has done to our medical research establishment might be irreparable. He is uniquely dangerous.
- AstroBen 10mo agoHe seems to be aware of his lack of knowledge: https://youtu.be/AGq_Q7tVLCU?si=Qcw_cQHoqbBc5dgW https://youtu.be/AGq_Q7tVLCU?si=Qcw_cQHoqbBc5dgW Yet still here we are
- tombert 10mo agoI think he's actively lying with this to have some amount of plausible deniability. If you look at pseudoscience "alternative health" treatments on YouTube, they always have some disclaimer saying "This is not medical advice, I am not a physician, please consult your doctor", and then immediately go on to tell you about how injecting yourself with ozone or drinking paint thinner will cure all your diseases. I think it's just a legal disclaimer, not like they are actually aware that what they're doing is bullshit.
- fooker 10mo ago> he thinks he knows better than the entire medical establishment I think you have missed the part about why we are in this situation. People are absolutely fed up with the medical establishment. There is no way to twist this.
- tombert 10mo agoThe solution is to fix the medical establishment, not to appoint a person trained by Facebook moms and and natural food blogs.
- fooker 10mo agoYes, I agree. Now, everyone trying to fix the medical establishment is immediately called an anti vaxxer, science denier, etc. At some point it was inevitable that we get someone who can shrug these labels off because they do not have a scientific reputation that can be killed with these labels. My point is, again, we are in this situation because sane attempts to fix things has not worked. To an extent that people will literally try anything.
- tombert 10mo agoIf your “fixes” for the medical establishment include spreading unsubstantiated fear mongering about vaccines and science denial then you would be right to be classified as an anti vaxxer and a science denier.
- zaphar 10mo agoI think you might be missing the posters point. He agrees with you on nearly every point you are making. He is however expanding on that saying that the problem is something of a self-own by the combination of science, science reporting, and science driven policy. Trust was so thoroughly lowered that there was almost no avoiding an event like Trump/RFK. It can be true that 1. RFK is not qualified and is likely to make things worse. 2. This is partly the responsibility of the establishment for squandering the trust that the public put in them.