Health misinformation moved from fringe to mainstream political discourse

Evidence

In the 1964 political satire Dr. Strangelove, US Air Force general Jack Ripper unilaterally launches a nuclear strike on the USSR. His motive is to protect our “precious bodily fluids” from Soviet attack—an apparent reference to the belief, promulgated by the far-right John Birch Society during the 1950s and 1960s, that water fluoridation was a communist plot against America. This sort of kneejerk rejection, on the basis of pure speculation, of evidence-based public health interventions has long been a part of American public life. And yet, while the John Birch Society and their kin were certainly sincere in their opposition to water fluoridation (and many other government activities), they remained firmly on the fringes during the twentieth century. … Today, however, the situation appears to be different. Evidence-poor arguments about public-health issues such as global climate change, vaccination, and genetically modified foods are not only widely discussed and credited in mainstream political discussions, but in many cases they are actively supported by members of the current US administration, members of Congress, and some leading politicians in the UK, EU, and elsewhere. — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 53

Categorization

• XREF: Pattern-matches how certain movements saw government as fundamentally corrupted and, in backlash, rejected both the movements and legitimate institutions. Horkheimer and Adorno’s treatment of those like Hitler simply assuming our culture. — connects to: Fake news outperformed reputable news in social media engagement in 2016 — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age: How False…, 18; Conspiracy theories co-opted and discredited genuine pandemic-era reform advocacy — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 486; Wellness-adjacent alternative health influencers dominated the top Covid misinformation spreaders — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror…, 565 (+4 more)
• CANDY: The fluoridation-as-communist-plot origin of Dr. Strangelove’s ‘precious bodily fluids’ is a lively, self-contained nugget.

Broader Connections

• Covid misinformation figures directly shaped anti-mandate legislation across Republican states. #exemplifies (0.85) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 97
• Wellness-adjacent alternative health influencers dominated the top Covid misinformation spreaders #exemplifies (0.82) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 565
• Covid misinformation spread instantly because it recycled preexisting anti-vax claims and grift infrastructure #expands (0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 665
• Legitimate reporting on pandemic profiteering mutated into conspiracy narratives within months. #exemplifies (0.80) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 481
• Conspiracy theories co-opted and discredited genuine pandemic-era reform advocacy #complicates (0.78) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 486
• Local politics resists misinformation more than national politics does #qualifies (0.72) — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall, The Misinformation Age, 587