An Ivermectin Influencer Died. Now His Followers Are Worried About Their Own ‘Severe’ Symptoms.
www.vice.com
Danny Lemoi took a daily dose of veterinary-grade ivermectin and told his thousands of followers to give the drug to children. He died of a common side effect of the medication.

Some members of the group are taking ivermectin not only as a treatment against COVID, but as a cure-all for almost every disease—from cancer and depression, to autism and ovarian cysts—believing that every disease is caused by a parasite that is removed from the body by ivermectin, just as animals are given the drug to treat parasitic worms like tapeworm.

Lemoi also formulated an ivermectin regimen for children, and numerous members of the group reported that they were using it. This week alone one member wrote that she had established another group for “parents of children on the spectrum, cerebral palsy, pans/panda, downs etc.,” who are using the Lemoi’s recommended children’s dosage.

:wut:

    • happybadger [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      I don't know if there's a named cognitive bias for it, but it's the same kind of cult mechanic that Qanon and gangstalking thrive on. You have some absurd bullshit that no one else will listen to. Every other person in that group has some absurd bullshit no one else will listen to. As long as you accept their bullshit wholesale, they'll be the only people in the world who validate you drinking pee to vibrate louder.

      If you're already predisposed to aLtErNaTiVe MeDiCiNe conspiracism the only community willing to entertain you relies on you accepting a dozen contradictory ideas. Accepting everything with a herd mentality makes them gravitate to the most extreme parts because they sell the most miraculous form of the cure-all. It's why I was super anti-plague rat well before the pandemic. They're insulated by so many layers of nonsense that they can only go further into it lest their whole worldview collapse.

      • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        This is exactly the kind of syncretism Umberto Eco picked out as a characteristic of fascism:

        Syncretism is not only, as the dictionary says, “the combination of different forms of belief or practice”; such a combination must tolerate contradictions. Each of the original messages contains a silver of wisdom, and whenever they seem to say different or incompatible things it is only because all are alluding, allegorically, to the same primeval truth.

        As a consequence, there can be no advancement of learning. Truth has been already spelled out once and for all, and we can only keep interpreting its obscure message.

    • Aryuproudomenowdaddy [comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      General distrust in a predatory health care system propped up by the ruling class while people watch their friends and families suffer, and then encouraged by FB/Telegram groups to try insane cures because it gives them some agency in situations they would otherwise feel helpless over.