The funny side of anti-vax conspiracy fantasists

Nov 17, 2021

A document in the form of a 48 page "magazine" has been passed into this blogger's hands. Entitled "The Real News", Issue #3, it has a price-tag of $7 - and is back-to-back with anti-vaccination propaganda and related conspiracy fantasies:

The magazine is also interspersed with a scattering of advertisements peddling "alternative health products".

The "information" is a motley grab-bag of rubbish; cherry-picked facts; factoids; contradictory; misrepresentation, and outright lies.

It also has a snippet which the editor(s) of this tripe probably never realised was probably the silliest and funniest statement ever conceived by an anti-vaxxer. More on that shortly (best till last).

With 48 pages, there is too much misinformation to cover, but here are a few examples.

On page 15, an article headed "The Covid Pandemic is the Result of Public Health Authorities Blocking Effective Treatment" [sic] - Paul Craig Roberts rails against social distancing; masking; and, of course, vaccines:

His rhetorical questioning includes:

Why are authorities enforcing ineffective measures while ignoring proven successful measures that greatly reduce the Covid threat and perhaps eliminate it altogether? Is it because the proven measures are inexpensive and offer no opportunity for large profits from vaccines? Is it because the “Covid pandemic” is useful for mandating control measures that curtail civil liberties? Is it because the lockdowns decimate family businesses and enable further economic concentration? The answer is “yes” to all three questions.

He repeats unsubstantiated claims that "covid vaccination causes more mutations of the virus, requiring new vaccines in an endless chase". His reference? The website, www.rt.com - Russia's version of US Fox 'News'.

His unsubstantiated claims include this 'gem':

I asked a distinguished virologist if the Oxford professor was correct, and was told: “Yes, Covid vaccination does and will cause more mutations.”

Then came the bogus health "treatments":

First, begin with prevention. Vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc, and NAC are effective and inexpensive immune boosters that ward off infection and reduce the severity of infection.
[...]
Then turn to cures. Both the HCQ*/zinc/antibiotic treatment and the Ivermectin/zinc/antibiotic treatment are proven, safe, and inexpensive.

(* Hydroxychloroquine)

There we have it: Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin - the favoured bogus-treatments of anti-vaxxers and conspiracy fantasists worldwide.

Mr Roberts, no doubt, is medically qualified to offer these medications as suitable treatment for covid-19?

No.

His "field of expertise" is economics.

No mention that he is qualified in any respect to promote drugs that have not been shown to be effective against covid, and could cause considerable harm.

By contrast, the company producing Ivermectin, Merck, has stated categorically:

KENILWORTH, N.J., Feb. 4, 2021 – Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today affirmed its position regarding use of ivermectin during the COVID-19 pandemic. Company scientists continue to carefully examine the findings of all available and emerging studies of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 for evidence of efficacy and safety. It is important to note that, to-date, our analysis has identified:
No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies;
No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and;
A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.
We do not believe that the data available support the safety and efficacy of ivermectin beyond the doses and populations indicated in the regulatory agency-approved prescribing information.
Indications and Usage for STROMECTOL® (ivermectin)
Ivermectin is approved in the United States under the brand name STROMECTOL. STROMECTOL is indicated for the treatment of intestinal (i.e., nondisseminated) strongyloidiasis due to the nematode parasite Strongyloides stercoralis and for the treatment of onchocerciasis due to the nematode parasite Onchocerca volvulus.

This is a nematode parasite:

Ascaris nematode parasite on a petri dish

This is the covid-19 virus (magnified several million times):

This is a seagull:

This is a tree:

All four are only remotely related (having evolved on the same planet).

The US FDA warning was blunt and very simple. So simple even a 6 year old could understand:

In faccccccct... even the conspiracy magazine containing "Doctor/Not A Doctor" Roberts' trash-article was careful to issue this warning on page 4:

"Disclaimer: All opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors. This publication is for informational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for advice from a qualified health professional."

When you have to make a point in warning your readership that the "opinions" and "information" should "not be used as a substitute for advice from a qualified health professional", you have to ask yourself why this material is useful at all.

Despite their faux-disclaimer, the magazine goes on to publish two further article promoting "suppressed therapies":

But it gets worse.

On page 27 the chemical Chlorine Dioxide - once touted by Village Idiot and former US President, Donald Trump - is promoted as a treatment against the virus, claiming it has "phenomenally good success rate again Covid-19 and a host of other illnesses, including malaria".

Chlorine Dioxide is a strong bleach never intended for internal use. Far from "no deaths reported" (an outright lie), as at August last year, the chemical has killed at least seven people in the United States.

It was reported that a manufacturer of the chemical had a word in Mr Trump's ear about the "efficacy" of the product he was selling:

"Days before President Trump announced during an April 23rd press conference on SARS-CoV-2, “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute. One minute!” he was contacted by the leader of a company, Genesis II, that sells chlorine dioxide bleach as a “miracle solution.” Mark Grenon markets the bleach solution as “Miracle (or Master) Mineral Solution,” and claims without proof that it cures 99% of illness."

Note that the magazine belatedly attempts to warn readers against "self medicating" with this chemical:

Bizarrely, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy fantasists will rail against "Big Pharma". But not against "Big Chema" that peddle their own bogus "cures".

A few of those "cures" are advertised for sale in the magazine. There's the grift:

Anti-vaxxers reject covid vaccines as "money making conspiracy" by "Big Pharma". But when "Big Pharma" such as Merck warns people against using their product - Ivermectin - anti-vaxxers pay no heed.

In the end, anti-vaxxers will believe what they want to believe, irrespective of evidence. You might as well tell them to stand out under the sun and let sunlight cure them of ailment.

Or guzzle deadly bleach.

As one Twitter-user, with a tonne more common sense, sagely pointed out:

Amongst the batshit craziness of quasi-religious anti-vax beliefs, the old vaccine-gave-me-super-powers fantasy was trotted out:

Anyone who actually believes that vaccination gives us magnetic super powers, like some D-rated Marvel super character, obviously paid little attention in their High School science classes.

But the pièce de résistance that gave this blogger a laugh-out-loud moment lay near the bottom of page 32 . The unintended comedy from one brief sentence made the unpleasant wading through of tedious bullshit almost worthwhile.

To the reader, I present "The Real News" on bedroom activities:

"Masks in home and even when having sex".

To the editor(s) of "The Real News"; if we want to mask up in the bedroom whilst indulging in "nocturnal activities", then that's our damned business. You people make your own fun.

But really, I think all 5 million of us missed the government memo making kinky-masking in bed mandatory. But even if there was one, it would truly be a labour of love.