September 3, 2017, 1:21 am
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“David Lewis” is a relatively common name – some of its carriers are definitely non-loons – but David L. Lewis is one of the movers and shakers in the anti-vaccine movement and one of discredited crank and monster Andrew Wakefield’s most passionate defenders and fundraisers; he definitely qualifies. Lewis, a retired environmental microbiologist and “director” of the “National Whistleblowers Center Research Misconduct Project”, believes that there is a conspiracy involving the pharmaceutical industry and government agencies to exact ‘retribution’ on the purportedly innocent Wakefield. Fortunately for civilization, Lewis’s understanding of the issues – fuelled as they are by conspiratorial presuppositions – is so poor that he has probably ended up harming Wakefield’s case more than helping it; basically, when trying to counter the conclusion that Wakefield had committed scientific fraud, Lewis supplied documents strongly suggesting that Wakefield was grossly incompetent – but which also failed to counter the fraud allegations; Lewis, apparently not knowing how to read the data in the documents he submitted, didn’t seem to realize – details here – and promptly complained that the data weren’t used to draw the conclusion he wanted to be drawn.
And don’t ever think that Lewis will pretend to protect whistleblowers if outing them will serve his agenda – the center is about pushing an antivaccine agenda, not whistleblowing, as tellingly illustrated by their approach to the so-called CDC whistleblower case (which, of course, really was nothing of the sort).
Diagnosis: Conspiracy theorist with a persecution complex. Yeah, we’ve encountered these before, but Lewis is relatively loud and not without influence (some people seem to think that Lewis actually helped exonerate Wakefield when his actions really contributed to the exact opposite). Dangerous.
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September 5, 2017, 12:52 am
Patrice Lewis is a columnist at the WND, and we could really have ended this entry right there. But it’s hard not to watch such trainwrecks unfold, so here we go:
One topic on which Lewis focuses is eduction. In particular, she is fearful that Common Core, with its “brainwashing” and “indoctrination techniques,” is bringing Nazism to America. To support her case, Lewis mentions a biology teacher she heard about from a friend (almost as good as real evidence) who is telling her students to “sing a song praising Common Core,” which makes the teacher just like Hitler. For good measure, Lewis adds that a public school is like a totalitarian “jail” that turns students into “zombies” (she is no fan of public schools).
The curriculum isn’t the only thing that’s wrong with public schools, however. Lewis also laments measures to protect gay and in particular transgender students. Measures to protect gender-nonconforming youth at school, says Lewis, prove that “the government is getting into the underpants of our children” and “seems veritably obsessed with our children’s genitals.” Funny then, that it is people like Lewis who wants to police precisely that part – “creepy” and “sinister”, indeed. The real danger, though, is that once this androgynous generation grows up, there will be no one to defend the country when it is “flooded with a primitive, warrior people who aren’t interested in androgyny … but would welcome coming into an androgynous population.”
Moreover, complains Lewis, a girl is now “urged [by the government, it seems] to let herself be used by as many randy boys as she can accommodate (since, after all, Planned Murderhood stands on the sideline, eager to get rid of any ‘issues’ that result).” “Slutty” feminists want to “sacrifice” your children “to sex gods,” argues Lewis. Yes, one of the primary evil forces at work here, is of course “feminism”. In her column “Are Feminists Insane?” she attacks the commonly invoked straw feminist (the evil one who hates mothers and men), but since she cannot find an actual feminist that would serve as her target, she rather quotes from a Salon piece that says the exact opposite of what she attributes to it, and concludes that “feminists like Gloria Feldt think the height of feminism is to work 80 hours a week at the office, hook up with an assortment of random men and kill your baby every other year or so.” She doesn’t provide a reference. In an earlier piece, Lewis called on wives to submit to their husbands in order to free themselves from feminist oppression, arguing that making the man the head of the household is “true women’s liberation” since it makes women’s lives easier. (Also this).
But Lewis also makes forays into politics in general. In 2015, for instance, she suggested that conservative states should secede and start a Godly nation, thereby to “win His favorable attention once again,” just as they did last time.
Diagnosis: This is standard wingnut fare – predictably unconcerned with truth, accuracy or accountability – but embellished with some flamboyantly delusional language. Probably limited influence, though.
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September 8, 2017, 12:08 am
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Colin Liddell is a reasonably central altright figure who edits (with Andy Nowicki) and regularly contributes to Alternative Right, where he argues for instance that European colonialism of Africa should be seen as a “vote of confidence” in the “Black man”: “Sadly, the Africans are terrible producers, lacking the precision, conscientiousness, group ethic, and self-sacrificing qualities needed to constitute a hard-working, reliable industrial population. Not to mention the issue of IQ! They are equally inept when it comes to consumption, and not only because of their proverbial penury and otherwise laudable penchant for reusing every piece of junk that comes their way. Even when they have money to burn, they seem more attracted to simple bling than to acquiring the wide variety of gizmos, gadgets, home appliances, bric-a-brac, and exotic interests that support vast export industries.” In 2012 Liddell wrote “Is Black Genocide Right?” for the website, where he claimed that the black race “has contributed almost nothing to the pool of civilization” and asked “whether Black Genocide is something worth considering”. Even Alternative Right eventually took down that one.
At least Liddell has criticized Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer (for tone; content: not so much), concluding that “it is hard not to conclude that Anglin is a paid shill and agent provocateur, whose purpose is simply to infest and discredit White nationalism.” Methinks the Alternative Right discredits white nationalism all right on its own.
Diagnosis: We really cannot be bothered to wade through this kind of intellectual sewage, but suppose you’ve got the picture. Dangerous.
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September 10, 2017, 12:42 am
Although he is mostly a ridiculous and toothless source of hilarity these days, George Gordon Battle Liddy is something of a legend, and certainly deserves an entry. Liddy is a conservative talk radio host, ex-convict and disbarred lawyer, but used to be a an FBI agent, operative in Nixon’s 1972 election campaign, and was one of the Watergate “plumbers”: he was for instance (co-)responsible for concocting “Operation Gemstone”, the plan to break in to the Watergate hotel and wiretap the DNC. He subsequently served a four-year prison sentence. Apparently Liddy’s personality served as the model for “The Comedian” in Alan Moore’s Watchmen.
On his current radio show, Liddy promotes various types of nonsense about guns, feminism (“Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when [Judge Sotomayor is] menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate. That would really be bad. Lord knows what we would get then”), racism (the “vast majority” of Hispanics are“short,” “squat,” “little Indians”), Muslims (such as this one), gold, and other wingnuttery, and he was for instance a champion of the birther cause back in the early days of the Obama presidency, and notably falling for virtually any piece of conspiracy mongering, almost regardless of how silly or easily falsifiable. Liddy falsely claimed that there is a “sworn statement from the stepgrandmother” saying Obama was born in Kenya and thus an “illegal alien”, for instance. He has also made some interesting allusions to FEMA concentration camps that Barack Hussain Obama (a “communist” who “doesn’t like the United States” and is “not one of us”) is/was ostensibly supposed to use to lock up white people. Joseph Farah sometimes fills in for him.
Liddy doesn’t like gay people either (of course). Here is his 2010 discussion of issues regarding “normal people” and “homosexuals” co-mingling if DADT is repealed.
There is a fine G. Gordon Liddy resource here.
Diagnosis: Laughable moron with little capacity for basic critical thinking and – importantly – even less of a capacity for morality. Probably more of a curiosity than a real danger, but there are plenty of people like him out there.
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September 11, 2017, 11:17 pm
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John Lilly, patient zero for all things dolphin woo, has passed away. We cannot find explicit evidence that Deborah Lindsey is into dolphin woo, but she probably is. Lindsey is the founder of the International Metaphysical University (IMU) (Courses in Shamanic Studies) located in Vienna, West Virginia – at least that’s the postal address; the “university” seems primarily to exist online, and it’s sufficiently obscure to fail to make it even to this comprehensive list. Lindsey is also the administrative contact and technical contact for the, uh, institution. According to her own bio, “she’s the founder of the International Metaphysical University (how many people start a UNIVERSITY?);” probably not many, Lindsey, and we have some bad news for you. In any case, “[s]he is also trained and certified in more than a dozen healing protocols including Reiki (Usui, Toltec/Nagual, Ma’haeo’o), Quantum Touch, Touch for Health, Energy Kinesiology, Pranic Healing, Hypnosis, Jaffe-Mellor Technique, Kolaimni [has to do with charging one’s chakras, apparently], and more.” Also from her bio: “
she’s one of those teachers who is ‘on a mission from God.’ (Yeah, it’s a Blues Brother reference in the middle of a biography.)” Why, yes; yes, it is.
None of the IMU’s (distant learning) courses are anywhere remotely close to being accredited by anything resembling any serious accrediting organization, but they are at least reasonably expensive, and one suspects that their intended target audience is precisely those who don’t have a clear grasp of the difference between those two parameters. The course catalogue is at least fascinating. Lindsey herself does Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and the IMU will happily certify you as an EFT practitioner (hah!), but she also teaches “Consciousness studies” and “Principles of Metaphysics” (a 1912 publication called “The Kybalion” by one Thoth, “scribe of the gods”), and “Energy Anatomy” (“including how to see auras, and explore the meridian system in the body[;] [m]oreover, students will challenge their own perceptions about the causes of illness and what it takes to heal;” otherwise that course wouldn’t get very far, methinks).
Apart from these courses, the IMU course catalogue contains (e.g.) the following:
- Two courses on Anatomy and Physiology for Energy Healers, $197 each, which promise to answer “[b]urning questions like if I have a stomach ache is it my stomach that hurts, or if someone is a pain in the neck is it my neck or a little lower”. It’s almost like medschool. Instructor: one Julia Ananeva, who has “a deep understanding of biological interconnections in a physical body” and can “bring Bio-energetic healing to the higher level;” she is also an expert on the Law of Attraction.
- Energy Kinesiology and Muscle Testing, on e.g. energy blockages as a cause for disease; the course comes with a version of the Quack Miranda. Instructor: John Maguire, founder and director of the LA Kinesiology Institute.
- Flower of Life, Sacred Geometry, and the Merkaba. Instructor: Bruce Vinikas.
- Understanding the Mayan Calendar. Instructor: the legendary Carl Johan Calleman; he also does the course “The Purposeful Universe”.
- Basic Principles of the Law of One, where students are given an opportunity to “explor[e] the ways of polarity and the functions and use of the energy body”. Instructor: James A. McCarty.
- Foundations of Psychic Development I & II. Instructor: Janet Decker.
- Animal Communication; sounds awesome. Instructor: Georgina Cyr, who is also into iridology.
- Astrology. Instructor: Susan Sheppard, “the creator of the Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours”, but they also list “Allison Sandblom, Proxy”.
- Tarot I & II. Instructor: Terry Lively.
- Foundations of Shamanism. Instructor: Mark Perkins, who also does their course on “Ho’oponopono - A Shamanic Exploration”.
- Basic Shamanic Journeying. Instructor: Sandra Ingerman, a familiar name in these circles; some information here.
- Toltec Nagual Reiki. Instructor: Randy Hastings, “deceased”, apparently in 2010. They still offer the course.
- Fundamentals of Huna Shamanism/Advanced Huna Shaman Training. Instructor: Serge King.
- Introduction to Ufology & Intermediate Ufology. Instructor: our old friend Richard Dolan, but they also list “Kelly Weary, Proxy”.
- An Introduction to Sitchin Studies. No, really. Instructor: Neil Freer.
- Variety of Extraterrestrial Encounters. Instructor: Barbara Lamb, whose specialty seems to be human-alien hybrids.
- Mind Traveling UFOs and Extraterrestrial Civilizations I & II. Instructor: John Terry.
- Introduction to Exoconsciousness & Advanced Exoconsciousness. Instructor: Rebecca Hardcastle, whom we have encountered before.
- Extraterrestrials, and The Mystery Schools. Instructor: Judy Kennedy.
There are also practical courses, such as “Creating the Foundation for Your Irresistibly Authentic Metaphysical or Holistic Healing Consultancy” and “Creating Your Rapidly Saleable Business Programs and Packages”, all with one Diane Boerstler. Boerstler is probably a person to take note of for future reference; if a company has a Boerstler-number of less than, say, 3 you should probably avoid it.
Diagnosis: It actually seems that Lindsey somehow believes the stuff she peddles, but I am not sure that makes it any better. Complete, undiluted insanity.
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September 15, 2017, 1:08 am
Ricky Line is – or at least was back in 2011 – superintendent of Hart County’s school in Lexington, Kentucky, a religious fundamentalist extremist and, of course, a creationist, something that predictably led to a bit of conflict with his role as superintendent. For instance, Line sent a number of letters and emails to the state Education Commissioner and Kentucky Board of Education members asking them to reconsider the “Blueprint” for Kentucky’s new end-of-course test in biology, which, he contended, would treat evolution as fact, not theory, and therefore require schools to teach that way. Indeed.
Like most creationists Line, of course, possesses a rather cursory understanding of evolution, arguing that the Blueprint’s treatment of evolution would “require students to believe that humans … evolved from primates such as apes and … were not created by God.” Said Line: “My feeling is if the Commonwealth’s site-based councils, school board members, superintendents and parents were questioned … one would find this teaching contradictory to the majority’s belief systems.” Which, you know, is actually a splendid illustration of why Lexington kids probably need someone to teach them evolution better than they evidently did before.
“I don’t think life on earth began as a one-celled organism. I don’t think that all of us came from a common ancestor … I don’t think the Big Bang theory describes the explanation of the origin of the universe,” said Line. At least he thinks for himself (emphasis on “for himself”, not “thinks”). And as for the fact that virtually every scientist disagrees with him? “It’s interesting that the great majority of scientists felt Pluto was a planet until a short time ago, and now they have totally changed that. There are scientists who don’t believe that evolution happened.” I’d love to hear him spell out the tacit premises here.
What makes the whole thing scary, though, is that several Kentucky legislators took Line’s side! “I would hope that creationism is presented as a theory in the classroom, in a science classroom, alongside evolution,”said Sen. David Givens (R-Greensburg). And Rep. Ben Waide said that he had a problem with evolution being an important part of biology standards at all: “The theory of evolution is a theory, and essentially the theory of evolution is not science – Darwin made it up,” said Waide. “My objection is they should ensure whatever scientific material is being put forth as a standard should at least stand up to scientific method. Under the most rudimentary, basic scientific examination, the theory of evolution has never stood up to scientific scrutiny.” Waide did not elaborate on what he took “scientific method” to mean.
Diagnosis: There are plenty of fundamentalist science deniers out there, and we suspect that many more than Ricky Line are in positions to genuinely do some harm. The really scary thing is that people like him have enough political power to get likeminded anti-scientists elected.
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September 17, 2017, 12:13 am
Ascalar wave is an alleged type of electromagnetic wave that works outside of physics as we know it and can thus be used to prop up all sorts of New Age woo. As a scientific concept it was discarded in the 19th century, but insofar as everything that has happened in science since then is a conspiracy, the idea is still championed by infamous cranks like Thomas Bearden to handwave some woolly justifications for thinking that stuff they’d like to be true is, in fact, true. (It isn’t.).
Scalar waves seem to have been mainstreamed among proponents of New Age woo around 2005, with the publication of The Heart of Health; the Principles of Physical Health and Vitality by Stephen Linsteadt, ND, according to whom “[s]calar waves can be created by wrapping electrical wires around a figure eight in the shape of a Möbius coil. When an electric current flows through the wires in opposite directions, the opposing electromagnetic fields from the two wires cancel each other and create a scalar wave. The DNA antenna in our cells' energy production centers (mitochondria) assumes the shape of what is called a super-coil. Supercoil DNA look like a series of Möbius coils. These Möbius supercoil DNA are hypothetically able to generate scalar waves. Most cells in the body contain thousands of these Möbius supercoils, which are generating scalar waves throughout the cell and throughout the body.” This is not correct by any stretch of the imagination. But from observations like this Linsteadt and his followers can use scalar waves to “explain” homeopathy, achieve lymph detoxification, and cure a variety of ailments, including diabetes, short sightedness, kidney stones, Parkinson's, strokes, arthritis (a rave and barely coherent overview by one Victor Marcial-Vega – “recognized as being in the top one percent of medical doctors in the U.S.” by some strangely unnamed entity – here) and, of course, cancer – as well as reverse the aging process. Heck, scalar waves are even part of the power of ORMUS.
And quantum woo is predictably just around the corner. Indeed, Linsteadt is a quantum naturopath, no less.According to Linsteadt “[t]he quantum level possesses the highest level of coherence within the human organism. Sick individuals with weak immune systems or cancer have poor and chaotic coherence with disturbed biophoton cellular communication. Therefore, disease can be seen as the result of disturbances on the cellular level that act to distort the cell’s quantum perspective. This causes electrons to become misplaced in protein molecules and metabolic processes become derailed as a result. Once cellular metabolism is compromised the cell becomes isolated from the regulated process of natural growth control.” The Random Deepak Chopra Quote Generator couldn’t have put it better. And no, this is not how this works. This is not remotely related to how any of this works. Though the sheer delusional insanity of the religiously charged technobabble dropping from Linsteadt’s pen is in its own way pretty impressive: “The quantum naturopath recognizes that quantum coherence provides the fundamental resonance communication system of the body. All quantum naturopathic therapies must, therefore, be aimed at re-establishing cellular resonance. Quantum naturopaths are experts in bio-energetic nutrition with an emphasis on providing adequate defenses for free radical damage and re-establishing the body’s bio-electric communication system by detoxifying the connective tissue matrix.” You can read more about quantum medicine here.
Diagnosis: Delusional, maniacal religious extremist, really, whose pseudoscientific rants rather strikingly resemble the ravings of a self-declared prophet with a seizure (good examples exist) if these were adjusted for grammar – Linsteadt’s sentences are mostly grammatical even though they usually don’t mean anything. His influence is probably limited, but good grief.
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September 19, 2017, 12:35 am
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Conspiracy theories involving Obama are a-dime-a-dozen, but the version(s) promoted by Avi Lipkin – who manages to be more delusionally insane even than most of the paranoid wingnut conspiracy theorists he pals around with – were more colorful than most. According to Lipkin, who promotes his ideas on speaking tours in churches and synagogues as well as on rightwing news shows across America (ostensibly, his day job is being an “author/translator in the Israeli Prime Minister’s office,” which would be scary, but which we haven’t managed to verify, and Lipkin doesn’t generally come across as particularly trustworthy), “Obama was made a Muslim man in Indonesia by age 11. He said, ‘I’ve got health care problems, I got economic problems in America, Muslims in Egypt and Muslims in the Muslim world, be patient, I will show you when the time comes what I am going to do to Israel.’” Lipkin’s source? His wife, whom he claims is an Israel intelligence officer: “My wife picked up other broadcasts, for example the Saudis were saying, ‘we will have a Muslim in the White House in 2008.’ The Saudis also said, ‘Obama has three tasks: task number 1 is to destroy the Shiite threat in Iran, task number 2 is to destroy the Jewish threat Israel, task number 3 is to destroy the great Christian Satan America and turn America into a Muslim country.’” (Later he has also claimed to have talked to an unnamed mailman who knew Bill Ayers’s parents and got a young Obama to confide in him that he was destined to be president).
So, here is Obama’s plan to destroy America (as of 2012): First, support the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in order to collapse the region’s economy after the group persecutes the country’s Christians. This will then lead to a wave of Muslim immigration to the United States. Obama will then settle the “50–100 million” Muslims (later adjusted to “100 million”) on “lands confiscated by Agenda 21” (Lipkin’s understanding of the latter seems a bit diffuse), and bring about Sharia law in the U.S. Parallel to this, Obama has built up the national debt in a way that will make the U.S. need a bailout from Saudi Arabia, who will grant it with the condition that “America will surrender its Christianity.” Apparently God is in on this, too: It is God who sends (well, sent– Lipkin seemed to think they were already here) the Muslim immigrants to the U.S. to be “hunters” of Jews and Christians, forcing them to leave the U.S. for Israel. At least Lipkin managed to synthesize an impressive number of anti-Obama conspiracy theories. We’ll give him that.
And the machinery is, by 2012, already in motion. According to Lipkin “there are between 20 to 30 million Muslims in America and this fact is not lost on the election campaign in November… What happens after they come here is that they marry Christian women, Jewish and Christian American women and then these women become baby factories for Islam because it’s the religion of the father.” Actually, Muslims constitute about 0.6 % of the population, but when your source is your own ass you’ll discover a lot of stuff no one else knows about; “this is very stealth like, it’s very insidious,” says Lipkin. Indeed. Lipkin is probably most famous, however, for pushing (and possibly inventing) the idea that Obama is going to use the national parks to settle those 100 million Muslim immigrants and thereby create “a Muslim majority in America” in complete secrecy without anyone noticing (he seems to have a somewhat tenuous grasp of how large the “100 million” number is and the kind of air traffic importing 100 million people would require). Indeed, as Lipkin asserted in 2013, Muslims tend to settle in forests, and they are already setting up encampments in Texas and the Ozarks and will continue to do so until there are about 50 million Muslim forest dwellers. His evidence for his claim is that he (Lipkin) drives around the country and sees a lot of empty land and forests. He later added that Muslims will also buy up all the foreclosed homes in the US; they will “buy them all up.” The reason Obama could succeed in achieving this plan, is that he has “a lot of useful idiots in the Democratic Party, including many Jewish people, who don’t realize the big mistake that they’re making, thinking that the Muslims are the good guys and the blacks are the good guys.” He assures us, though, that “[a] lot of black people are good guys but the black agenda [?], which totally supports Obama, is very closely linked with this fanatic Islam.” At least he didn’t bother to claim that he has black friends. Importantly, Obama also enjoys the support of the shadow government: “I think what we’ve been seeing over the last few decades is that America has been having its leaders chosen, Democrat or Republican, chosen by the one world government, the Masons, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, whatever you want to call these people [their defining characteristic is that they hate Jesus Christ], these are people who control the world.”Perhaps this is how Lipkin reconciles his claims about Obama’s allegiances; Obama is not only a Muslim, but “either a Communist plant, a Russian plant, which is one of the reasons he would never confront Russia; or, he’s an Islamic plant, in which case he will never go to war against a Muslim country,” because Russia is communist and the US under Obama has never been at war with or in a Muslim country. According to Lipkin, “[Obama] said this in his book that he will never go to war against another Muslim country,” citing a widely circulated and easy-to-check fabricated Obama quote. Then he repeated his claims about a Muslim invasion: “They’re going to come to the United States and the Muslim president is going to receive them, it’s a horrible situation for the United States in my opinion unless people think that selling the soul of America to the Devil is a good thing.” Of course, Obama’s actions might appear to contradict his alleged hatred for Israel, but Lipkin is ready to explain (a conspiracy theorist, after all, is one who can bend every piece of information into supporting the conspiracy theory). In 2015, Lipkin also weighed in on the Iran nuclear deal, which was all part of Obama’s plan to make “Israel go to war against Iran.” Saudi Arabia will then emerge as the regional power since the two countries will “destroy each other,” which will allow Obama to “free himself up for his real mission, which is to make America a Muslim country.” Continued Lipkin: “President Obama is a Muslim. If you’re a Muslim, your god is Satan; if you’re a Muslim, then you are criminally psychotic. This is the plan to destroy the human race. This is something that Allah wants.” As Lipkin sees it, Muslims believe that “the only way for Allah to be greater than the God of the Jews and the Christians is to kill every last human being on the face of the earth, that’s the plan of Islam.”Apparently Lipkin is also a prophet who prophecied 9/11 in 1998. You’ll have to take his word for it, though. He has also declared that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma city bombing as well as the WTC bombing in 1993 and the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996; according to himself, Lipkin was in Oklahoma at the time of the bombing and immediately knew that it was “an Islamic bomb because truck bombs are an Islamic way of doing things” (and the claim that truck bombs are Islamic is corroborated by the fact that the Oklahoma bomb was a truck bomb and Muslim, and so on). Of course, the Muslim involvement was hidden by an FBI cover-up operation that Lipkin by 2016 had decided was orchestrated by Merrick Garland, since Garland by 2016 was Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. “This whole thing about hating the Christians started not with Obama,” Lipkin said, “it started with the Clintons.” Garland was also involved in the death of Scalia. “I’m risking my life by talking about this,” Lipkin said, “because people who came forward with the information were killed.”He is, however, frequently cited as a “scholar” by the American Family Association’s news division, OneNewsNow, and he is viewed as a legit authority by Tim Wildmon on Today’s Issues and Perry Atkinson on The Dove TV, who has invited Lipkin to provide his “high-level expertise on U.S. Middle-East policy.” Lipkin was also an invited speaker at Jim Garlow’s 2015 “Future Conference” (attended by e.g. Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia, Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and a virtual who-is-who on the religious right, and backed by Newt Gingrich). At the conference, Lipkin told his audience that “all” churches in America have been infiltrated by Muslim spies pretending to be Christian converts. These moles, he said, are cataloguing Christians and Jews in order to kill them all when Muslim jihadists take over (which might, in fact, according to Lipkin, be a good thing, since it will lead to “a revival in this country in all Christian denominations” among all the Christians killed; internal consistency is not Lipkin’s strong suit). And though the theme of the conference was ostensibly “religious liberty”, the audience didn’t hesitate to applaud Lipkin’s call for a ban on Islam: “Until Islam is banned and suppressed and erased, the Jews will not have any chance to survive in this country.” Lipkin ended his presentation on a positive note, though: Muslim immigration to America, he predicted, would drive U.S. Jews to the Middle East, setting up a conflict in which Islam will be “finished”: “I predict Islam will be terminated very soon,” said Lipkin. The applause was enthusiastic.
Diagnosis: Pretty mainstream by religious right standards, Lipkin is a delusional conspiracy theorist utterly unable to distinguish reality from his feverish, hate-fuelled fantasies. His barely incoherent rants seem to have impressed a wide range of people with not negligible degrees of power and influence, though. The world is insane.
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September 21, 2017, 1:36 am
Bruce Lipton is a former cell biologist, who abandoned science- and reality-based biology after having experienced a “spiritual revelation” about cells that led him to embrace creationism and decide that holistic medicine works. For the most part, he comes across as a slightly more science-focused Deepak Chopra, though what Lipton calls “science” is ultimately no less not than Chopra’s spirit-babble deepity(Chopra himself is a fan of Lipton’s work). Lipton is probably best known for the idea that your beliefs and thoughts can manipulate your genes and DNA by the power of choprawoo, as described for instance in his book The Biology of Belief – Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles (2005). That claim is incorrect.
In his relatively popular video “The New Biology: Where Mind and Matter Meet by Bruce Lipton Ph.D” (good and comprehensive analysis here) Lipton lays out some core elements of his view:
- The cell is a microcosm of the human body, and the workings of the cell reflect the workings of a body: “There is no new function that's present in your human body that’s not already present in every single cell. You have a digestive system, a respiratory system, etc, so does a cell.” Then notice: humans live in communities, and multicellular organisms are in biology sometimes described as “colonies of cells”. From that metaphor, Lipton derives his theory of cancer: “cancer cells have withdrawn from the community … Why would some cells get out of the community? And the answer is why are people homeless? … If their community is not supporting them at some point the cells recognize at some point ‘My God what do I want to be in this for’.” And then we get cancer – it’s a result of a breakdown of cell society. And note that Lipton is not intending this as a metaphor. This is Lipton’s theory of cancer. Science, anatomy and the distinction between poetic metaphor and literal description be damned.
- The brain of the cell: According to Lipton, biologists think that the cell nucleus is the brain of the cell. But cells can live for months in a dish after they’ve had their nucleus taken out, whereas human bodies die without a brain. Therefore, scientists are wrong. Yes, the argument is precisely as inept as I make it sound. (And for the record: biologists do not think that the cell nucleus is anything like the brain of the cell, even when they’re being metaphorical; not that this is the most incompetent element of Lipton’s argument).
- Instead, Lipton thinks the cell membrane is the brain of the cell (and yes: he has pointed out the similarity between “…brane” and “brain”, cuz that’s how he rolls). His evidence consists primarily of redefining scientific terms and by calling the chemical reactions taking place at the cell membrane “perception” and those that take place within the cell “behavior”, and when you have perception and behavior you’ve got further proof that cells are just like organisms (detailed critique of Lipton’s arguments here). Therefore, cell perception and ourperception are linked, and since there is a link between perception and belief, there is a link between our beliefs and cell activity. Hence, your beliefs can control your cells, and therefore your DNA, and therefore heal any medical problem you may have that doctors say are of genetic origin. In particular, we can cure cancer with our beliefs. Or, in other words, Lipton is a complete idiot, and the people who listen to him – such as quacks like Joe Mercola – dangerously ignorant and delusional.
Lipton’s ideas have, of course, been ignored by mainstream science, and much of Lipton’s writings accordingly consist of attacking science; “modern science has bankrupted our souls,” claims Lipton, since they tend not to find support for his wishful thinking, metaphors and other nonsense (Coast to Coast AM has covered him extensively, though). Lipton rejects the “Newtonian vision of the primacy of a physical, mechanical Universe”, that “genes control biology,” that evolution resulted from random genetic mutations, and that evolution is driven by natural selection – mostly on the grounds that these ideas don’t quite fit what his intuitions have revealed to him. The Secret, on the other hand, is apparently worthy science.
As for evolution, Lipton finds it implausible that that we arose in this garden as a total result of accident, which, of course, is Hoyle’s fallacy and not what the theory of evolution claims. And note: Bruce Lipton has a PhD in developmental biology, despite evidently not grasping the most basic elements of what evolution is. Instead, Lipton plumps for Intelligent Design creationism – that it was purpose and design through the entire process – though without the Christianity part.Moreover, “[i]f you take Darwinian theory, make a ‘scientific’ principle out of it, put it into political action, then you have something like Nazi Germany,” says Lipton. Question: if you take the third law of thermodynamics, make a “scientific principle out of it” and “put it into political action”, would you get full-scale nuclear war? And what does that suggest to Lipton about the third law of thermodynamics? (No, it makes no sense, at any level). Anyways, freeing evolution from its moorings in science and reality enables Lipton to state that “humanity is on the brink of spontaneous evolution”. If you think there is a tension between the concepts “spontaneous” and “evolution” you shouldn’t, because quantum. And you know when the big change will take place, don’t you? Yes, that’s right: It’s 2012. Darwinian evolution is false because it fail to predict a 2012 apocalypse. Apparently, Lipton’s own theory suffered no such falsification misfortune when 2012 came and passed without relevant incident because only scientific theories are affected by falsification; pseudoscientific theories are protected from such misfortunes. Here’s a discussion of Lipton’s own theory of biology, which explicitly rejects the whole of genetics: “the genes, that’s all, that’s all wrong, that information,” says Lipton.
He is, however, fond of epigenetics, which seems to have become the new quantum in woo and pseudoscience circles (not that Lipton shies away from invoking old-fashioned quantum woo as well). Of course, Lipton appears to have no clear idea about what epigenetics actually is, but some popularizing descriptions using metaphors and analogies do give him some vague associations to the Law of Attraction, which he likes, so he runs with that.
Other books by Lipton include:
- The Wisdom of Your Cells - How Your Beliefs Control Your Biology (2006)
- Spontaneous Evolution: Our Positive Future and a Way to Get There from Here (co-authored with Steve Bhaerman) (2009)
- The Honeymoon Effect: The Science of Creating Heaven on Earth (2013)
Diagnosis: Tirelessly harnessing the power of nonsense, Lipton has emerged as a dafter but somewhat more sciency-sounding competitor to the Chopra itself. Complete nonsense, of course, which stands to science roughly as a balloon stands to mathematical logic, but Lipton enjoys a relatively substantial following number of victims among the scientifically illiterate.
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September 23, 2017, 12:52 am
Bob Livingston is the wingnut behind the website Personal Liberty Digest (and not identical to former congressman Bob Livingston). Apart from typical wingnuttery and survivalism stuff Livingston promotes a variety of woo and pseudoscience from a wingnut point of view, with a particular focus on supplements and “alternatives to drugs” that you – coincidentally – can buy from him.
According to his bio, Bob “had four heart attacks” between “age thirty-eight and age forty” but decided to forgo prescription drugs, which he judged to be “far worse than heart disease.” He was also “sure that he did not have a drug deficiency,” which is usually not the diagnosis for which drugs are prescribed. In any case, Livingston, motivated in part by his distrust in the government and belief that “organized medicine [as opposed to online stores selling supplements] is literally a killing machine” (note the delectable misapplication of “literally”), decided to do his own research, and currently “[t]hirty-nine years of research study in health and nutrition [at the University of Google] qualifies Bob as a nutritional expert,” in his own opinion. He has “volumes of information to share with his readers,” mostly concerned with various types of fallacious appeals to nature. Traditional medicine is not natural, in Livingston’s eyes; accordingly “Bob believes that the credibility of the medical establishment is eroding quickly and will soon collapse.”
As most online promoters of woo, Livingston knows how to cure most diseases and illnesses, including cancer. Livingston’s “natural cancer treatment” is his “bicarbonate maple syrup cancer treatment,” which is a natural, effective alternative to chemotherapy wholly without side effects. Apparently it is similar to insulin potentiation therapy. That is not a good thing. Actually, the “bicarbonate maple syrup treatment works in reverse to IPT,” whatever that means. Then Livingston refers to Tullio Simoncini. Simoncini is the guy who thinks cancer is fungus (because tumors are white and fungus is white) and might just be the craziest crackpot on the whole of the Internet. Simoncini’s suggestion for treating cancer is to pump it up with sodium bicarbonate, which at least gives you an idea about where Livingston’s idea originates. It’s hard to describe in human words how stupid, wrong and dangerous the suggestion actually is. Apparently Livingston learned the trick from folk healer Jim Kelmun, whose “loyal patients swear by the man” and “say he is a miracle worker.” People who have cancer and who treat their cancer tumors with maple syrup and baking soda will quickly cease to be in any position to provide negative feedback, so marketing-wise the idea is very effective insofar as the only evidence you rely on is the testimony of your loyal customers. More here.
And Livingston is just getting started. According to Livingston, the “germ theory of disease is a foolish hoax created by Louis Pasteur. It is a notion of nonsense that has confused millions of people and made billions for the pharmaceuticals with vaccines and tens of thousands of drugs or over-the-counter preparations. If one person in society should die of a ‘contagious disease,’ the whole world population would expire.” Yes, Livingston denies that contagious diseases exist, and you really got to appreciate his reasoning: “Well, what about the flu epidemic shortly after World War I that killed 80 million people worldwide? According to the germ theory of disease, this flu should have killed everyone on earth. Of course, it didn’t and some people died in the same household where others did not. Why did this so-called ‘infectious disease’ not infect the entire world population?” Indeed. What’s the alternative theory, you may wonder? “The answer is that disease is born of us and in us. If our immune system is strong and healthy, we could sleep with people dying with ‘contagious disease’ and never even get sick.” Why you would need an immune system if there are no dangerous germs or contagious diseases is not entirely clear, but Livingston is adamant: “The germ theory of disease is nothing in the world but a commercial enterprise. Disease comes from within. When the body is overly fatigued with excess stress, toxins and malnutrition, there is a breakdown of immunity.” Immunity to what, you might then ask, but should probably realize that you may just as well give up at this point. “A person’s nutritional status and hydration level is the prime determinant of health. Disease comes from within!” since every time you repeat a claim you double its credibility.
His newsletter is (appropriately) listed here.
Livingston is also the author of various books in his series “A Survival Treasury”, including Surviving a Global Financial Crisis and Currency Collapse and Natural Alternatives for Diabetes and Blood Sugar Problems Drug Companies Don’t Want You to Know. You can probably make a cursory assessment of the quality of his advice on these issues, too.
Diagnosis: Oh, yes. Bob Livingston is a contagious disease denialist, no less. The Black Death was caused by people suddenly getting stressed out and dehydrated and malnourished in the same way at the same time. Though his audience is probably relatively limited, it would be wrong to say that he is entirely harmless.
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September 26, 2017, 12:24 am
Cancer woo is big business (just see the previous entry), and few things are more repugnantly ludicrous than pushing homeopathy for cancer – though we suspect that most people aren’t really aware of how amazingly ridiculous the magical pseudoscience of homeopathy actually is. Well, at the Oasis of Healing in Arizona, Thomas Lodi will offer you homeopathy for cancer. Apparently, Lodi used to be a real MD (remember that MDs aren’t necessarily trained in science and there is thus no particular reason to think that they are particularly immune to pseudoscientific nonsense), but apparently decided along the way to become a Homeopathic Medical Doctor specializing in “integrative oncology” instead (yes, the state of Arizona allows you to call yourself HMD, and they even allow you to perform surgery).
At the Oasis of Healing there are few limits on what kind of nonsense they’re willing to push (while, predictably, hinting at Big Pharma conspiracies). The guiding principle appears, predictably enough, to be a return to “nature” and natural remedies, though as far as we can tell they fail to explain precisely what makes homeopathic remedies more “natural” than conventional therapies – “natural cancer cures” is mostly an apparently effective marketing ploy. Well, cancer is itself natural, and Lodi seems to agree: “Cancer in fact, is the name that we have given to the extraordinary effort of the body to protect us against chronic irritation. Consequently, cancer has been termed, ‘the wound that wouldn’t heal’. And the term ‘cancer prevention’ is misused to include receiving vaccinations and diagnostic screening, such as mammograms. These and all others under this category of cancer prevention have nothing to do with the prevention of the development of the healing process that we have termed cancer.” Yes, according to Lodi, cancer is a “healing process”, like all disease: “It must be remembered that ‘disease’ is the body attempting to re-establish optimal functioning. Health is not the absence of disease nor is it the absence of anything. It is the presence of something. It is the ability to regenerate, rejuvenate and procreate. Health is the condition that results when one lives according to the biological laws that govern the functioning of the organism.” I hope even those with little or no medical background are able to see how insane this nonsense is (it sounds a bit like this).
In short: Lodi’s suggestions won’t help cure cancer, but insofar as his patients also renounce conventional therapies that do, few of them will end up in any position to provide negative testimonials (Lodi’s got testimonials). He also recommends “massage therapy or acupuncture” to “…. assist with opening energy meridians and allowing the lymph to drain more freely reducing the toxic load on the body,” and “[f]ocusing on the power of prayer or meditation will help strengthen the spirit and mental well-being which will add another level to the success of a patient healing from cancer.” It won’t.
His main focus seems to be on cancer prevention. Lodi recommends: Living Foods, juicing, oral & IV supplements, chelation therapy, lymphatic drainage, structural integration, infrared sauna, EWOT and colon hydrotherapy. None of these will remotely protect you from cancer, but some of them, like chelation therapy, are actively harmful. Lodi’s evidence? Testimonials, of course. You really didn’t need to ask. He’s got not a shred of evidence. But lack of evidence has never stopped people like Lodi, who apparently travels around to promote his nonsense, as well; he appeared for instance at the 2013 “A Cure to Cancer Summit”, a New Age conspiracy quackfest if there ever was one – the kind of event where the organizers actually used the fact that it featured Robert O. Young in its marketing campaign; yes, that’s the kind of company Lodi keeps.
Diagnosis: We think it is important to emphasize that Thomas Lodi is not only a crackpot offering to treat you for serious illnesses his alternative recommendations won’t treat; he is also (for that reason) a really, truly shitty person. Apparently he is also one of the more influential characters in “natural cancer cure” schemes. Stay well away.
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September 29, 2017, 12:06 am
Raúl Erlando López is another one of those precariously few young-earth creationists with a real degree so cherished by the creationist community and who are therefore heavily used, promotion-wise, to try to give creationist a sheen of scientific legitimacy to the scientifically illiterate. Of course, López’s degree in atmospheric science is irrelevant to the scientific disciplines creationists most explicitly reject, such as biology, geology and astronomy, but choices are limited when you’re a young-earth creationist. Also, López is hardly a scientist – he might have published some articles in the 1970s, but he currently seems to be publishing exclusively in the Journal of Creation Research, Answers Magazine and similar young earth creationist venues. He is nevertheless a signatory to most of the creationist petitions and lists, such as the Discovery Institute’s bankrupt A Scientific Dissent From Darwinism and the CMI list of scientists alive today who accept the biblical account of creation.
Diagnosis: Yet another denialist who rejects science because of his commitment to religious extremism, but notably for being among the vanishingly few of those who have a real degree, albeit of course in a completely unrelated discipline. Not among the loudest or most flamboyant participants in the anti-science brigade, he still deserves an entry.
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September 30, 2017, 1:44 am
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Robert Oscar Lopez is a former Associate Professor of English and Classics at California State University, Northridge (a position he apparently abandoned to “save his soul”), “ex-gay” who at one point decided to give up his homosexual lifestyle (he claimed to be straight back in 2012, but has later admitted to being bisexual), and known as one of the most incoherently fuming anti-gay wingnuts in the US. Lopez is popular with anti-gay groups since he himself was raised by a lesbian couple (as detailed in his not particularly well-hinged essay “Growing up with two Moms”), and has later written a book (basically) about how his childhood made him a morally corrupt, stupid and evil person (not his exact words): Jephtha’s Daughters; Innocent Casualties in the War of Family ‘Equality’ (2015). He has also written articles for outlets such as Public Discourse, CrisisMagazine, BarbWire (profile here), and the badly misnamed American Thinker, attacking, as he puts it, those “cruel” (and “violent”) gay rights advocates who “foolishly took it upon themselves to carry on the tradition of perversion and excess by making their subculture ground zero for old patterns of social breakdown.” Gay people will never be happy, says Lopez; at least he’s gonna do his worst to ensure that they won’t.
Lopez submitted an amicus brief in Obergefell v. Hodges, where he basically argued that marriage equality is bad for gay people’s kids because RightWingWatch criticized Robert Oscar Lopez.
He has also written a series of gay erotica fiction under the title “Mean Gays”, which is not for the faint of heart. The first book in the series – at 600 pages – is Johnson Park: Five Gay Boys, One Street, Too Much Shade.
Lopez’s anti-gay commentary typically concerns the idea that allowing same-sex couples to raise children is a “crime against humanity” akin to slavery (almost every “scenario involving a same-sex couple with exclusive custody of small children is adult misconduct at best or a crime against humanity at worst,” according to Lopez, who comforts himself with the idea that gay parents and their supporters soon “will be dead” and their lives “long-forgotten” like the Berlin Wall), and that it puts children at risk of exploitation and sexual abuse (concerning a Rutgers student who committed suicide after his roommate secretly recorded video of him kissing another man, Lopez claimed that he probably killed himself because he was raped by gay pedophiles when he was a teenager). He has also called same-sex adoption “racist,” claimed that being gay is a “choice,” and accused LGBT activists of being “full-body totalitarians” as well as trying to persecute Christians.
According to Lopez, most gay people are child abusers who also try to brainwash kids into adopting their lifestyles, and he has defended anti-gay legislation in Russia and India as being necessary to quash the gay community, which is dominated by child predators – LGBT people are like“Pol Pot” and are “after your kids, plain and simple”. “The West’s gay community is sick, and I cannot blame countries outside the West for deciding to take extreme measures,” writes Lopez. Gay men abusing boys is also a recurring theme in his own gay erotica. He has, however, repeatedly emphasized that he is heterosexual now.
Lopez on child-rearing
Lopez, who thinks gay parents like Elton John are disgusting terrorists, has argued (in “Breeders: How Gay Men Destroyed the Left” – not that Lopez cares much about the Left) that gay men plan to use surrogate mothers to bear their children as “breeding slaves”, envisioning in the process a dystopian future where women are nothing more than prisoners to an elite overclass of gay men. “Gay men are men,” wrote Lopez, and such, they eschew the company of women: “Gestational surrogacy is a dream come true for woman-hating chauvinists who are bound to congregate under such an umbrella,” comments that really tell you far more about Lopez than about gay men in general.
Of course, Lopez’s opposition to gay marriage is really all about the children. As mentioned, he has repeatedly claimed that gay marriage is equivalent to slavery, and thus a violation of the 13th Amendment (“champions of dad-only families seem to clash openly with what’s stated in the 13th against slavery”), ostensibly because it “means that same-sex couples are entitled to children that they’ve acquired, inevitably, through financial exchange, and states have no way of prioritizing the natural pathway of human beings from conception into the custody of their fathers and mothers,” which would have been an argument against adoption in general, not gay marriage, if it were coherent enough to deserve the designation “argument” (in fact, since it needs the premise that children are like slaves – “any kind of arrangement where you have a legal contract upon another human being is banned,” says Lopez – it would be an argument against parenthoodin general). Similarly, in 2013, he criticized extensively the same-sex marriage law in Hawaii, which he said is uniquely offensive because it reminds Hawaii’s large Asian-American community of post-war human trafficking, because married same-sex couples “end up buying children overseas,” which is false and not really what the word “trafficking” means, but Lopez’s main concern isn’t accuracy or truth here. He also warns us that the US government will have to pay reparations in the future to kids raised by gay parents.
Lopez on the difficulty of being a fanatic anti-gay activist
Not only does Lopez lament gay rights; he has also written about the difficulty of being a vitriolic, hateful anti-gay bigot like himself (don’t forget thathe is the victim here). In December 2013, for instance, Lopez wrote about how Christmas can be a very difficult time, since he often feels like no one is understands or even wants to talk about his staunch opposition to LGBT equality: “At Christmastime, those of us who can see the truth about these gay issues face multiple conflicts,” lamented Lopez. “The LGBT lobby has been ruthless about intruding into all our relationships both personal and professional to indoctrinate people in its sexual ideology,” and now he is left spending Christmas with people who apparently don’t appreciate his rants about how gay people “destroy” themselves and society: “Why does it have to be so hard,” Lopez wonders, to talk about the “crimes” of the gay community during Christmas supper?
Though marriage equality proponents are most numerous on the Left, Lopez admits that there are a number on the Right, too; some of these are “clueless”, some are “scared” by the cruel marriage equality proponents; but most of them are “compromised conservatives, who are being blackmailed or threatened by pro-gay people close to them, but behind the scenes. This is a much larger group than you know.” Evidence? Well, if you care about evidence for such claims you probably wouldn’t be reading Lopez in the first place. The very fact that there exists alleged conservatives willing to not attack gay marriage at any opportunity should be evidence enough that gay marriage proponents must be in a conspiracy to blackmail them in the shadows.
Miscellaneous
Though he is mostly concerned with anti-gay issues, Lopez has also written about e.g. how “the modern American university has become a taxpayer-subsidized left-wing gulag” because things he disagrees with tend to be “gulag”.
After the 2016 election, Lopez predicted that “pro-Trump intellectuals” like himself “will go down in history as even cooler than the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae.”
Diagnosis: Incoherently hateful madman. And evidently he’s got quite a bit of influence on the Religious Right.
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October 1, 2017, 11:26 pm
One of the standard gambits of the anti-vaccine movement is the toxins gambit, the argument that vaccines are filled with dangerous toxins. Indeed, “toxins” is a standard rallying cry for many types of pseudoscientific thinking steeped in prescientific and quasi-religious “purity” thinking and low on chemical literacy. Now, the Vaccine Resistance Movement is of course as pseudoscientific as they come, and Joel Lord (we don’t have much other information about him) flaunts his lack of understanding of chemistry with abandon, for instance in his piece “VRM: The Problem With Vaccines Part 4 – Primary Aspects of Vaccine Toxicity Affecting The Body”, discussed in some detail here.
According to Lord, vaccines, “by their composite nature, inherently damage & disrupt the body’s delicate neurological network [i.e. pollutes your precious fluids]; hindering the complex functioning of the brain in maintaining all systems of operation […].” No, he doesn’t have any idea how any of this works, but that has never stopped cranks like Lord. “In practical terms, a synergy factor [unspecified, PIDOOMA] inevitably occurs when multiple ingredients such as heavy metals, live viruses/or strands of DNA-RNA ‘heat treated virus’, antibiotics, formaldehyde, detergent, diploid cells (aborted fetal tissue), mycoplasma, phenol dye & excipient buffers are combined together in a vial mixture.” No … that’s not how this work. That’s not how any of this works. At least it’s the standard PRATTs, such as formaldehyde (anyone citing formaldehyde contents in vaccines can be safely written off as practically illiterate) and detergents (probably this delusion). Lord even tries the idiotic “aborted fetal tissue” argument (no, there is no aborted fetal tissue in vaccines), Yet, the silliest point might be the RNA/DNA one, in which “RNA/DNA” is interestingly labeled “toxin”, if it isn’t Lord’s fear of “heat treated viruses”, which refers to the antigen without which certain vaccines wouldn’t work. And for the “synergistic” toxicity? The claim is certainly not based on science, and Lord conveniently forgot to include any evidence, citation or explanation in his article.
As Lord sees it, it all leads to autism, of course, and to explain how, he appears to cite legendarily delusional quack Andrew Moulden’s idea, pulled straight out of Andrew Moulden’s ass, that vaccines cause “microvascular strokes” and these “microvascular strokes” lead to autism. No, it makes no sense, and vaccines don’t lead to autism. But vaccines lead to all sort of other bad things, too, and Lord borrows liberally from cranks and conspiracy theorists like Russell Blaylock and David Ayoub. As for evidence, Lord doesn’t seem to grasp the concept. But he does know how to try to scare his intended audience (who is probably as chemically illiterate as he is.) Did you know that vaccines contain trace amounts of phenol, and that “Phenol is so deadly that is was used by the Nazis as a means of extermination during the World War II”? Of course, phenol is found in far larger concentrations in wine, tomatoes, chocolate, cheese, apples, and bananas and as a euthanization method, large amounts of phenol had to be injected directly into the heart. But to Lord these are details. Consistency, truth and the rather basic observation that the dose makes the poison are irrelevant when NAZIS. It was never about science or evidential support; Lord has already decided what he wants to believe, and is ready to defend it by any means possible: “Look into the eyes of a child who has been seriously damaged by these early childhood shots and you have to go no further,” says Lord; you don’t even have to establish that they were, in fact, damaged by vaccines, which they weren’t.
Instead of vaccines, Lord promotes what he calls a “vaccine-free natural approach”. Says Lord: “The Vaccine Industry is literally at war with natural immunity”; after all, people didn’t use all sort of artificial pharmaceutical products to protect themselves from infectious diseases in the past, did they? Of course, Lord thinks the terrors of past epidemics “were primarily the result of over-crowding, marked by insufficient hygiene, sanitation & nutrition. In this day & age, given proper access to clean drinking water, modern sanitation methods & a steady organic diet, there is simply no excuse.” This is … not correct.
But according to Lord “[t]he overwhelming body of scientific evidence points to one critical determining factor in the rise of mutagenic viruses & systemic erosion of natural immunity: multi-generational community-wide exposure to the Standard Immunization regime, in particular, those viral vaccines fixed on the schedule which combine multiple live attenuated viruses – ie. the MMR Vaccine.” Is it worth noting that he doesn’t actually citethat scientific evidence or even give an example? Of course, by “overwhelming body of scientific evidence”, Lord doesn’t mean overwhelming body of scientific evidence. Lord doesn’t trust science; only blogposts that tell him what he wants to hear: “The science of vaccines is imminently flawed. Vaccines no NOT confer immunity. All vaccines straightjacket the immune system, by stripping the body of its ability to harness vital trace minerals & antioxidants; the essential arsenal that any child requires to successfully overcome the symptoms of any incoming infection such as Measles.” So, unvaccinated people don’t get measles; only vaccinated people get measles. And before you respond, remember that to Lord evidence has nothing to do with this. Evidence is a conspiracy against the a priori speculation of natural health proponents. “And they claim we don’t know anything about science.” Why, yes, Lord, we do.
Diagnosis: Rabid tinfoil-hatter and fine example of the kind of religiously motivated speculation and renounciation of evidence and science that passes for “science” among the altmed anti-vaccine crowd. Probably not among the most influential antivaccine trolls, but his deliberate targeting of the chemically illiterate makes him dangerous nonetheless.
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William Edward Lori is a bigoted maniac, anti-gay activist, American prelate of the Catholic Church and former archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Lori is most famous for his repeated complaints that he and those who agree with him are persecuted because people criticize and disagree with him. He has also been an ardent champion of religious freedom, which he claims is under severe attack in the US, once again because people are free to criticize and disagree with him, fail to respect his authority and choose not to do what he says they should do when it comes to how to lead their lives. A good illustration is his widely distributed 2011 speech to the assembled United States bishops, where he warned against the dangers of treating religion “merely as a private matter between an individual and his or her God.” You see, for him to have religious freedom, the religious decrees he adheres to has to apply to you as well; otherwise he is oppressed. ![]() |
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Citing an “aggressive secularism” as a competing system of belief, Lori said that recent court decisions and proposed regulations treat religion “as a divisive and disruptive force better kept out of public life,” which the government continues to encroach on individual lives. Apparently, the Department of Justice’s refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act is an example of how Lori’s freedom of religion is violated; another one is government agencies setting restrictions on funding by taxpayer money that would make Lori and his gang ineligible (i.e. they’re not giving him money with no strings attached): For instance, Lori argued that gay rights measures are attempts to “force us out of foster care and adoption,” referring to the fact that some church-affiliated organizations did not receive taxpayer dollars for such services because they insisted on using taxpayer money while discriminating against gay and lesbian taxpayers. Then he lamented that public schools are denigrating Christianity by accepting homosexuality, which is clearly an illustration of how the government trampling on his religious freedom. It’s really different from making him fight lions in the Colosseum only by a matter of small degrees.
Oh, yes. According to Lori, there is “bloodless persecution” going on, and to illustrate his point, he cited the legalization of same-sex marriage: “We have only to think about the arbitrary redefinition of marriage and family or anti-family welfare and relief policies. As these intermediate structures either disappear or come under the direct control of the government, our society becomes less merciful and more impersonal, less apt to be a setting for human flourishing,” said Lori.
Diagnosis: Delusional persecution complexes like Lori’s are lunacy. Though he claims to speak for the church as a whole – and officially probably does – polls clearly show that the vast majority of US Catholics disagree with him; he is nevertheless a rather powerful and influential figure.
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StarShield Lortie is the owner of Blissful Spaces Housecleaning in Columbia, Tennessee. Lortie claims that she can rid houses, apartments, condos, or used cars of “residual energies left behind by the previous occupant.” We don’t really see the need for looking into more details about that, but apparently Lortie is a “student of Native American Shamanic and Toltec traditions for over 18 years,” so if your house, apartment or condo is located in a Stephen King novel, you might want to check out her services.
Diagnosis: You really don’t need to check out her services. A plastic dreamcatcher will do precisely the same trick (including the being slightly offensiveaspect). Probably harmless, though.
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October 8, 2017, 12:37 am
Anne Graham Lotz is the spawn of the odious Billy Graham, founder of AnGeL Ministries, author of numerous books (including Just Give Me Jesus), hardcore wingnut and bigot, and promoter of a society organized after principles disconcertingly similar to those of the Taliban. Lotz is frighteningly influential, and rotten to the core. As most of these evangelists, her focus is ostensibly on God’s mercy and love, but is really about pure fear, hatred and anger – fear of the end times, and anger at those evil secularists and humanists who are causing it. It always takes a bit of mental gymnastics to reconcile the evil of the people causing the end times, which is bad, and God causing it, which is presumably good, but the point is presumably to sell books and reassert her self-image as an authority on Christendom anointed by Jesus Christ himself.
So yes, as many fundies before her, Lotz is claiming that the endtimes are imminent – they will arrive “within my lifetime” (or sooner) – and claims that God’s judgment has already begun. As proof she cites recent wars, terrorism, natural disasters, economic problems, and social unrest, and this time it is totally different from all the previous examples of wars, terrorism, natural disasters, economic problems and social unrest. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, for instance, is according to Lotz just a “small snapshot” of what The Rapture is going to look like. In 2015 she even issued a “Mayday!” prayer alert predicting that the Rapture could come any day now: “Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge,” warned Lotz.
Not everything is bad, though. In 2014 Lotz saw a rainbow in DC, which she interpreted as a possible sign that God heard her prayers. Things are often about her.
And the 2016 terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino are “wake-up calls” from God to Christians who have turned away from Him and failed to prevent such things as advances in LGBT rights in America (cause it’s all about America – at least Lotz’s audience and book sales are), and to harbingers of impending Armageddon (Hurrican Katrina and economic recession are other signs). 9/11, too, was a warning: “God is warning us and he gives warning after warning. 9/11 was a shot across the bow. So God is moving slowly in his judgment because he doesn’t want to do it.” Or, put differently, though she isn’t a 9/11 truther in the traditional sense, neither does she blame radical Islamists: It was God. At least God caused it very reluctantly, so that makes it OK. Terrorist attacks are, according to Lotz, just God’s way of demonstrating his love for us.
“We’ve lost our common sense, we’ve lost our ability to think straight – pun intended,” says Lotz. But if only Americans buy her book repent, then “there will be peace on our streets” and God will begin to “reveal the plots of our enemies and terrorists before they are carried out” and “control the weather patterns [I think “It’s God” counts as climate change denialism] and protect us from these violent storms that are taking human life.” Any storm or blizzard or terrorist attack is just evidence that you didn’t repent hard enough. So it goes. It’s interesting that to send a message about gay marriage God would send terrorists who hate gays almost as much as Lotz does. But again: so it goes. “No nation in human history has ever done this,” she said of gay marriage, before blaming gay marriage for unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson: “the evil just comes pouring in, which is what we’re seeing in Baltimore and Ferguson and some of these other places, it’s anarchy.” She didn’t go into details; her own intuitions Jesus is all the detail she need to causally link her hatred for gay people to any other random thing she doesn’t like. However, she did say that Satan is behind the Supreme court decision on gay marriage.
Not the least of our sins is the theory of evolution: “In our schools, we teach evolution as fact and Creationism, if it’s mentioned, it’s sort of a fringe theory,” complains Lotz. According to Lotz, evolution is animal worship and therefore clearly one of the reasons God has turned His back on America (except for when he demonstrates his love for Americans by sending terrorists); apparently the theory of evolution is described in Romans 1:22–23: “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” This does not resemble the theory of evolution. But the message is clear: don’t trust your scientists and teachers, for they worship false idols; listen to Lotz instead, for she can personally assure you she really truly has a direct hotline to God (no, really).
Pornography is a problem, too. According to Lotz pornography is a bit like a locust army, which could be interpreted as a reflection of somewhat interesting Internet habits on her part.
Diagnosis: Ok, so it’s hard not to think of her as so ridiculous as to be a parody and therefore rather fun. But she is really not fun. She is a horrid and dangerous person.
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October 10, 2017, 12:57 am
David Lowe’s article “The Sun Is Not A Star” seems to be a spoof, just so you know. There is nothing funny about Sandy Lunoe. Lunoe is an antivaxxer who at least occasionally writes for the antivaccine conspiracy website VacTruth. Lunoe is an adherent of the familiar toxins gambit, mostly because neither Lunoe nor her readers understand basic chemistry. Her post “Excuse Me Waiter – There’s a Fly in My Vaccine Soup!” is discussed in some detail here. It’s … idiotic.
According to Lunoe “it is no joke that vaccines may contain residue from insect cells, yeast, mouse brains, tissue from pigs, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, calf lymph, hens’ eggs, chick embryos, monkey kidney and testicle cells, retinal cells, aborted human fetal cells [a classic, dishonest and ridiculous misrepresentation] and cancer cells! These are amongst the many substrates present in the huge cultivation soup tanks which are used in vaccine production. The implications may be horrendous.” Yes, she even tries theold “monkey virus in vaccines” claim, which remains as stupid as it ever was. And the list? Basically, it’s names antivaxxers give various proteins when they occur in vaccines (but not when they push supplements). Lunoe also tries to argue that there is DNA in the HPV vaccine, but is predictably nebulous about what that is supposed to mean or why it is harmful. (The answer seems to be that her convictions has led her to classify it as “unclean”).
She also has, uh, assertions. “Most vaccines are contaminated with a number of known and yet-to-be discovered viruses, bacteria, viral fragments, and DNA/RNA fragments. And, further, our science demonstrates that these contaminants could lead to a number of slowly-developing degenerative diseases, including degenerative diseases of the brain,” says Lunoe, and “researchers who worry that the stray DNA is being incorporated into the recipient’s DNA …” And from “worry that”, Lunoe concludes that “DNA particles from disease matter can get into our DNA and alter us and in my opinion these vaccines are turning us into genetically modified organisms” (my emphasis). You wouldn’t want to be turned into a genetically modified organism, would you? And the “researchers” and “science” she refers to? Ah, that would be Suzanne Humphries, Sherri Tenpenny and Mike Adams. She cites no researchers. Nor science.Lunoe has actually written a separate post, in much the same style, about the use of cancer cells in vaccines: “Vaccines Will be Made from Human Cancer Tumors.” The claim, from which Lunoe concludes that vaccines may lead to cancer, is, shall we say, misleading. To bolster her case, though, she points out that 60 years ago medical scientists were unable to detect certain potentially cancer causing factors, therefore vaccines are dangerous. Also, the FDA is in a conspiracy to hide the truth, because Lunoe can quote mine scientists at an FDA hearing to sound that way by judicious use of ellipses.Diagnosis: Crazy conspiracy theorist. We don’t know how influential she is, but the antivaxx movement is loud and are causing real harms, and real deaths, so she still deserves a healthy dose of disgust and rebuke. Shun her.
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October 12, 2017, 1:19 am
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As former president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and senior minister of the Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, Fred Luter is not primarily renowned for his tolerance, humanity and critical thinking skills. The SBC, of course, is massively homophobic and sexist (it subscribes to complementarianism), and Luter is certainly no exception. For instance, Luter agreed in 2013 with Rick Wiles that gay rights activists are partially to blame for North Korea’s threats to launch a nuclear strike against the US: “I would not be surprised that at the time when we are debating same-sex marriage, at a time when we are debating whether or not we should have gays leading the Boy Scout movement, I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that we have a mad man in Asia who is saying some of the things that he’s saying,” said Luter. Elaborating further, Luter critized American Christians for their apathy while “their nation is transformed into a socialist, homosexual, anti-God, anti-biblical morality cesspool,” fearing that “the moral decay has accelerated and worsened to such a degree that it is now impossible to halt the decline without a major catastrophe crippling the nation.” You see, when you disagree with Luter, God will come and beat you up: “The Bible is full of examples to what happens to a nation that goes into idolatry and witchcraft and sexual sin, it always ends in disaster, always. So why aren’t we telling the American people that if you allow the Supreme Court to rule that homosexuals can marry, you have just committed national suicide. Why isn’t anybody standing up?” Of course, slobbering lunatics like Luter and Wiles are standing up all the time, but when you’re insane and stupid it is apparently hard to comprehend that others are not and are therefore not backing your lunatic bigotry. He later backpedalled on the North Korea connection – not by apologizing, of course, but by claiming, despite recordings, that he never said it – though we don’t think that gets him off the loon charge. (Wiles, meanwhile, called Luter a coward for backpedaling).
Diagnosis: Hateful, evil bigot. Yes, he too.
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October 15, 2017, 12:51 am
Erwin W. Lutzer is the senior pastor of The Moody Church, in Chicago, Illinois (retiring in 2016), an influential figure on the religious right, and prolific author of fundamentalist, hateful, angry, flaky self-help books and political commentaries (One Minute After You Die: A Preview of Your Final Destination being perhaps the most famous one) and utterly insane contributions to the culture wars, including The Truth About Same-sex Marriage: 6 Things You Need To Know About What’s Really At Stake and The Da Vinci Deception, targeted at people who take the novel The Da Vinci Code a bit too seriously, which is presumably a tendency among people who are already willing to take Lutzer seriously.
But yes, there is, as you’d expect, lots of anti-gay stuff here. According to Lutzer, same-sex marriage cannot “coexist” with opposite-sex marriage because “same-sex marriage legalized breaks down the family in some very, very important ways,” will lead to a “tsunami” of anti-Christian persecution and to societal collapse just like drilling a hole will sink a boat: “I can imagine someone riding in a boat saying, ‘I have a constitution right to drill a hole through my side of the boat.’ The problem is we are all on the same boat.” Lutzer was one of the anti-gay celebrities featured in the radical anti-gay documentary The Truth That Transforms.
He has also said that a reason he opposes marriage equality is because of Chicago’s crime rate: “in the midst of a society that is so desperate and so high-crime ridden, do we really now need laid upon this the destruction of the family and the destruction of marriage?” Of course, legalizing gay marriage would, other things being equal, lead to more marriages and families, but presumably not the kind that Lutzer fancies. And to emphasize, that gay people claim to love each other is irrelevant: It isn’t real love, and Lutzer points out that even pedophiles believe that they “love” the children they abuse. Also, legalizing gay marriage may lead to homeschooling parents having their children being taken from them. (Lutzer didn’t even attempt to explicate the connection; his purpose, of course, is just scaremongering, and those receptive to Lutzer’s scaremongering won’t really notice that such details are missing.)
Lutzer does have a knack for seeing connections the rest of us miss because they aren’t there, however. Lutzer thinks “the far-left and jihadists are in cahoots” because both groups are bent on “destroying capitalism” and seeking the “destruction of Christianity.” To help us understand, he then explains that Obamacare is helping too many people gain health coverage, and as a result the “administration is encouraging Islamic doctors from all over the world to come to the United States.” And since Obamacare is pushing doctors out of the practice and abortion rights are slowing population growth, Lutzer said, the U.S. now has “huge immigrant populations from the Muslim countries.” Some of the steps in Lutzer’s reasoning may be challenged.
In light of all this, it is important to remember that Lutzer thinks it is the Da Vinci Code that is “the most serious assault against Christianity” of our time. Another important threat to the world is Oprah.
Diagnosis: Unhinged, deranged conspiracy theorist, Lutzer has nevertheless (or “accordingly”) managed to become one of the leading figures of the religious right. And yes, his books really read like some kind of fire-and-brimstone version of the stuff posted on whale.to.
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