• Lesrid@lemm.ee
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      4 days ago

      I don’t think the answer is as simple as memes would like to believe. Personally I suspect the issue, in part, has to do with the cost of healthcare in the US.

      Much like Republican voters have a need to pretend the GOP is actually helping them, I think holistic medicine rubes and anti-vaxxers have a need to discount the efficacy of unaffordable healthcare. They don’t need to worry about the price being a multiple of their income anymore, because they just now decided every doctor is a quack and a conman.

    • Monzcarro@feddit.uk
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      4 days ago

      So this is fun: actual snake oil (the type made by Chinese railway workers) probably had some medicinal benefits. However, white “doctors” co-opted this for their medicine shows; it contained no snake and was just mineral oil, so this is where the term has its origins.

      Maintenance Phase podcast did a great episode on medicine shows.

      • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        I believe cod liver oil does have some benefits too. My understanding is that historically one of the primary uses was to stave off rickets, a childhood disease. This actually worked because the oil is high in vitamin D, the thing these kids actually needed.