• Sheridan@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    My parents legitimately believe ivermectin is a cure all and are stockpiling it. They take it for just about anything. They also believe plenty of other wacky things like viruses don’t exist and cancer is just a fungal infection.

    My dad last year nearly lost his foot after it got infected. They let it fester for months and only treated it with like essential oils or some other pseudoscience. He eventually had to go to the emergency room and stay at the hospital and receive antibiotics. 🙄

    • 4grams@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      My dad literally will not talk to me because I refused to say that ivermectin is a miracle cure. He’s angry at me for some study or article that he thinks I am obsessed with (I honestly have no idea what he’s talking about), and insists I retract my belief in it or we can’t have a relationship. Since I haven’t the first clue what he’s even on about, he made his choice…

      Can’t wait for the next round of crackpot email forwards. Hopefully he sticks to his word and won’t contact me anymore.

      Edit - the last time I spoke with him was at my step mom’s funeral, where she had just died of cancer, which they treated with….I’ll give you one guess.

      We aren’t dealing with rational people.

      • MimicJar@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        refused to say that ivermectin is a miracle cure

        What sucks the most is that ivermectin is a miracle cure! It just isn’t helpful again COVID or Hantavirus. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded (in part) for discovering ivermectin.

        It’s what frustrates me the most about discussion with people like this. They’re willing to take a random drug, a drug that is fully backed by the medical community, but they’re not willing to take the drug actually recommended by the medical community.

      • entwine@programming.dev
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        3 hours ago

        I have a similar experience with my own father after he started using TikTok and Instagram, though it’s not about ivermectin (spoiler: he thinks I’m a “commie”). I think old people are just not equipped to survive on the internet. It’s like they lack the instincts to known when they’re being scammed.

        It gives me a tiny bit of hope for the future, because even though gen alpha aren’t exactly the brightest generation so far, they’re at least all fully attuned to the internet and (hopefully) better equipped to navigate its many perils.

        • quinacridone@mander.xyz
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          32 minutes ago

          I think old people are just not equipped to survive on the internet

          I think its people in general

          During lock down when people were at home and having to amuse themselves some made bread and did arts and crafts, whilst others ended up jumping off a cliff into conspiracy theories and right wing bollocks

          One guy I know of suggested ivermectin and dog dewormers to treat my bf’s cancer because ‘cancer is caused by parasites… there’s plenty of information on the internet… you can do your own research…etc etc’

          I used to think the average person was mostly decent and sensible, but not anymore

      • Confused_Emus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        5 hours ago

        I guess I can somewhat understand his obstinance towards you. If he admits he’s wrong, he also has to admit he had a hand in killing his wife through willful ignorance.

    • BigFig@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      And immediately saw the error in his ways? Absolutely not. These people get sick to the point of dying. Go to the emergency room and get healed through real medicine and the efforts of a dozen nurses and a doctor or two. Then they leave and brag to their friends and family “see told you I’d be fine” and never give credit to the REAL medicine that fixed the issue.

      • binarytobis@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        Many of my relatives are diehard MAGA. So, when Trump said not to wear masks or quarantine, my aunt and her husband and son went out of their way to basically spend every second they could at superspreader events. They were warned it was dangerous, not restricted in any way, but still felt the need to act out to validate political feelings.

        Naturally, they all caught COVID in the early days. My uncle and cousin both passed, leaving my aunt as a devastated shell of a woman. When we would see each other at family dinners she would usually just sit with a far-off, forlorn look. Every once in a while she would tune in for a bit to spout some pro-Trump bullshit. I wanted to scream “He helped to kill your family!”

        I decided to just stop spending time with these people before I said something I would regret.

        • CannonFodder@lemmy.world
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          17 minutes ago

          But would you really regret screaming ‘he helped to kill your family’? I think it would be awesome … unless there’s a significant inheritance at stake.

    • village604@adultswim.fan
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      6 hours ago

      I guess I’m glad my father is only “ancient aliens” crazy after his TBI made him a trump supporter.

      • socsa@piefed.social
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        3 hours ago

        I have an uncle who is basically a leftist boomer, but who is into that Art Bell kind of stuff. More recently he’s been getting into the “big pharma is keeping us sick” stuff and it’s really frustrating to see.

    • daannii@lemmy.world
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      7 hours ago

      Well at least they don’t have worm parasites.

      It does work well for those things.