Dive deep into stupidity: meet the growing group that rejects the germ theory

Listen, sheep: COVID-19 doesn’t exist. Viruses do not cause disease and they are not contagious. Those doctors and health experts who say otherwise don’t know what they are talking about; the real experts are on Facebook. And they’re saying it loud and clear: The pandemic is caused by your own deplorable lifestyle choices, like eating meat or pasta. Any “COVID” symptoms you might be experiencing are actually the result of toxic lifestyle exposures – and you have only yourself to blame.

As utterly silly and obnoxious as all of the above is, this is not an exaggeration of the messages being disseminated by a growing group of Darwin Prize finalists on the internet, i.e., Germ Theory Deniers. Yes, you read that right: Germ Theory Deniers, also known as people who don’t believe that pathogenic viruses and bacteria can cause disease.

As an extension of their rejection of basic scientific and clinical data collected over the centuries, they deny the existence of the devastating pandemic that has sickened more than 200 million people worldwide, killing more than 4 million.

Denial of the germ theory is nothing new. It goes back to the origin of the theory of germs itself, often to the contemporaries of Louis Pasteur named Claude Bernard and Antoine Béchamp. Both proposed hypotheses opposed to Pasteur’s theory of persistent germs. Bernard proposed the concept of internal environment, suggesting that the body’s internal environment — or ground– maintains its balance. The state of the ground, rather than the presence of pathogens, ultimately dictates whether the disease will develop (which isn’t an entirely crazy idea, given what we now know about the microbiome and the immunocompromised). Meanwhile, Béchamp, considered a bitter eccentric and rival to Pasteur, suggested that pathogenic bacteria are produced by human tissues in response to a detrimental change in the terrain. Thus, bacteria do not cause disease; they are just a self-created symptom of it, which is clearly incorrect.

The scientific and medical communities abandoned these ideas in light of Pasteur’s findings and, later, Robert Koch’s fundamental concepts for microbial pathogenesis, Koch’s postulates. But they seem to have endured in a marginal community, with their interpretations and explanations shifting and transforming over time. And with the devastating global pandemic, deniers seem to be enjoying some kind of rebirth.

A germ theory denier emailed me and pointed me to a Facebook group called “Terrain Model Refutes Germ Theory” where a particular strain of germ theory denial is in full swing. A group administrator noted in April that the group had reached 15,000 members, up from just 147 members in April 2020. Now, a few months later, the tally is 18,400.

Toxic ignorance

While the depths of human stupidity exhibited on the internet rival those of the Mariana Trench, the daring ignorance displayed in this group is truly astounding. In the group’s current view of Germ Theory Denial, bacteria are just scavengers and a symptom of disease. Viruses are considered cellular debris and cannot cause disease or spread from person to person.

According to the delusions of the members of the group, there is only one disease: toxemia. This disease is caused by toxic exposures resulting from a dirty and unnatural lifestyle, which damages your land. All of the symptoms of the disease are simply a sign that your body is trying to “detoxify” itself. If your body is not able to detoxify itself, the disease will progress through seven levels, the last being cancer. The type of symptom you are experiencing can help identify the type of toxic exposure you have had. If you remove the toxic component from your diet or environment, you will recover, but if you hit the seventh level, it can be difficult to come back.

The group notes that a sick person has no one else to blame for their illness. “Blaming the disease on viruses or bacteria is an easy fix,” read one article in the group’s “guide” section. “It is not a good deal to tell a client that they have caused their own misery, so the medical profession has blamed the suffering on everything except the individual’s failure in the game of life.”

So how do you avoid toxic exposures and setbacks in life? Basically you just eat a lot of fruit and cut out anything “unsuitable for humans”. This includes meat, dairy products, eggs, bread, pasta, soybean, nut and seed oils, potatoes, garlic, onions, grains, salt, fermented foods. , coffee, supplements, alcohol, tobacco and any other intoxicating substance. Oh, and all the evidence-based drugs, medical treatments, and vaccines, of course.

If you are not convinced by the group’s ideas and point the finger at medical experts who say crazy things like “viruses can make you sick” and “protein is necessary for a healthy diet“You are embarrassingly wrong. According to the group, all doctors are simply brainwashed puppets, controlled by a profit-driven pharmaceutical and medical research community determined to convince everyone that they must. buy magic pills to stay healthy. “The germ theory is nothing but a huge profit driver for the disease industry,” germ theory denier Nora Lenz said in a video hosted on the site. The band members know better, of course, because, you know, they’ve read a lot on the internet, like many!

“Facts-inated”

“There are people with masters [sic] degrees that have fallen for this pandemic masquerade, ”said a member of the group. “And there are high school dropouts who can see through all the deception in the media. That’s why being smart isn’t just measured by being college educated. “

Indeed, the denier who led me to this Facebook group, Robert Yaklin, did so to underline my ignorance. “I couldn’t resist contacting you when I read that you were interested in infectious diseases,” Yaklin wrote, apparently referring to the fact that I have a doctorate in bacterial pathogenesis. “While I’m sure you believe such a thing exists because you have been brainwashed into believing in the germ theory, it is no more proven than the flat earth theory. on the terrain model. There is a lot to read on the “Terrain Model Refutes Germ Theory” Facebook group for months or even years or more. Don’t feel bad just because so much that you believed will be proven wrong. “(If only my thesis supervisor had known this Facebook group!)

In subsequent email exchanges, Yaklin compared belief in pathogenic bacteria to belief in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. “The idea of ​​viruses causing anything is even more far-fetched,” he wrote.

As to the explanation for the current pandemic caused by a contagious coronavirus, Yalkin said it is due to “a group of people with similar diets and habits [who] are likely to absorb a similar amount of toxins and therefore their body is likely to experience similar detox symptoms at around the same time. “

And when it comes to following public health measures to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, Yalkin simply said, “There are no public health experts who recommend wearing a mask or getting vaccinated. There may be people who call themselves experts in public health, but they are virtually ignorant of real health, having been trained and indoctrinated in the cult of disease and drugs. “

The nonsense he spat came of course from the pages of the Facebook group. Based on recent activities, two of the group’s most active directors are Lauren Whiteman, who said she took over the group in April 2020, and Lauren Takacs.

Disinformation and moderation

Whiteman appeared in the video with Lenz and said she studied hygiene theory for five years. She claimed that her natural diet cured all of her health problems and cured the blindness, deafness and seizures in the dogs she fed. This apparently gave him the power to provide medical advice, telling group members that vaccines are “extremely dangerous and harmful to health.” In an exchange, she claimed that a person diagnosed with COVID-19 had low blood oxygen levels due to poor lifestyle choices. “The cause of the lack of oxygen is poor health habits,” she said. “Bad food coming in, taking drugs, not living in accordance with your physiology.” “

Whiteman did not respond to a request for an interview from Ars.

According to his public Facebook posts, Takacs graduated from high school in 2016 and has no medical or medical training. However, that didn’t stop her from recommending to a group member that she no longer needed health insurance, just because she was following the land model’s lifestyle. In another article, Takacs suggests that a mother of a 3-year-old with cancer should stop bringing her son to the hospital for treatment, which she called “poisonings.” Instead, she recommended feeding toddlers fruits and vegetables as a treat.

Takacs did not respond to a request for an interview from Ars.

Ars also reached out to Facebook to find out how all of the group’s misguided and false health information fits into the company’s moderation policies. The social media giant is reportedly actively monitoring the site, reviewing posts and removing infringing material. Basically, if a group breaks the rules multiple times, Facebook will delete them for good.

“We are taking strong action against content that violates our COVID-19 and vaccine policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told Ars in a statement. “We continue to monitor disinformation on our platforms and will continue to enforce against any account or group that breaks our rules. “