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Derek Barras
Two weeks ago, the White House posted an image with the headline Maha wins the list of 15 supposed victories by RFK juniors. HHS included Steak N Shake replacing seed oils with 100 beef tallow Skittles, removing titanium dioxide from their marquee product, and Nestle removing all petroleum based food dyes. The rest predominantly features corporate handshakes about removing synthetic dyes and artificial colors from candy. You know health food MAHA activists have been thrilled by this. Kennedy retweeted it a few days later. He tweeted out that MAHA is winning because Steak N Shake is offering Coca Cola with real cane sugar AKA Mexican Coke. Vani Hari, the food babe, concurred, going on News Nation to say that removing high fructose corn syrup from Coke is a bigger deal than you think. One problem though, Coke isn't removing it from their main product, but they are adding a new cane sugar option later in the fall. Hari has been faithfully championing all of these MAHA wins. She's sharing sentiments like Fruit Loops are getting a natural makeover and breaking Red Siren emoji. Serial titan Kellogg's has finally agreed to go artificial dye free. Fruit and vegetable extract colors are greater than neurotoxins and use the fucking and greater than sign. That was Will Cole, who likely doesn't realize the level of dyes in food do not reach a level of neurotoxicity. But then again, chemistry is not part of chiropractic school. Meanwhile, Kennedy's advisor Callie Means tweeted out that Kyle Diamantis is crushing it at the FDA because of another big MAHA win. What win? Ice cream will have more natural colorings. A few days later, Means tweeted out that the past six months have been the most significant reforms of our food system in modern history. He goes on to write that beef is vilified. It's pretty interesting because beef prices are going up. That's a problem. I don't know about the vilification of it. He also wrote that taking soda and candy off Snap benefits is one of the greatest public health accomplishments of our time. Color me unsurprised that a former Heritage foundation intern giggles when more stuff is taken away from the pores. The broader point here is that none of these foods are healthy, and removing inconsequential dyes will shift the goalposts zero feet when it comes to combating chronic disease, which is maha's explicit goal. Removing soda and candy from Snap isn't going to make recipients more healthy, no matter how many times Cali writes that the move is shifting tens of billions of dollars towards healthier food because none of these MAHA activists ever discuss what would actually help a thing happen, which is supply chains, infrastructure and food deserts. It's all performative nonsense, though it makes for a great cover from all the funding being cut and the all of the experts being fired from HHS at every turn. Every time Maha is criticized, the accolades ignore the content of the criticism and reply with things like what you you don't want healthier Americans? Complete deflection I imagine most people want to live in a healthier country, but this myopic focus on inconsequential ingredients is not going to make that happen. And the mostly untested, barely regulated products that people like Hari Cole and means monetize as alternatives to healthcare does more than clue us in to what their goals really is today. I want to focus on one aspect of this sleight of hand, and it involves petroleum. This completely natural, organic ingredient is one of the main demons they obsess over. And yet without a bit of self reflection, many of maha's main champions use it in the exact same manners as it's used in the creation of food dyes, and none of them have the humility to ever own up to it. Derek I'm Derek Barras and you're listening to a Conspirituality Bonus episode. Natural Snake Oil. Let's get into it. You've been listening to a Conspirituality Bonus Episode sample. To continue listening, please head over to patreon.com conspirituality where you can access all of our main feed episodes ad free, as well as four years of bonus content that we've been producing. You can also subscribe to our bonus episodes via Apple Subscriptions. As independent media creators, we really appreciate your support.