podcast friday

[sabotabby]

I am once again behind on everything (not just podcasts) so have the latest Maintenance Phase, "Seed Oils." I mostly missed the right-wing hysteria over seed oils, but Aubrey and Michael do a good job explaining it for normies who have real problems.

It's also a notable episode because it has a great quote from Andrew Tate of all people: "I can tell you losers have never had real enemies. You're afraid of sunflowers." I wish this wasn't an Andrew Tate quote because "I can tell you've never had a real enemy" is a phrase I would like to incorporate into my regular vocabulary.

There's something vaguely occult horror about one of the big driving engines of politics being people who are afraid to die, and think that if they just eat the right thing, death will never come for them. All the time setting up a situation in which people can't be vaccinated against deadly and preventable diseases. All these people obsessing over sunflowers while their kids are dying of measles, they repeatedly infect themselves with covid, and they've given up on FDA measures to control the amount of sawdust in their bread.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Word

[sabotabby]

Yup.

[blogcutter]

Agreed. I think many younger people are unaware of all the serious diseases that used to befall people before we had vaccines against them: smallpox, diphtheria, polio, TB, measles, mumps ... it was comparatively rare to actually die of those last two, but almost every school kid got them in my childhood, and most of us were quite ill with them too and/or suffered lifelong aftereffects. And of course now there's a whole new slate of diseases to worry about!

[sabotabby]

Not even young people—it's hitting middle aged, and critically, parents. I'm old enough to remember how miserable chickenpox was, but anyone a decade younger than me (still old enough to have school-aged children!) wouldn't.

[contrarywise]

I really enjoyed that episode, but I enjoy pretty much every episode of Maintenance Phase.

I remember that the Science Vs podcast did an episode about seed oils (<-- transcript) back in October, 2023. Science Vs comes across as more pop-science than serious, but they include voluminous citations in their show notes and interview subject matter experts in between the goofiness and bad puns.

[sabotabby]

Oh, that sounds rad!

Yeah, I will listen to Maintenance Phase even if I'm not into the topic (in fact, I'm usually not interested in the topic) just because Aubrey and Michael's banter and stats obsession are so good.

[contrarywise]

I am often interested in the topic, but they're also just fun together, and Aubrey's laugh gets me every time.

[sabotabby]

Right? They both have two of the best podcasting voices I've ever heard and they're so funny.

[sovay]

All these people obsessing over sunflowers while their kids are dying of measles, they repeatedly infect themselves with covid, and they've given up on FDA measures to control the amount of sawdust in their bread.

I had also missed the sunflowers, but the everything else has me counting down to the moment where all their multi-million physical gamification runs out and they die in terror.

[sabotabby]

YEP.

[greylock]

Seed oils.... ?

There's a hysteria?
I guess natural oil from the ground for deep frying could help solve our... problem.

[sabotabby]

The woo-woo people are convinced seed oils are a huge problem, because they've never had real problems in their lives, and want RFK to force McDonald's to go back to frying things in beef tallow or something.

[greylock]

Didn't they just rave about black seed oil as a cure-all?

(There was something else I am thinking of... some kind of thing you were never supposed to imbibe, but I forget what).

I do wonder if McDonald's with beef tallow did taste better or not?
I always assume it probably did.
I'm not sure how I might check, and frankly, I can't bring myself to eat it more tan once or twice a decade.
It's not even cheap or fast anymore.

[sabotabby]

I think it did taste better but I wouldn't know 'cause I couldn't eat it.

[greylock]

So... WHY?

You're only missing being stopped from taste.
I have zero interest in "taste".

I have a memory of dipping my (beef tallow) chips in a "VANILLA MILKSHAKE".

[sabotabby]

That's nasty. But you do you.

So these people are truly convinced that if they eat the neurotic diet, death will never find them. They are wrong. I'm not vegan for health reasons; I'm vegan because it's less destructive on the environment, a choice that is easy for me because I live in the biggest city in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. I don't believe it will either lengthen or shorten my life, and it's a personal ethical choice that I don't care to impose on other people.

[grimjim]

There's probably a minor lift from not consuming the ultraprocessed American diet, on top of any placebo effect, but consequent misery from extreme orthorexic diet would also account for eventual nonadherence. All very predictable. The practice being neurotic can imply that it's a sublimation for other anxieties, engaging in maximal control in order to compensate for feelings of lack of control.

[sabotabby]

ORTHOREXIC that was the word I was looking for.

[greylock]

It is, if I recall, a tasty combo.
Admittedly you have to buy McDonalds. And it assumes my tastebuds are unchanged, the inputs are the same, and you can afford to splash out on luxuries.

I don't believe it will either lengthen or shorten my life, and it's a personal ethical choice that I don't care to impose on other people.

I don't care enough to try to be vegan, but I have a half decent rep of vegetarian meals (I imagine many are vegan too), and when I really get into a vibe I don't miss meat at all.

People who demand meat with every meal are... questionable.

[ioplokon]

I feel like living in California really gave me a head start on understanding all of RFK's nonsense.

Fwiw, I think at least some of the rotating panic around Unhealthy Fats is that people really want One Fat to actually be totally healthy and good for you in all quantities because it is where the good flavours live.

[sabotabby]

Oh yeah, good point.

I do think my life would be better with an air fryer though.

[ioplokon]

I just cannot believe air fried will taste as nice? Also for me, I think most of my fat intake is dairy, so minimal health benefit.

[greylock]

They are hit and miss, I find (by style,. make and recipe), but I can't imagine not having one in my life.'

But I find with regular use they don't last (admittedly, I buy the cheap ones on sale), but I find I rarely use a frypan or my oven.

[numb3r_5ev3n]

I've had people tell me that cancer literally wasn't a thing until people started eating processed food and getting vaccines, and think that with the right essential oils and turmeric they could live to be 120+ or more.

I want to blame the internet, but these people were this gullible before the internet. And there are plenty of people on the internet who are not.

[sabotabby]

Ah, the "cancer is caused by inflammation and we can avoid it by eating this incredibly neurotic diet" crowd.