Since fluoride has entered the chat today, I figured I’d repost this piece I wrote about the many 1950s and 60s American fascists who were on the cutting edge of the anti-fluoride movement. open.substack.com/pub/sethcotl... - ThreadSky

sethcotlar.bsky.social • 186 days ago

Since fluoride has entered the chat today, I figured I’d repost this piece I wrote about the many 1950s and 60s American fascists who were on the cutting edge of the anti-fluoride movement. https://open.substack.com/pub/sethcotlar/p/those-funny-fluoride-fighters-were?r=alsf&utm_medium=ios

Comments

slyprofessor.bsky.social•186 days ago

📌

gjkoos.bsky.social•186 days ago

I'm old enough to have lived a childhood without fluoride, experienced tooth decay, and have ongoing dental issues. There are real life consequences to all of this.

notyournegro.bsky.social•186 days ago

Thank you for sharing this. I suspected that this was some sort of nod to other fascists.

The Kennedy’s are a powerful family. I need them to take care of him for the rest of us.

sdphilliesfan.bsky.social•186 days ago

if worm brain does not want fluoridation, he can get water without, but the rest of us dont want cavities

edwinmix.bsky.social•186 days ago

jesseneilson.bsky.social•186 days ago

Interesting. How did Portland end up with no fluoride? Do you know the history and context? We had a fight about this in 2013 and failed to add fluoride to our water source.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

I haven't looked into that, no. My general sense is that it's a combination of anti-government folks on the left and the right that explains the Portland situation.

jesseneilson.bsky.social•186 days ago

I know there was a big like, “keep our water source natural” thing. Not sure if that was coming from environmentalists or something else, but felt left-ish, and I had progressive friends who held that view, somewhat to my surprise.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

The guy I'm writing about--a christian nationalist/white supremacist/Holocaust denier who became chair of the OR GOP in 1978--was also heavily into alternative medicine and health food. He sold tons of Spirulina to Portland hippies in the 1980s. https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/sending-spit-to-ms-safron

lunaticsandwich.bsky.social•186 days ago

Coming soon to Red States: blaming cavities on immigrants. I'm sure they'll find the "evidence" that brown skinned people are invading their mouths.

astill73.bsky.social•186 days ago

📌

somepoliticaldude.bsky.social•186 days ago

This blew my mind because I’ve always fact checked and/mocked their conspiracy theories based on their merit and never considered the whole point of them was to get people not to trust the gov, media or science.

donwood.bsky.social•184 days ago

I'll read this, but if I read any preversions in there you're gonna have to answer to the Coca Cola Company of America.

austenlied.bsky.social•186 days ago

There is so little fluoride added that it’s beneficial and not harmful. It’s also the state mineral of Illinois. And is a lovely gemstone that comes in shades of purple and green. It doesn’t taste like anything if you like it though.
Geology degree (associate): I licked many rocks for that degree

zabethsue.bsky.social•186 days ago

Hilarious. My mother made sure we took pink fluoride pills as soon as they became available. I have some dental problems, but cavities aren't one of them.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

Anti-fluoridation is a classic far right, anti-democratic political movement.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

Anti-fluoridation was a political movement, not an unfortunate psychological tic manifested by a handful of uniquely maladjusted individuals. Several of that movement’s most active leaders were Jew-hating, white Christian Nationalist fascists who’d been tried for sedition in 1944.

username-taken.com•186 days ago

Good of a Kennedy Black Sheep to pick out the sword for all that they represent which is nothing at all. They don't represent anything but wasted time and resources that we could be dedicating to getting the ship on course. This is tantamount to sedition when climate change is on the line

lfillingham.bsky.social•186 days ago

Yes. The heart of it was collective action for the good of all; why it became a target, as well as the bodily purity that connects to purity of blood.
When these movements can create fear about bodies, even your own, a kind of political body horror, it means they spread with greater strength.

lfillingham.bsky.social•186 days ago

Exactly why current versions focus on bathrooms so much.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

The playbook remains largely the same.

sethcotlar.bsky.social•186 days ago

One of the research finds I'm most proud of is that I think I've found the guy who was most responsible for getting the "fluoride is a Communist mind control weapon" meme inserted into American political discourse. He was a fascist named Ken Goff, and he totally made it up. https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3l47wep3qtc2h

kenfinch.bsky.social•186 days ago

Just made it up? Who’d have thunk it? 🙄

arorzoff.bsky.social•186 days ago

It’s always the goddamn Holocaust deniers, isn’t it.

pinknoiz.bsky.social•186 days ago

📌

avder.bsky.social•186 days ago

🍏 these fuckers are using the same weapons against fluoride that they’re using against climate change and trans women.

Just flood the area with enough bullshit to make people think that the bullshit is a valid viewpoint when it’s not.

jandrewsinclair.bsky.social•186 days ago

Nice work.

maryangelaperna.bsky.social•186 days ago

Great work, as always. This reminded of the John Birchers. Found this @motherjones.com piece “The John Birch Society peddled the fluoride-as-pinko-plot idea for many years.”—> https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/05/conspiracy-watch-fluoride-pinko-plot/

drawerknob.bsky.social•185 days ago

this. also see this weird overlap with psychedelic communities that kind of lean on their drug experiences as evidence that all things are relative / permitted and nothing is true.

texanbybirth.bsky.social•185 days ago

They made a movie about this. Dr. Strangelove. It didn’t work out too well on the movie either.

amylipson.bsky.social•186 days ago

History repeating itself.

cinefilmag.bsky.social•186 days ago

I remember watching this for the first time with my dad and laughing at this. The tone in his voice saying that people who sincerely believed this stuff are ridiculous, but dangerous stuck with me.

welcome2absurdia.bsky.social•186 days ago

Ngl, the use of the term “liquidation” by Dr. Bronner is disturbing.

welcome2absurdia.bsky.social•186 days ago

Ah adore alliteration!

wilhelmusjanus.bsky.social•31 days ago

I once wondered why on earth FoxNews was so predominantly playing in dental waiting rooms.

https://bsky.app/profile/wilhelmusjanus.bsky.social/post/3limklvqcm224

bigworker.bsky.social•185 days ago

Sad that a dumb idea that's been a punchline for a lifetime is now gaining traction among a big chunk of people who are just embracing a conspiratorial worldview across the board

other98.bsky.social•186 days ago

Wow this blew my mind!

petedavidsonny.bsky.social•186 days ago

Precious fluid

snoopybanana.bsky.social•186 days ago

📌

thepplswater.bsky.social•186 days ago

Imagine being worried about fluoride in water but not lead in water.

Lead is a potent, cumulative neurotoxin at even low levels.

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