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Joe Rogan and Bret Weinstein Promote AIDS Denialism to an Audience of Millions (www.vice.com)

submitted 9 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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Weinstein repeated discredited theories to Rogan about HIV not being the cause of AIDS, alarming and infuriating public health experts.

Bret Weinstein, the evolutionary biology professor turned podcaster and ivermectin guy, repeated a series of discredited pseudo-theories about AIDS in a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Weinstein, a frequent guest, told Rogan that he found the theory that party drugs like poppers cause AIDS to be “surprisingly compelling.” (It is not.) Weinstein also told Rogan he came to these ideas by reading a recent book by anti-vaccine activist and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, creating a sort of unholy turducken of misinformation passed onto an audience of millions.

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[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Bret Weinstein is kind of a moron. I've been saying this for years.

Edit: I listened to Bret, even though I still think he's a moron the article completely misrepresents what he said. The article:

The specific idea that AIDS is spread through poppers—a party drug with a long medical and recreational history—first circulated as HIV began to spread in the 1980s.

My understanding from the snippet is that party drugs trigger AIDS, not spread it. Honestly this is a perfectly reasonable take, loading your body with drugs, poor sleep, poor diet can easily lead to a compromised immune system. I'm guessing the hypothesis is that HIV runs rampant in this state and destroys the immune system leading to AIDS more easily than if you weren't taking drugs. Not pushing your body, specially when you already have HIV, is generally a good idea.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

~~kind of~~ totally

[–] MataVatnik@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, his whole crusade against the mouse model is so fucking stupid. I worked drug discovery, my brother worked in clinical. There are so many reasons his takes are stupid. Bret likes to think he's smart like "I'm not like other ~~girls~~ scientists"

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Very much the kind of thing all crackpot conspiracy theorists think about themselves.

He can always publish a paper if he has some research that supports his theories or disproves others. But I'm guessing that hasn't happened and never will...