Health zealotry is 100% the modern religious revivalism, I feel like. It’s even the same drum beats of purity and stuff.
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sexual purity culture is also coming back via tumblr kids, from a non-religious perspective. it’s wild to see.
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I’m familiar with the “no nut” angle on sexual purity stuff from unfamiliar with it in The Youth. I’d be curious to learn more if you have any places that summarize it?
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That, and what @anomalily described in her friend, matches what I’m seeing in the acquaintance who’s becoming extreme. Slightly dfferent pathways (vegan and healthism but also a more feminine flavour of “conscious parenting” and the sort of parenting ideas that make you a martyr, covid and vaccine denial instead but still cutting self off from more mainstream people). Purity and ableism very trendy right now.
(Wait unsure if theyve ever not been trendy, just which flavour is trendy right now…)
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I wish I could find a good think piece on it because it is hard to explain. I will try to find. Mostly it’s the equating of pretty normal things (age gaps in adult relationships, masturbation by yourself, FWB) with pretty terrible things - grooming, SA, inc*st etc.
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Wtf did i just read. I can’t even find a good emoji for my face right now
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That sums up my reaction well.
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I’m just over here GUFAWWWWWING at the ace ppl think about sex all the time via not thinking about sex all the time comment.
Obviously a GREAT DEAL of this is sus a f.
But also I genuinely forget allosexual ppl are a thing on the reg.
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BUT THE SEX, ORO 
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As a grey ace married to an allo I have to remind myself to think about or consider sex. The only reason I think of sex as much as I do right now is it’s required to make a baby cheaply. Groan.
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THANK YOU for saying this! This is very fascinating to me, like how normal people exist in a world with hate groups trying to form identity and the symbols they use. I shuddered scrolling through here and seeing that butterflies are associated with a fringe identity hate group now?. I mean, god help me, it’s a freaking bug! ALSO weirdly, coincidentally, right now butterflies are having a big resurgence in pop culture, I think due to aughts nostalgia. Mariah Carey was the OG butterfly queen and now in pop Dua Lipa and Rosalia are heavily using the butterfly iconography in their art. How many eighteen year olds go get a little butterfly tattoo on their ankle on the birthday just because it’s freaking cute and fun? I don’t see how something SO popular can be coopted and I am going to throw a fit if I can’t like butterflies. Haven’t been following along with the pod, but definitely going to listen to this ep.
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WORD
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Hahahahaha, that’s like, the classic: If I am this freaked out EVERYONE MUST BE THIS FREAKED OUT.
I feel like this is so prevalent around covid-stuff, not just with fringe personal health people but also with people who come at it from a more moralizing or politicized public health place, which like…IDK, I just don’t buy it. In my entire life as a disabled person I literally never heard any non-disabled people concerned about disabled/ill people in a real way, almost ever. Or make any attempt to help those communities in a selfless way UNTIL a pandemic happened that could also affect them too and suddenly it’s all “I’m doing it for ill/disabled people!” it’s totes just a coincidence that it also protects me and makes me feel better. 
Like, don’t act like you’re a martyr for wearing a mask or distancing or whatever, lol, you’re just scared! It’s fine! 
This guy is more like the flavor of: This is the natural progression of the future of health! It’s not a scary health crisis at all, in fact, all of this should happen anyway and I am simply ahead of the curve. Preventative healthcare is so important, after all! The first people who said smoking was bad were maligned, too.
I love the metabolic damage stuff. I’ve heard that a lot in vegan/vegetarian groups. I feel like there’s more “cancer proofing” type talk among non-meat eaters too? The China Study is always citied for that kind of stuff. I feel like there’s also a dovetail into the ultra low calorie/fasting world for a lot of these weird diet religions. The raw vegan scene is wild too, lots of hot nonsense, or, room temperature nonsense…as it were.
Yeah I think there is definitely a religious bent to this extreme health and political stuff. I see that on both sides of the extremist spectrum, left and right. I feel like there is a deep, very real need, that people are trying to fill. Because like, most humans throughout history have struggled with mortality and the difficulty of life and wanting something…bigger that could kind of explain things and make it easier to cope. If you take religion off the list of possible frameworks (because all religious people = stupid idiots) you’re left with secular philosophies (I think this has to do with the massive pop-culture resurgence of stoicism as well as secular-ish witchy stuff/yoga/meditation, etc), political ideologies, and lifestyle concepts (minimalism, off-grid homesteading, mindfulness, apps to track everything within an inch of its life, etc).
The result is like, weirdly adolescent? I feel like it’s a very 13 year old thing to be like ''I’M PALEO AND IT’S NOT JUST A DIET IT’S WHO I AM AND IT WILL SAVE THE WORLD", except now we have full grown adults adopting these relatively superficial ideologies as like, an overnight religion. I feel like this also ties into the listing of self as identity shorthands- instead of a well-rounded and unique introduction. It’s fascinating and I cannot look away.
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The other thing that is so absurd, is how some of these symbols start as literal jokes on troll sites. Like the whole 
thing being a secret sign for white supremacy, IIRC that was a joke on like, 4chan or something? I could be confusing it with something else, but I think that’s right. And then people started doing it for real and… here we are.
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I may have misinterpreted, but I think it was “butterfly with neo nazi symbol on the wing” rather than just the butterfly being a problem?
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TY for clarifying, I am not in a headspace to give the EP a listen anytime immediately, I’m desperately hoping butterflies are safe for now. Maybe a cautionary tale to act now and not let the fringe coopt a neutral part of broader culture
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Even if it was just butterfly’s, I feel like they’re not co-opted so entirely that it rules out access for all circumstances. They serve as a dog whistle associated with other signs. Like if a whole police department is suddenly doing 90s butterfly hands in a group photo? Very suspicious. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to assume the old lady next to me with butterfly lawn statues is suddenly a hard core white supremest.
So even if it’s icky, I don’t think hardly any of this stuff enters cultural conscious to the degree it rules out all access. I’m not going to stop using the “okay” symbol while scuba diving you know? (Okay I don’t dive anymore but if I did 
)
I hope that makes sense. The fringe internet doesn’t run the world, contrary to how it feels sometimes.
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Totally agree!
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A good reminder lol. We will fight for the butterfly!!!
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This feels relevant to this podcast, a lot.
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