A live example[^1] why I like the #Lysenkoism reference[^2] to #MAGA even more:
Kennedy recently told Fox News that by letting the highly pathogenic bird flu spread through flocks, farmers could “identify the birds, and preserve the birds, that are immune to it.”
What RFK says is an obvious reference to the pseudo-scientific social darwinism[^3], an idea that is very popular among rich MAGA supporters because it explains why they are rich. What we see here is an unintentionally ironic transposition of the social darwinism from the society onto other aspects of civilisation, in this case food industry.
Why ironic? Because there’s nothing further from the biological evolution than the mass poultry farms, which are one of the primary targets - and causes - of zoonotic diseases such as the bird flu. If RFK actually understood what he’s talking about, he would simply call for letting all the millions of birds free so that they can combat the disease on their own. But then the problem of bird flu would solve itself simply because one of its primary causes is overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions in the arms.
What we’re now seeing in statements like RFK is a really bizarre mix of distorted ideas from actual science, happily mixed and filtered through arbitrary religious beliefs. That is literally what Lysenkoism was all about, except Marxism-Leninism took over the role of religion there.
[^2]: https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/make-america-healthy-again-the-new-lysenkoism/
