• it’s increasingly clear that the Republican consensus on basically all science is now total nihilism and a level of radical individualism that would make libertarians blush. previously, this was really only reserved for burning fossil fuels for them—but now it doesn’t seem impossible some Republicans will start saying shit like germ theory is a hoax because of how far gone the whole premise is. it’d be funny if it didn’t have very real, horrifying health consequences for everyone.

    • Oh, I’ve seen active germ theory denial in the past 3 years. A fair bit of it, in fact. And a considerable amount more than when I used to regularly drudge conspiracy forums back 15 - 20 years ago.