this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is facing widespread criticism from political leaders and civil rights organizations after a video surfaced of him making false claims that COVID-19 was designed to attack certain ethnic groups while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people — a conspiracy theory that drew accusations of antisemitism and racism.

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[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Remember when the Kennedy name was a mark of quality for politicians and not a surgeon general's warning? "Caution: May contain high levels of crazy."

And to think that phony "No Labels" organization actually supports this guy! How about we elect a politician that actually DOES stuff instead of spreading conspiracy theories and demonizing already disenfranchised groups of people? Denying a transgender person health care never put food on my table, just sayin'.

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Someone's last name should never be an indicator of quality. I'd like my politics dynasty-free, thank you.

[–] Arotrios@kbin.social 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Keep calling out this deranged motherfucker. He's responsible for countless deaths:

During the pandemic, Kennedy has become a near-ubiquitous source of false information about COVID-19 and vaccines. Earlier this year, Kennedy was named one of the “Disinformation Dozen” by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which says he and the Children’s Health Defense website are among the top spreaders of false information about vaccines online.

....note that the Children's Heath Defense organization is Kennedy's personal charity, and...

The AP found links to Children’s Health Defense articles all over Facebook. While many were shared as posts on the pages of fellow anti-vaccine activists, many more could be found in the comments sections on pages that people turn to for reliable information, including official government Facebook pages in all 50 states, and in health departments in nearly every state.
“The vaccine was not created to save us all from a pandemic. The pandemic was created to get us to take the vaccine and more,” one person wrote in February below a North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Facebook post.
Then, they linked to a January Children’s Health Defense article that claimed 329 deaths following the COVID-19 shot had been reported to VAERS, a federal vaccine safety surveillance system that has been misused by anti-vaccine activists.
“Every Friday, the true American hero Robert F Kennedy Jr. pulls the data from the VAERS report. Here is the latest up until 1/22,” the commenter wrote. Another user replied that the comment had been reported for dishonesty, but it was still up 10 months later.

...as a result:

Since January, Children’s Health Defense’s COVID-19 vaccine-related posts were shared more frequently on Twitter than links to vaccine content on mainstream sites including CNN, Fox News, NPR and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to Indiana University’s Observatory on Social Media, which tracks COVID-19 vaccine-related content on Twitter. In some weeks, it found, CHD COVID-19 vaccine content was shared more often than that of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

AP Sauce

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Just out of curiosity, there wouldn't happen to be a Sirhan Sirhan Jr., would there...?

[–] Arotrios@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You know what's really weird? RFK supported Sirhan Sirhan's release - went against his entire family to do so too. I think the guy has some dark daddy issues.

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

Dude's got more issues than National Geographic. And is about as useful as post-Fox National Geographic.

[–] NuPNuA@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago (13 children)

How does someone like this even get near a mainstream party in the US? The closest I can think of in the UK was Andrew Bridgen but he was kicked out the Tories for spreading vaccine disinformation. Then anyone else with those views, like Piers Corbyn and Lawrence Fox were stuck in minor fringe groups to begin with.

[–] cedarmesa@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)
[–] NuPNuA@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Can't the Democrats do the equivilent of "taking the whip" like what happened to Andrew Bridgen in the UK? Distance themselves from him and not let him run for them?

[–] Sconrad122@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

They will. When primaries come, the Democratic party will soundly and democratically (little d) reject his attempt to represent them by not voting for him. Even before then, he will be rejected because nobody is going to give him the time of day when it comes to setting up a debate or using party resources to facilitate his campaign. Until then, he is not a representative of the party, just a dude who says he wants to represent the party. I could just as easily say I want to represent the Republican party by running a campaign on aborting every single fetus in the United States and then holding a giant gay orgy before forcing all cisgender people to undergo surgical transition. Obviously I would not be representative of the Republican party. Same with this guy and the Democratic party. The only reason it feels like this guy is in any way legitimate or affiliated with the Democratic party is because of how early primary/election coverage starts.

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[–] InverseParallax@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Are you kidding?

This guy is just saying out loud what large parts of the population are thinking.

I'm not Jewish, but antisemitism was pretty normalized in the south, but to be fair, they're pretty intolerant of anyone who isn't from their specific version of protestantism.

[–] BlinkAndItsGone@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How does someone like this even get near a mainstream party in the US?

All it takes to be a Democrat is to check a box when you register to vote (same for any other party in the US). There is nothing stopping anyone who wants to from running for the Democratic nomination. Needless to say, he isn't endorsed by the Democratic Party and doesn't have any real popular support. As for why he wants to be known as a Democrat--I'm not an expert on the guy but I do know that he is one of the children of the Kennedy dynasty from the '60s; the Democratic Party is part of his brand, I suppose. He is not a serious candidate, he is almost certainly running specifically to raise his profile and increase the number of followers he has as a professional conspiracy grifter (which has been his occupation for decades now).

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[–] zombuey@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago

this fuckwit is running for president yo.

[–] Ziel@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

What a shocking revelation, a guy who is drenched in conspiracy theories is also an anti-semite. This guy is the ID of America.

[–] KickMeElmo@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 year ago

I mean... no shit? Dude's completely nuts.

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