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A Citations Needed Live Show Beg-a-Thon: The Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline

Added 2025-10-31 15:01:17 +0000 UTC

In this Citations Needed Beg-A-Thon, "The Granola-to-Fascist Pipeline: MAHA, TikTok and Health in an Era of Cynicism," recorded live on Monday, October 13, we are joined by social epidemiologist Justin Feldman to discuss the rise of Trump and RFK, Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again grift, the transparent fraud of the so-called "health freedom" movement, and how corporate-written food policies and for-profit medical system fuel an industry of digital influencer hucksterism.

Originally streamed on YouTube for a live audience on Monday, October 13. You can watch the full video here.

Guest

Justin Feldman, ScD (@jfeldman_epi), is a social epidemiologist who researches health, racism, economic inequality and state violence. Previously a professor of epidemiology at the NYU School of Medicine, he is now Principal Research Scientist at the Center for Policing Equity at Yale University Lab.

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Show Notes

'Health Freedom' is a Fraud. What We Need is a Right to Health

Justin Feldman | March 3, 2025 | Current Affairs

The surprising origins of the “wellness” boom

Jonquilyn Hill | August 12, 2025 | Vox

Every 100 Years America Produces a Robert Kennedy Jr.

Jessica Grose | February 15, 2025 | The New York Times

The strange history of the anti-vaccine movement

David Robert Grimes | September 7, 2025 | BBC

The unsavory history of the wellness industry

Jonathan N. Stea | January 29, 2025 | Big Think

How a For-Profit Healthcare System Generates Mistrust of Medicine

Lauren Fadiman | Nov/Dec 2022 | Current Affairs

‘Violating Nature’s Health Laws’: How an eccentric early 20th century influencer set the stage for the COVID infodemic

Michelle Cohen | October 11, 2022 | Healthy Debate

Eugenics and the American Religion of Wellness

Jules Evans | July 8, 2022 | Medium

Fascist Ecology: The "Green Wing" of the Nazi Party and its Historical Antecedents

Peter Staudenmaier | 1995 | Ecofascism: Lessons from the German Experience

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Transcript

For a full transcript of this Beg-a-Thon, go here. You can also find transcripts of past episodes, live shows, Beg-a-Thons, Interviews and News Briefs here.

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