Marianne Williamson isn't funny. She's scary.

[progressoid]

Williamson’s views on depression and illness are dangerous. The media is complicit in spreading them.

Marianne Williamson is not a serious candidate for the presidency: She’s a self-help celebrity who openly disdained policy debate onstage Tuesday night. Worse than that, she looms as a menace to public health — someone who has attacked antidepressants and vaccination in a manner that “can literally kill people,” as my colleague German Lopez (who covers public health) put it. She has no business being on the debate stage; the more famous she gets, the more harm she can do.

The fact that a lot of media figures aren’t recognizing this — that they’re either celebrating her flashes of insight on issues like reparations for slavery or enjoying her kookiness — shows that they haven’t fully internalized the lessons of Donald Trump’s rise to power. Williamson is vanishingly unlikely to win, or even come close, but the amount of press attention she’s getting is troubling. Even if public interest in her mandates some level of coverage, at least it could be more muted and skeptical than what we’re seeing.

...snip...

At a June campaign stop in New Hampshire, Williamson argued against mandatory vaccination, calling it “Orwellian” and “draconian.” “To me, it’s no different than the abortion debate,” she said. “The US government doesn’t tell any citizen, in my book, what they have to do with their body or their child.” She apologized for these comments in a subsequent statement, claiming she personally supports vaccination, but she has a long history of promoting skepticism on the subject (something Trump has done as well).

Anti-vaccine sentiment is easy to spread through social media and difficult to rebut once it takes hold. The more Williamson’s views get attention, the more validation she gets, and the more likely it is that she’ll contribute to the problem — convincing individual parents that it’s okay not to vaccinate their children, which weakens herd immunity and makes outbreaks like the recent measles emergence in New York more likely.

Moreover, as the Washington Post’s Gillian Brockell notes, Williamson has spread misinformation about illness more broadly. In her book A Return to Love, Williamson wrote that “sickness is an illusion and does not exist,” and that “cancer and AIDS and other physical illnesses are physical manifestations of a psychic scream.” She advised her followers that “seeing sickness as our own love that needs to be reclaimed is a more positive approach to healing than is seeing the sickness as something hideous that we must get rid of.”

more...https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/31/20748594/marianne-williamson-debate-democratic-july-2019-depression

[Faux pas]

1. As I asked in another thread,

"do we want to exchange a carny act for the con?" Sheesh and wtf?

[MFM008]

2. She will be gone

Soon.

[customerserviceguy]

3. Once the polling threshold is five percent

most of them will be gone.

[bronxiteforever]

4. +1

[Moostache]

5. If you're waiting for the media to self-correct, do not hold your breath...

Every election since about 1992 has been the same thing...horse race, scandal, horse race, scandal, stories about how the scandals affect the horse race, then back to the horse race...

Steve Kornacki and Nate Silver have turned this hideous spectacle into CAREERS that would otherwise not exist....big boards and probabilities and projections OH MY!

I am sick of the retarded debates, with 10 people, 15 second answers and nothing worth a damn coming out of them.

I am sick of the beating up on our own candidates instead of impeachment discussions about Trump. I am sick and tired of "leadership" that simply does not measure up to their opposition in terms of ruthlessness, viciousness or desire to put the results over reputation or decorum. Once the fucking "Brooks Brothers Riot" essentially showed the GOP that they could force things to go their way as long as they did not mind a little ethical vagarity, things have been in an accelerating downward spiral every since...

[LincolnRossiter]

7. So much truth in your post...

Every election since about 1992 has been the same thing...horse race, scandal, horse race, scandal, stories about how the scandals affect the horse race, then back to the horse race...

Spot on. It's exhausting. I mean the day after every election for most Americans is like the end of an ordeal (last election excepted. I got plenty drunk after that nightmare).

I am sick of the retarded debates, with 10 people, 15 second answers and nothing worth a damn coming out of them.

I am sick of the beating up on our own candidates instead of impeachment discussions about Trump. I am sick and tired of "leadership" that simply does not measure up to their opposition in terms of ruthlessness, viciousness or desire to put the results over reputation or decorum. Once the fucking "Brooks Brothers Riot" essentially showed the GOP that they could force things to go their way as long as they did not mind a little ethical vagarity, things have been in an accelerating downward spiral every since...

All up in here with you. Except for:

Nate Silver have turned this hideous spectacle into CAREERS that would otherwise not exist

I don't listen to 538's silly little podcasts, but he relies heavily on numbers for most of his analysis, which I always appreciate. And he is always amongst the first to caution that (1) the numbers bounce around but tend to revert to certain identifiable means, (2) in this day and age, with social media and self-selected media and our entire political chattering class inundating us nonstop, nobody is going to win or lose an election because of debates (Hillary wiped the floor with clownass in all three). I mean I guess it could happen if a candidate seemed especially confused or pulled down his pants or something, but the stakes just aren't that high--especially for candidates who already have a high public profile. He was the only one giving Trump between a 1/4 and a 1/3 chance to win, because he was all up in the data. Most major media were giving Trump between a 1% and 10% chance, which most of us dismissed (though we shouldn't have, because even a tiny chance is still a chance.

[qazplm135]

6. no she isn't

for something to be scary, it has to have the ability to actually have an effect on something.

She's going to be forgotten by September, October at the latest.

[arithia]

9. Millions of ppl die from not treating mental health issues

and this woman is telling ppl that meds don't work, that they should pray more & other absurdities.

She's not a new trope, just a very loud amplification of one already killing people.

[qazplm135]

10. I don't think millions of people are taking that cue from her

and there are plenty of folks selling the same thing.

She's certainly not being covered for that.

There's always going to be people like her.

[arithia]

11. the point is how she is using her bully pulpit

this is outdated information that doesn't need to perpetuate.

But what do I know, I'm alive today because of medication she's condemned.

[UniteFightBack]

14. This is one big infomercial for her. Maybe she stole the idea from rump. She needs to go NOW.

I'm seriously done with this woman. What little novelty there was has worn off. She needs to get.

[Blue_true]

12. My guess is most people see her for what she is.

Somewhat of an offbeat person who has some personal charm and accomplishment behind her. I don't doubt her progressive bobafides, the lady was cooking meals for homeless people when that was not a popular choice.

I don't think that she will lead many people astray. Donald Trump was a different candidate, he successfully tapped into a well of hate and anxiety that has been festering since Reagan began the destruction of the middleclass. Trump has the type of composition where even if he doesn't actually believe something, he won't hesitate to use it to his advantage, he has absolutely no moral compass at all and no concern about the damage that his actions cause.

[no_hypocrisy]

8. She reminds me of evangelist from the 20s, Aimee Semple McPherson.

Saccharine and feel-good.

[mtnsnake]

13. It's shameful that Bullock didn't qualify for the first debate but Williamson did. Embarrassing.

I cannot believe some people thought she actually won one of the debates.