Michael Pollan, perhaps the country’s best-known advocate of healthy eating and reforming the food system, caused a stir earlier this week when he posted an article on his X account headlined “They’re Lying About Robert F. Kennedy Jr.” The article, published in the American Conservative, stopped short of endorsing Kennedy for the job of Health and Human Services secretary, but did endorse Kennedy’s critique of the food system and tried to add nuance to his skepticism of vaccines. Pollan posted a link to the story without comment, but the mere fact that he did so was interpreted as the latest sign of how the nomination of RFK Jr. has scrambled some partisan health policy divides.
The American Conservative article is by Spencer Neale, whose name does not appear in the Politico piece.
Pollan sounds nervous. He ends the interview with: "Are you going to publish this soon? Because I really want to stop this. I don’t want to get a phone call from RFK Jr. I want him to read this and not call."
Imagine being afraid of a call from Kennedy. What kind of people are leaning on Pollan?
Pollan originally liked Neale's article — unsurprising, because Neale mentions him with great favor:
Kennedy’s views on corn are non-debatable. He has advocated for less reliance on the subsidy which is used to feed cattle and to cheapen production costs for many of America’s most popular food items. Michael Pollan’s fantastic 2006 book The Omnivore’s Dilemma provides an extensive look at how corn has invaded the U.S. food supply. From the beverages we drink, to the foods we eat, America relies on corn to cut food costs and power trade. Ninety-five percent of animal feed in America is now made with corn which, Pollan notes, is the root cause of liver disease in cattle....
You might think Pollan would be excited about coordinating with Kennedy, but no. He's actively avoidant.
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What kind of people are leaning on Pollan?
We are not allowed to say who they are in the United States (because we don't have free speech). Have you not seen what they do to you if you call out a certain kind of people?
Medical advice and 'best practices' are always faddish and typically half wrong. Just look at the pro-sugar ads from the mid 20th century and the 'healthy' cigarette with an asbestos filter. Just look at the food pyramid of a few decades ago that drove people away from healthy fats and toward carbohydrates. Just look at the lobbying that leads to official distortions, be they from the meat and dairy or grain industry or be they from vegans.
Trump 2024 stands for throwing out a bunch of proven liars and people with conflicts of interest for another group that may also be incompetent, liars, or have conflicts of interest. But as with investing, downplay short-term fluctuations and fads in favor of longer periods and see what proves itself.
Give RFK Jr. a chance, but take his specific ideas with a grain of salt. Give Musk a chance, but... Give Trump a chance, but...
Corn fed beef all tastes like crap. Why do you want it cheaper?
It’s the 100 percent vax take up thing. Any other thought is ‘dangerous’.
Can you give us a hint?
He doesn't want a call from Kennedy because Kennedy is a freak with a worm in his brain. No one cares about Kennedy's food ideas. Michelle Obama tried to make school kids eat healthier, and everyone on the right mocked her. The only reason Kennedy's new fans are excited about him is because they want to stick it to the Man by cutting out the measles vaccine.
I'd rather keep my employment, thanks. Like I said ... we don't have Free Speech in the United States where certain groups are concerned.
A reasonable person can have some bad ideas, and an unreasonable person can have some good ideas. Looking back over the positions he has taken over literally decades, Kennedy is definitely the latter, and a ticking timebomb for this administration. Unfortunately, Trump owes him bigly and had to give him this. Personally, I would have made him the J6 Czar reviewing the prosecutions and in many cases the persecutions.
You call it corn. We call it maize.
There are all sorts of definitions of religion but many people in the field say it is something that divides the world into sacred and profane. To many people, RFK Jr. is profane, unclean. He must be avoided else one will be sinning.
The only reason I don't rail about Corn is because Wheat is so much worse for you. But Corn and corn products are poison for humans as well as cows.
Everything about the Corn subsidies is evil.
I cannot wait for these scumbags who have poisoned the American public to face the music for what they have done. Big Ag and Big Pharma are in for a reckoning.
They have corrupted the food supply and pushed medications for the disease they have caused, then they have the audacity to smear people who point this out with lies and bad faith.
There is nothing unreasonable about RFK's critiques of our health system.
He and his family are fully vaccinated. He is not anti-vax.
That the scumbags have to lie about what he is saying should tell you something.
Big Ag wants the subsidies.It is always about the money.
"medical ideas which I really think are unsound and dangerous." I wonder if he thinks pumping mRNA into babies is "unsound and dangerous." Or putting 8-year-old boys on Ritalin. You might think Pollan would be excited about coordinating with Kennedy, but no. He's actively avoidant. Sounds like he's a coward, afraid to stand behind his convictions.
Right now polling (for whatever that's worth) is showing RFJ Jr. has the highest approval ratings among Trump's team of avengers. RJK Jr. is simply asking questions and demanding answers and accountability. When did that become "dangerous"?
She should've been mocked. Nonfat milk, reduced protein, processed vegetables, smaller portions. As if her advisers had no idea that children have different nutritional needs than sickly liberal women.
No one cares about Kennedy's food ideas. You're completely wrong. People are just starting to listen to RFK Jr., now that he can be heard outside the propaganda media. At the moment, he has the nation's ear, and his voice will only grow louder.
People feel duped and lied to after COVID. Just look at mRNA boost participation. It's minimal. Everyone dropped out. American's are realizing their children are overweight, stressed out, and sick. This could be really good.
Question Tom. Why do you hate children????
You know. When it threatened the river from whence all grift flows.
It's dangerous in that a lot of it runs counter to "conventional wisdom" that the Democratic Media has pushed since Trump's first 4 years.
The excerpts from Pollan leave me with the impression that he is unaware of who exactly is in charge of HHS right now, or the illiterate cipher before him.
Corn is loaded with Omega 6 fatty acids, which promotes inflammation. It's why cattle fed a corn based diet have to also be pumped with antibiotics. Add this to our diet of high fructose corn syrup and you can connect a range of inflammatory conditions (heart disease, depression, Alzheimer's, etc).
RFK is right to call this out.
Pollan lives in SF. It's self preservation.
The best use of corn is in making good old American bourbon.
I'll admit that I have recognition of the name Michael Pollan, but this is spurious: "perhaps the country’s best-known advocate of healthy eating and reforming the food system". Vinnie Tortorich, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, people Jordan Peterson has interviewed (Dr. Peter Attia and Max Lugavere) come to mind before Michael Pollan. There is a Joe Rogan interview with Pollan. Maybe it would explain why Pollan isn't walking the talk.
You cannot criticize the giant food or drug companies if you work in media.
Around 90% of TV media revenue comes from the Pharmaceutical or Food industries. Most pharmaceuticals sold in the US are used to treat symptoms of insulin resistance, metabolic disease, and obesity.
These maladies are caused by our carb based diet. The sugar industry flat out paid for the "science" that led to the cholesterol hypothesis and the food pyramid.
And our doctors prescribe statins and ozempic by the bucket load.
It is a viciously protected mafia group. But it is time for the madness to end.
The best recommendation I’ve seen about RFJ Jr’s potential impact is to see if his proposals have been tried before, or are currently in place in other countries. What has been the effect there? If there is no precedent, then we, perhaps, shouldn’t make a permanent change.
How quickly opinions change. First, it was:
For me, I really like corn
It's corn
A big lump with knobs
It has the juice (it has the juice)
I can't imagine a more beautiful thing (woo)
It's corn
I can tell you all about it
I mean, look at this thing
When I tried it with butter, everything changed
Well, the best thing about corn is the grease
The corn break can restore your energy
You really appreciate the hard work when you love something
If you or anyone loves corn, if you come to me, I can tell you all about it
If I was surrounded by corn, I would eat all of it
Grow big and strong
Look at this, take a lump with the knob
Spread butter on
Boil and toast it with the grease
Butter spreads out the good taste
I just saw corn as disgusting, but everything changed
And, now? Put the following to the same music and send the Korn Kid to the gulag.
It's corn!
From the beverages we drink,
to the foods we eat,
America relies on corn
to cut food costs and power trade.
Ninety-five percent of animal feed in America
is now made with corn which,
is the root cause of liver disease in cattle...
People on the Right seem to have forgotten how nuts on all counts RFK is. He's been given a job because he helped Trump win, and no other reason. He's been given HHS because it's something Trump doesn't care about, it will keep him happy and occupied, and he can do the least damage there. He's there because we did a deal to make Trump President. That's it. So stop trying to defend his nutty ideas for him, or taking him seriously.
If more Democrats would respond to the positives of the Trump coalition agenda rather than inflame the negatives and slander people, it would be much more successful at electoral politics. Polling is an interesting guy he's written on a number of different topics related to health and well-being. I for one hope that RFK Jr is wildly successful in changing the diet of Americans.
Blair: your authoritarian bullying is noted. Please understand that for the last 8 years this has been the primary strategy of Democrats to combat Trump. It hasn't worked. Apparently idiots like you and the Masters of the DNC do not understand the nuances of jiu-jitsu as applied by Sun Tzu in The art of war.
The whole COVID related insanity has blown up any credibility the national health services had. I do like Pollan, I recommend his book "Cooked" and the Netflix series based on it.
The point is to offer people an opportunity to make informed choices, not to exercise liberal license to indulge mandates of democratic/dictatorial providence.
Michael Pollan, perhaps the country’s best-known brother-in-law of Michael J. Fox ...
I give Kennedy 9 months at HHS before he resigns in angry frustration or is replaced. Still, he will shake things up and get people thinking (or at least reacting) before he goes.
Pollan lived (and may still live) in Berkeley. Endorsing anyone outside the progressive posse will get you shunned in Berkeley---and RFK Jr. is definitely outside the progressive posse and is intending to go to work for the Evil Orange Man.
CONCUR
People on the Right seem to have forgotten how nuts on all counts RFK is.
That's a pretty all-inclusive statement. Is he wrong on his "count" that the DNC manipulated primaries to keep him off ballots, then on other ballots? Is he wrong on his "count" that the CDC lied about the COVID vaccine? Is he wrong on his "count" that the FDA and Congress should reverse the blanket immunity for all vaccines? Is he wrong on his "count" that too many therapies are being mislabeled as "vaccines" just so Big Pharma can misuse the label "vaccine" and so elide any responsibility for ill effects?
That's just a partial list of Kennedy's positions. What's your evidence he's 100% wrong?
This popcorn-lover is alarmed.
Get specific about exactly what counts RFK is nuts on with respect to diet, nutrition and the drug industry. Use actual quotes please.
Maize has been very beneficial to humankind.
I don't worry too much about cow liver disease. I like to eat corn-fed beef, pork and poultry. I also like Waygu beef but I'm not upmarket. We Americans want our meat and want it as cheap as possible.
Corn syrup on everything, probably not. If RFK, Jr can open up the scientific discussion on both maize and mRNA, etc., it will be fantastic. God speed wacky dude.
Let's wean our economy off subsidies by letting them expire naturally, allowing the companies that depend upon them to shift their business models over time to absorb the change. #1: Ethanol.
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