You Might Have Already Fallen for MAHA’s Conspiracy Theories

Video Description

How does someone become an anti-vaxxer or come to believe that chemotherapy is more dangerous than cancer? It can begin with what seems like a harmless health tip: Cut seed oils or artificial food dyes from your diet. From there, the road can get treacherous. It’s paved with good intentions, surrounded by misinformation and filled with influencers who say they just want to make you, and America, healthy again. Using artificial intelligence to identify narrative patterns across nearly 12,000 videos and podcasts from the world of wellness, New York Times Opinion Video reconstructed the MAHA conspiracy theory rabbit hole. In the video above, hear from people who found themselves sucked to the bottom of it. They developed an extreme distrust of the health care system, with tragic consequences. All the while, the people peddling anti-health-care content — people now empowered by and working in the Trump administration — have raked in their share of the $460 billion wellness industry, profiting from the paranoia they fueled. Does that mean it’s game over for evidence-based medicine? As former followers of these MAHA influencers will tell you, there’s a path out of the rabbit hole, too. More from The New York Times Video: Opinion Video: https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/opinion-video Subscribe: http://bit.ly/U8Ys7n ---------- Whether it's reporting on conflicts abroad and political divisions at home, or covering the latest style trends and scientific developments, New York Times video journalists provide a revealing and unforgettable view of the world. It's all the news that's fit to watch.