Monthly Archives: April 2020

Tiger King is popular because we love to laugh at white trash heres why thats dangerous – The Independent

Posted: April 9, 2020 at 5:56 pm

From his bleached mullet and shiny outfits to satin thrones, from condoms with his face on to intimate piercings, Tiger Kings central character, Joe Exotic, is an affront to good taste. Likewise, the hot-mess sprawling narrative of addiction, sexual coercion, exploitation, theft, murder, suicide, obsession, guns and explosives. Not to mention the tragic backdrop of inexplicably gratuitous numbers of majestic, dangerous, big cats.

Aesthetically, Tiger King is a documentary of excess. Too many exotic animals in captivity, too many guns and sequins, too much desperation and methamphetamine, too many storylines, too many villains, too, too much. It is addictively engrossing as a result, its popularity during lockdown hinging on revelling in the weird horrors of tasteless, Hicksville excess. Plunged into a weird, crazy world so Other to our own, we feel normal. Witnessing the extraordinarily dangerous combination of caring for big cats, while playing with unregulated guns and explosives, while on meth, makes us feel comparatively safe. What more could we want in lockdown, while the apocalypse rages outside?

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

But this comfort, this reassurance that we are comparatively sane, normal and safe, depends upon an us and them logic that is dangerous. Taste is classed. Taste is political.

Writing about the way we stigmatise working-class celebrity, sociologistsImogen Tyler and Bruce Bennettsaw our media as a class pantomime offering community-forming attachment to a bad object. That is, these characters define what we are glad not to be, giving us the opportunity to affirm our comparative superiority through the pleasure of collective scorn.

The cast of Tiger King is depicted in the white trash archetype, a stock character with a long history going back to the US Eugenics RecordOffice who, between 1880 and 1920, attempted to demonstrate scientifically that rural poor whites were genetically defective. The rural class entered the public imagination as dirty, drunken, criminallyminded, and sexually perverse people. This was used to end welfare and introduce involuntary sterilisation and incarceration. SociologistsMatt Wray and Annalee Newitz argue the stereotype of the incestuous and sexually promiscuous, violent, alcoholic, lazy, and stupid redneck persists over a century later. This reads true of the characterisation constructed in Tiger King. While their big cat businesses may turn over huge sums, the sneering pleasure of watching their financial mismanagement reeks of the schadenfreudeof being proved right about who does and doesnt deserve wealth. This is exactly the logic of the eugenics white trash label.

The term white trash has always existed to blame those suffering social ills for their situation, suggesting it is a product of their own poor judgement and intrinsic inferiority, not structural inequality. The main characters of Tiger King are horrendous: murderous, abusive utterly reprehensible. But, beware the pleasures of disgust. Trash designates the dregs, dirt or refuse of society. That which should be disposed of.

Tiger King, Murder, Mayhem and Madness, Official Trailer

Why does this matter? Because eugenics is back. From the eugenicist views of former advisor to Downing Street, Andrew Sabisky, to herd immunity. From reassurance that coronavirus only kills the elderly or those with underlying conditions, as if underlying conditions was code for less than fully a person, to do not resuscitate orders signed against patients wishes. From certain groups being told not to go to hospital,saving beds for those with higher chances of survival, to the criminal, political, deliberate underfunding of our health service. These show our leaders strategically callous belief in the disposability of human life. Forcing doctors into a position where they must decide who lives creates the most violent discrimination. Beware comforting entertainment predicated on us and them logic which imagines them to be disposable and not us, when our government in a time of health crisis is doing exactlythe same to us.

Dr Hannah Yelin is a senior lecturer in media and culture at Oxford Brookes University

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We are Witnessing The CDC’s Violent Eugenicist History in Real-Time – Wear Your Voice

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CW: This essay explores anti-fatness and eugenics, and mentions death, medical genocide, and more.

Towards the end of February, many of us in america had become aware of the glaring virus we now know as COVID-19. In panic, people took to their local grocery stores and stocked up on all household essentialsmost notably, face masks, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper. While information about the effects of COVID-19 were mixed, as the virus is so new, one thing that scientists and all government officials seemed to be clear about was that face masks were ineffective against the virus. At the beginning of March, people were being instructed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to not wear face masks to prevent the spread of the virus. The U.S. Surgeon General made a public statement via Twitter demanding that everyone stop buying masks as they were ineffective against the spread of the virus. It was not clear how the very tools that were being used to protect our medical and healthcare providers from this virus were suddenly ineffective when it came time to protect those of us who were civilians. As such, many continued to buy masks in bulk, rapidly creating a shortage of face masks for the aforementioned.

Just days ago, the CDC released a public statement stating that they do, in fact, recommend that everyone wear a face mask in publicas up to 25% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 may be asymptomatic, according to the CDC.

Weeks before this discovery, I made a statement via Twitter wherein I named my distrust of the CDC, other medical officials, and the list of (contradictory) instructions they were releasing to the public in the wake of what feels like one of the most vicious pandemics we have experienced in modern history. The CDC has been at the epicenter of the war waged against my body and other bodies like mine, and this is the basis for my lack of trust in their efforts.

In March 2004, during a highly publicized news conference, the CDC published a report claiming that obesity was killing 400,000 Americans a year and that it was becoming americas number one preventable death, outnumbering tobacco. The report was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)which, at least at the time, was the most prestigious medical journal in the nation. One of the authors of the report was the head of the CDC. Because of this, the report had the credibility it needed and would lead to egregious and violent headlines across the nation about fat people, our bodies, and the alarming rate at which we were allegedly dying from obesity.

From that moment forward, throughout the rest of that year, public officials and other media platforms used that report as evidence that obesity was the greatest threat facing the american people, and as justification for what would eventually become a forceful and strapping diet industrial complex. Thus creating The Obesity Epidemic.

However, according to J. Eric Oliver in his book Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind Americas Obesity Epidemic (2006), a more intentional look at the numbers from which the CDC was using indicates that the numbers were far from accuratesomething the CDC would later admit to. The numbers were inflated. In his book, Oliver says:

the CDC researchers did not calculate the 400,000 deaths by checking to see if the weight of each person was a factor in his or her [or their] death. Rather, they estimated a figure by comparing the death rates of thin and heavy people using data that were nearly thirty years old. Although heavier people tend to die more frequently than people in mid-range weights, it is by no means clear that their weight is the cause of their higher death rates. It is far more likely that their weight is simply a proxy for other, more important factors such as their diet, exercise, or family medical history. The researchers, however, simply assumed that obesity was the primary cause of death, even though there was no clear scientific rationale for this supposition.

In other words, the CDC contrived this number from an estimation after reviewing data that was thirty years old. It was never a calculated number concluded from their own intense research; it was a scientific guess made with hopes to punish fat people for our bodies. And it worked. As Oliver names, fat people do tend to die at higher rates than our thin counterparts, but it isnt because of our weight. We tend to die at higher rates than thin people because doctors misdiagnose us, or refuse to treat us, due to our fatness.

A year after they published the report, in April 2005, the CDC released another reportalso through JAMAwherein they not only offered a much smaller number of deaths per year due to obesityless than 26,000, to be exactbut also claimed that moderately overweight people live longer than people at a normal weight. But the damage had already been done. Around the world, people were using the CDCs original numbers as fuel for the war waged on fat people. And I would wager that the damage is still being done. No one is dying from being obese. Full stop. Fat people are dying because of a medical industrial complex committed to seeing our fatness as death; we are dying because we lack proper resourceslike housing and employmentthat would provide us with money, healthcare, and a roof to protect us; fat Black people in particular are dying, I argue, because of an inherently anti-Black system of policing that sees us as deadly beasts that need to be put down.

What is happening to fat people, the societal and systemic bias and marginalization we have to navigate, is in large part due to the one CDC report heard around the world. And to this day, the CDC continues to refer to obesity as an epidemic, and have even gone as far as to say that fat people are at higher risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19.

Some may argue that the CDC originally claimed that masks were ineffective as a way to retain the already-small supply of masks for healthcare providers and medical officials. Others may argue that the CDC made this claim due to ever-developing research around the virus. I am arguing, however, that the CDC made the claim that masks are ineffective because the CDCs sole purpose is to provide scientific legitimation of the U.S. as a eugenicist project through medical genocide. As outlined in this essay, the CDC has a history of releasing deadly information and later backtracking on it when the damage has already been done.

Choosing to tell the public that supplies that could benefit everyone is ineffective, rather than calling for more supplies to be createdin the midst of a global pandemic, no lessis eugenics. Making the conscious decision to tell the general public that something is ineffective when you have not done all of the necessary research, especially when medical officials are using the very same equipment, is medical and scientific genocide.

Scientists, researchers, and medical professionals can make mistakes. They are human, after all. As a fat person whose daily reality has in large part been warped by the violent report the CDC released over ten years ago, however, I am not convinced that any of this is a mistake. This feels far too intentional and far too familiar. In the midst of a very real pandemic, the CDC is handling it precisely the same as they did a false pandemic which they helped to create. For this reason, along with the fact that theyve been radio silent about the way COVID-19 has impacted Black communities especially, I have very little trust in the CDC, as I have no room in my politic for anti-fat science, eugenics, or medical genocide. I hope we choose to make a collective push for a more ethical research organization to lead on these issues soon. Lest we wait for thousands of more lives to be lost due to the CDCs incompetence.

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Forced sterilization a symptom of colonial hangover says lawyer – APTN News

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Dennis WardFace to Face More than 100 Indigenous women in Canada have come forward with stories of forced or coerced sterilization and lawyer Alisa Lombard says its nothing new in Canada, nor is it illegal.

I think that the practice of forced sterilization is symptomatic of a colonial hangover. And I think it has a lot to do with eugenics of course, these old ideas that some people should have children and others are not fit to, Lombard told Face to Face. Eugenics was a widely accepted theory not so long ago. It was a theory that was attempted to be brought into legislation in Saskatchewan and only failed by one vote.

It was, in fact, brought into legislation in Alberta and British Columbia.

Lombard is a partner with Saskatchewan based, Semanganis Worme Lombard and is heading up a proposed class action lawsuit representing Indigenous women who have been forced or coerced into sterilization.

Forced sterilization is a procedure more commonly known as getting your tubes tied, but without the proper and informed consent of the woman involved.

Those women, and potentially many more are hoping to have their day in court in an effort to prevent the practice of forced sterilizations from continuing, to find accountability through investigation and receive some form of reparation.

Lombard feels forced sterilization is just one more indication of systemic racism within the healthcare sector.

According to Lombard, those in positions of authority feel they should make decisions make life changing, body altering decisions on behalf of those who they think wont.

The practice, and the efforts to stop it have garnered international attention.

Lombard presented to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, Switzerland.

The UN Committee issued a number of recommendations to the Canadian government, including investigating the practice, punishing those who perform it and providing reparations to those who have undergone the procedure.

In our clients view, whatever Canada has done is wholly inadequate and really not measured to the seriousness of the violations that are at stake here, said Lombard.

The United Nations Committee Against Torture unequivocally called for sterilization or sterilization without consent a form of torture and cruel and degrading treatment and so its our clients position that such terrible treatment, such egregious treatment requires some responses that are measured to the harms.

The practice of forced sterilization was also mentioned numerous time in the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

In the report, the commissioners wrote, the forced sterilization of women represents directed state violence against Indigenous women, and contributes to the dehumanization and objectification of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

The final report pointed to forced sterilization as one of Canadas genocidal acts of conduct, something Lombard agrees with.

According to Lombard, the theft of an Indigenous womans ability to give birth and the ability to pass on rights and title, culture and language says to her the life of Indigenous women, children and families simply arent worth protecting.

Lombard said the goals of the proposed class action lawsuit are to ensure no woman is subjected to forced sterilization but there is, of course, a desire for reparations.

This practice has destroyed families, has destroyed marriages, has caused siblings to wonder why they dont have more siblings, has affected the self concept of our clients as women, as Indigenous women, as life givers in their nation. And so, although there is no amount of money that can truly compensate them for the pain that they endured, and that they continue to endure both mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually, a form of reparation is necessary, said Lombard.

dward@aptn.ca

@denniswardnews

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Just like the coronavirus, the 1918 flu pandemic ravaged group living facilities – The Boston Globe

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As we are seeing now during the coronavirus pandemic, a combination of accidental and intentional failures exposed disabled inmates in institutions to the worst effects of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed more 670,000 Americans and more than 50 million people worldwide. The lessons that could have been learned from the experiences a century ago are as forgotten as the people themselves; people who were trapped inside places like the Massachusetts School when the first sick patient was carted out and died in a small infirmary in September 1918.

State schools for the so-called feeble-minded were originally devised as small experimental settings. The goal of early reformers was to provide free education for people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. It was a radical notion. Opened in 1848, the Massachusetts School was the first public institution of its kind in America, and by 1918, there were roughly two dozen like it elsewhere in the country. But by then, much had changed.

In an effort to improve the health of the pupils, institutions began moving out of cities in the late 1800s. Superintendents, most of whom were physicians, not educators, had begun to recognize the benefits of fresh air and exercise, and at their urging, states spent lavishly, purchasing enormous parcels of land on which two- and three-story buildings could be situated at a distance from one another. With additional room came growth, and eventually these institutions housed permanent custodial populations in separate buildings from pupils.

Designed by famed architect William Preston the designer of the very first bungalow the Massachusetts School was one of the finest examples of disability accessible architecture in the world. The school moved from South Boston to Waltham in the late 1880s, and the campus featured state-of-the-art amenities like steam heat, electric light, and water-closets. Pupils slept in large ward rooms, divided by gender, with ample space between the beds.

However, as was the case elsewhere, the funding that states were willing to put into the institutions did not keep pace with needs as the institutions continued to grow. That growth was fueled by misapplications of science, medicine, and testing much of it false which were used to demonize people with disabilities. Institutions were packed with people deemed undesirable. Chronic overcrowding became the norm. The beds were pushed together. Then people slept on floors, in hallways, and in dining halls. Families were discouraged from visiting.

By 1918, with the Massachusetts School leading the way, state schools for the feeble-minded were no longer small or experimental. They housed tens of thousands of people, young and old. People who failed IQ tests or came from poor families. People with cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Most of them undesirable and all of them in the institution for life.

With the outbreak of World War I, staffing at institutions dropped precipitously. The Massachusetts School had 124 vacancies. The superintendent, Walter Fernald, even sent residents of the institution to serve in the Army to reduce the number of inmates. When the viral outbreak hit, he was not even there. He was out of state, caring for his adult son who was sick with the flu, and would ultimately die.

With doctors still uncertain about even the most fundamental aspects of transmission, infection, and treatment, the disease arrived at the school on September 17 and swept through the crowded wards. Over the next six weeks, patients who were already vulnerable, succumbed, one after another. While the infection rate is estimated to have been 25 percent of the general population, 778 of the 1,600 inmates at the Massachusetts School fell ill.

In one building alone, only 15 of the 189 inmates came through without having caught the flu. Five people were responsible for caring for all of them. With an ailing and diminished staff, the institution turned to the inmates to act as nurses for one another. When the outbreak was done, more than 88 inmates had died, 5.5 percent of the population of the school and more than eight times the mortality rate in the rest of Waltham. Communal bathrooms, crowded and shared living conditions, linked ventilation, and understaffing had hastened the viruss spread and devastated the school.

The Massachusetts School was not alone. The mortality rate at the Wisconsin Home for the Feeble-minded in Chippewa Falls, Wis., was between 4 and 10 percent. There are two reasons for the lack of precision in the data. Like the new coronavirus, little was actually known about fundamental aspects of the disease, and also, nobody cared much to measure its impact on the types of people locked inside.

The same is true today. This week, more than a month into the outbreak in the United States, the CDC was still considering whether or not to keep a separate tally of institutional deaths, even though the same conditions from a century ago have ensured that facilities today are just as dangerous.

In the wake of the 1918 pandemic, institutions weighed what to do. Like many of his colleagues, the superintendent of the Wisconsin School, A.L. Beier, obfuscated what had happened by praising the efforts of the employees in heroic language, rather than as the victims of underfunding and poor planning that they were. Then he downplayed the deaths, and tried to move on.

Looking back in 1920 on deaths at the institution over the previous two years he casually wrote, The mortality rate is somewhat higher than any previous biennial death rate, but if the deaths that were due to influenza were excluded, the rate compares favorably with that of the preceding biennial period. In 1918, deaths from influenza and related respiratory illnesses accounted for more than half the deaths at the institution.

The only change Beier suggested was the construction of a modest quarantine space that could double as a welcome and receiving area for future inmates and their families when there wasnt a quarantine in effect.

Elsewhere there was a similar agreement to look forward rather than make changes to institutional settings. Americans moved forward by looking upon people with disabilities with growing resentment. Eugenics paved the way. Many people felt that healthy young men had gone off to die in the war, depriving America of a generation of their healthy offspring. What we were left with was a degenerate stock of people who were unwanted.

While Fernald was, in the years following the war, avowedly opposed to eugenics, others were not. Their ideas would ultimately make their way into Congress in the form of anti-immigrant laws, then to the Supreme Court and the infamous Buck v. Bell decision that allowed for the sterilization of people with disabilities. Later, it led to genocide in the Holocaust.

Meanwhile, epidemics continued at institutions until the late 1960s, when disability rights activists began pushing for deinstitutionalization and the creation of Centers for Independent Living. When Nobel Laureate John Enders wanted to test the first successful measles vaccine in 1960, he ran the trial at the Massachusetts School (then re-named the Walter E. Fernald State School) because it was one of the last places in Massachusetts with outbreaks.

Former residents describe the same era as one in which there were consistent lockdowns for yellow jaundice a phrase for hepatitis which ran through the wards. Little was done because leaders refused to accept that institutions could be modified or funded in ways that would end the constant threat of outbreaks. Those modifications included moving away from the use of large buildings, reducing patient populations, increasing staffing, coordinating with state oversight agencies, and creating day-to-day mechanisms for accountability to families. A minority of experienced people suggested something radical that society refused to accept: no long-term care institutions of any kind.

The risk that we will come out of todays pandemic without being open to enacting substantive change is as high as it was in 1918. One difference may be that large numbers of disabled people live outside institutions and are fighting present-day eugenic impulses to cast them aside as undeserving of equipment they need to survive in the interest of saving the coronavirus victims who have been deemed more viable in the long-term.

If we emerge from this crisis without a commitment to dramatically transforming these mindsets, which allow us to segregate and victimize our most vulnerable citizens, we will continue to sacrifice them in every emergency we face. The warning signs come from the fact that the circumstances we see today are so distinctly similar to those of a century ago, howling at us past and present to recognize what does not, and what has not worked.

Alex Green is an adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and teaches disability history at Gann Academy.

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Reading in the Age of Coronavirus – Merion West

Posted: at 5:55 pm

Notably, during these times of self-isolation, it should be a near-requirement to use our time to delve into certain subjects.

It is my experience that it is rather more difficult to recapture directness and simplicity than to advance in the direction of ever more sophistication and complexity. Any third-rate engineer or researcher can increase complexity; but it takes a certain flair of real insight to make things simple again. And this insight does not come easily to people who have allowed themselves to become alienated from real, productive work and from the self-balancing system of nature, which never fails to recognise measure and limitation. E. F. Schumacher in Small is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered

Immanuel Kants eminent 1784 essay Answering the Question: What Is Enlightenment? begins with an introduction of the Enlightenments motto: Have the courage to use your understanding. Many recent intellectuals, such as Sam Harris, Steven Pinker, and Richard Dawkins, have advocated for bringing back the Enlightenments values in an era supposedly lacking in the courage to use [our] understanding. Whether we actually live in an era lacking this courage is debatable. It, nevertheless, is not harmful to evaluate the degree to which we, as a society, currently choose to exert ourselves and engage with difficult ideas. Notably, during these times of self-isolation, it should be a near-requirement to use our time to delve into certain subjects. Unfortunately, compared to the contagiousness of the Coronavirus, the fun of engaging with certain challenging ideas is much less communicable.

In what follows, I will try to make the case that immersing ourselves in complex ideas is anything but natural to us. In addition, several internal and external influences often seek to suppress actual engagement with complexities. (I define complexities as ideas, subjects, concepts and theories with a higher than average difficulty and that are mostly discussed in non-fiction literature.) However, I will argue for engagement. This is in contrast to those, who seek to stifle engagement, often for political purposes. As such, certain populist politicians, including in my home country of the Netherlands, have sought to capitalize on the difficulty that some people have when it comes to engaging with complexities for their political gain.

One important method to gather information about complexities is the technique you are using right now: reading. Reading (for pleasure) about a complex subject is, as Jordan Peterson rightly noted, a speciality market. Some might be inclined to see the similarities with school work, which might induce less than stellar memories of being forced to read complicated books. Yet, I disagree with Petersons unconcern regarding the decline in the number of people who read for pleasureand in the amount of time they spend reading. As reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2018, the average American spent just over 15 minutes a day reading for pleasure. According to the BLS, this number has been steadily declining for the last two decades; it was 23 minutes per day in 2004, for example. The rise of audiobooks, podcasts and Youtube videos seems to Peterson to be the second-best approach for gathering knowledge, following reading.

The beneficial element of engaging with ideas though these digital mediums cannot be disputed; for this reason, I wont attempt to either. What can be disputed, however, is whether these means have the potential to substitute for the decline in reading consumption. However, there is some evidence to support the large demand for both audiobooks and podcasts. The same goes for the ability to comprehend ideas via listening, instead of reading. Education professor Beth Rogowsky studied this issue with her colleagues in 2016. To begin with, Rogowsky and colleagues assigned each of the 91 participants a group their own technique to absorb a non-fiction text (reading, listening, or both). Rogowsky and her colleagues could subsequently compare the effectiveness of these techniques by handing out identical tests that measured both their retention and comprehensibility. Surprisingly to me and Rogowsky herselfthe findings concluded that there were no significant differences in retention or comprehensibility, depending on whether the text was read or listened to. Case closed, you might say.

Despite this evidence, Im still skeptical. Not about the degree to which people interact with informationbut rather about the degree to which people interact with difficult information. We are well-aware that scientific complexities (and the engagement with these ideas) are not for everyone. Arguably, we should not judge people by the degree to which one engages with these complexities. There are numerous factors that come into play when assessing the likelihood of engagement (many which are not in the power of the individual to control or alter in any way). As a 2016 Pew research found, the people who are less likely to have consumed a book (audio, digital or printed) in the last twelve months tend to be to be less educated (high school diploma or less), live in a rural area, be non-white or non-Asian, have a relatively low income (less than $30,000 annual), and be an adult male. Findings show that 27% of American adults have not touched a book in the last year.

As such, what seems to be unclear to some, who neglect reading, is the actual benefit of engaging with complexities. Perhaps some perceive such exercises as a chorenot leisure. When we measure what economists call opportunity costs, most of us (not frequent readers of journals like Merion West, however) put engaging with complex subjects on the chore side of the equation. Keep in mind, this is, of course, subjective. Many also find issue with this activity because of its direct compensation, which is mostly non-existent. Compared to actual labor, we do not obtain any (relatively) short-term monetary reward by, for instance, reading an article or listening to a podcast. Yet, there is an opportunity cost, of course, and, unfortunately, many nowadays prefer not to pay this price.

The lack of observable benefits makes engaging with complexities, at best, evidently undesirable. Yet, we observe complexity all around us. And because of its large continuing availability, it could be said that we are born to be scientific. However, Steven Pinker asserts in his book How the Mind Works that natural selection did not shape us to earn good grades in science class or to publish in refereed journals. The involvement with complexities is not included in mother natures list of qualifications, unless it actually shapes us to master the local environment. Besides that, Pinker describes how science is a costly (and enduring) endeavor. Thus, [f]or the provincial interest of a single individual or even a small band, Pinker argues, good science isnt worth the trouble.

Instead, our (nearly) second nature, according to Kant, lies in our nonage: the inability to use ones understanding without anothers guidance. This means that we would rather rely on other people telling us what information is important, as opposed to constructing our own narrative by immersing ourselves with complexities.

If this is the case, holding onto the scientific attitude might be as difficult as Kant described. Consequently, we will have people who mock science. In Enlightenment Now, Pinker talks about how science, which consists of many complexities, is increasingly and beneficially embedded in our material, moral and intellectual lives. However, many of our cultural institutions cultivate a philistine indifference to science that shades into contempt. The distaste for the scientific complexities is not solely derived from cultural institutions.

Presently, there are numerous politicians or journalists who take part in fostering or furthering this contemptuous stance towards science itself. They, furthermore, make use of our dependence on the information they provide us by being well aware that most of us will not do the work for ourselves. This lack of engagement gives room to transmit any information with the minimum amount of disbelief. In other words, the largest share of society would not have done the research to invalidate (or be skeptical about) the claims these politicians or journalists are making. One of these individuals fostering a mistrust of science is a Dutch, right-wing populist by the name of Thierry Baudet. He is the chairman of the party Forum for Democracy. During the last four years, Baudets party has increasingly been receiving a larger chunk of the voters of Dutch citizens. Last year, Baudets party received just over 17% (more than any other party) of the overall votes during the provincial state election. When we observe the traits of this partys average supporter, we identify similar traits that Ive mentioned when discussing the rates of people who are less likely to read books. That is, they are predominantly male and less likely to be highly educated. (It should be noted that the Dutch left-populist party, besides having predominantly female supporters, has almost identical statistics). Nevertheless, Baudet is well-aware of the socio-economic features of his supporters and uses this advantage to inform his supporters about his views on climate change, the dangers of the media, but, most of all, he emphasizes the decline of Dutch identity currently accelerating in the country.

Baudet often refers to Roger Scrutons meaning of oikophobiathe felt need to denigrate the customs, culture and institutions that are identifiably ours as a way to characterize (for him) the hellish nature of the European Union. He applies this also to modern art and multiculturalism. By the means of his party, Baudet tries to restructure the Dutch identity back to the Golden Age. Pinker explains how these figures see problems not as challenges that are inevitable in an indifferent universe but as the malevolent designs of insidious [in Baudets case] foreigners. Forum for Democracyand parties like itnot only diminish the tremendous amount of progress we have made as a nation; they additionally ridicule scientists and the complexities they engage with. Likewise, Baudet spreads lies to seemingly denigrate his own country. In a May, 2019 essay in American Affairs, Baudet discusses how in the Netherlands suicide is facilitated to ensure that here, too, no constraintssuch as the duty to care for your parentsare placed on the individual. With much confidence, I can tell you that we, in the Netherlands, do not let our parents kill themselves to relieve us of our responsibilities. The word Baudet should have used is euthanasia, not suicide.

All and all, populist politicians seem to make use out of the nonage of men and women. They set themselves up as intelligent, competent leaders. But, instead of encouraging intellectual freedom, populism is occupying itself with scorning, as Pinker puts it, the rule-governed institutions and constitutional checks that constrain the power of flawed human actors.

Weve already settled on the idea that engagement with complexities has been (almost by definition) a minority occupation. However, Im rather optimistic about the extent to which people are able to integrate complex subjects into their daily livesirrespective of the forces that suppress this engagement. In his February Quillette articleOn the Study of Great Books, Andrew Gleeson asserts that booksprimarily Great books can be simplified when we give into, what Gleeson calls, the academic fallacy. That is, the notion that the most important reading is the highly specialised type found in academic journals. According to Gleeson, because of this fallacy, we overshadow the actual complexities that are part of great literature.

Similar to needlessly inflating the difficulty of simple ideas, we should dwell on the notion of overly simplifying complexities to the extent that these complexities lose their name. That does not take away from the fact that people might start off at the bottom (at a reduced level of difficulty) and gradually move up. This process is where part of the fun lies. We should bear in mind that when a large number of people get involved with scientific complexities, this might result in a phenomenonIve called the Curse of Interest. This bias tells us we are susceptible to the intense need to share the information related to our interests. It has the possibility to affect our social interactions because of peoples common disregard for the interests and occupations of others. Essentially, this describes the opposite of nonage; in this scenario we only rely on the information we gather ourselves after engaging with the associated complexities. Even so, we keep informing others about our findings.

Nevertheless, we probably will not get to this pointprecisely because politicians like Thierry Baudet wont let us. No matter how great my optimism might be, most of us will keep their dependency, and most institutions or individuals who benefit from the dependency of others will continue this trend for political gain. Whether this is changing (in the long term) as a result of our large-scale isolation is hopeful, but unlikely. The cost of exchanging your leisure time for an activity that is more cognitively demanding seems, at first glance, a terrible trade. However, its benefits are numerous. This might be the change in mindset we need to win over people who doubt the benefits of engaging with complexities. For some of us, this activity comes naturally. For others, it is a challenge to figure out who actually possesses the courage and thereby, as Kant put it, Dares to know.

Alessandro van den Berg is an economics teacher in the Netherlands.

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Bird Droppings: Arizona Cardinals preparing for virtual draft, Jordan Phillips looks to build on career year – Revenge of the Birds

Posted: at 5:55 pm

Happy Wednesday one and all.

We are halfway through another week of quarantine and things are definitely hitting the monotony.

That is okay, because the NFL is primed to save us from that, as in 15 days we have the weirdest NFL Draft in history.

For that and all the news from around the web on your Arizona Cardinals we have your morning links.

Enjoy.

Larry Fitzgerald, Patrick Peterson, Chandler Jones Named To All-Decade TeamHall of Fame selection committee picked best from 2010-19

After 2019 Breakout, Jordan Phillips Ready To Show Staying PowerFree agent addition confident he's not a one-year wonder

Kingsbury: No Concern DeAndre Hopkins Trade Will Be Done Before DraftPlayers in deal need physicals before official completion

Challenge Of Virtual Draft Doesn't Intimidate Kliff KingsburyCoach confident in technology and Cardinals' process

No Hard Knocks For CardinalsArizona Cardinals Official Team Website I Arizona Cardinals AZCardinals.com

Phillips On New Contract: 'I Was Made For This'DL Jordan Phillips talks to the media about his three-year deal with the Cardinals.

Recapping The Cardinals On The 2010s All-Decade TeamRelive highlights from the Cardinals who were named to the 2010s All-Decade Team.

Cover 2 Clips - Justin Murray SignsCraig Grialou and Mike Jurecki discuss OL Justin Murray and what the offensive line position looks like before the draft.

Kingsbury Want To 'Be Better" In Year TwoHead Coach Kliff Kingsbury meets with the media and talks draft preparation, free agency and entering his second year with the team.

Kliff Kingsbury - Arizona Cardinals' trade for DeAndre Hopkins will be official by draftCardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said Tuesday that he has no doubt the trade that landed wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins from the Texans in return for running back David Johnson will be completed before the NFL draft begins on April 23.

Cardinals WR Christian Kirk expected to see fantasy football dip in 2020Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Christian Kirk might see his fantasy football production go down following the arrival of wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.

3 Cardinals make The Athletic's 'best to wear every jersey number'Larry Fitzgerald was joined by two past Arizona Cardinals who were named by The Athletic as the top players to wear their respective jersey numbers.

Trio of Cardinals make NFL, Hall of Fame 2010s All-Decade teamArizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald, cornerback Patrick Peterson and pass-rusher Chandler Jones made the 2010s All-Decade Team.

Really weird prop bets for a remote 2020 NFL DraftHow many dogs or cats will appear in the first round of the remotely produced NFL Draft? This is a thing you can put money on.

NFL Draft: Teams told to prepare to pick virtually because of coronavirusA league memo advised teams to prepare to conduct the NFL Draft virtually, with team personnel at home instead of in the facilities.

Five things to know about new Cardinals DT Jordan PhillipsCardinals DT Jordan Phillips discussed his fit on a new team, his bowling talent and a hectic past few weeks that included the birth of his daughter.

DeAndre Hopkins calls Cardinals 'classy,' asks for Arizona food staplesReceiver DeAndre Hopkins answered questions from fans and asked for food and sight-seeing suggestions in the Phoenix area during a live Instagram stream.

Kingsbury: Cardinals' remote operations for NFL Draft not all that badThere are bigger problems in the world than a remote NFL Draft. There are even streamlined parts of the process, said Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury.

9 Arizona Cardinals offseason questions, answered by Kliff KingsburyWhen will DeAndre Hopkins officially be a Cardinal? Is the team working on a deal to re-sign free agent center A.Q. Shipley?

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How Joe Rogan and Eric Weinstein Sinned – Thrive Global

Posted: at 5:54 pm

I dont know who discovered water but I doubt it was a fish. ~ Marshall McLuhan

Astonishing! You mean that you learned all of this JUST through physics? ~ The Dalai Lama to Anton Zeilinger upon completing a tour of his Innsbruck laboratory, as recounted by Alan Wallace.

Linconscient, cest le discours de lAutre. ~ Jacques Lacan

One mountain, many paths. ~ Buddhist adage

To sin: to miss the mark.

Eric Weinstein and I both studied at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1980s, but I doubt Weinstein was as interested in Professor Philip Rieffs work as I was. Nor did Weinstein appear particularly interested in the sociologist when Rabbi David Wolpe mentioned him during an episode of The Portal. Weinstein is what Rieff would call a bagels-and-lox Jew, a cultural Jew, but not a philosophical Jew. And this is where Joe Rogan and Eric Weinsteins latest three hour podcast missed the mark: for the synergy between the two men was conspicuous in its absence. During the final 30 minutes of the episode, when Weinstein discussed his 14 dimensional theory, Rogan should have wailed, You should try DMT, man! because that would have landed them firmly on common ground, or rather in common ethers where physics intertwines with spirituality. Until Weinstein meditates on how Sefirot relates to and interacts with Ein Sof, and maya relates to and interacts with Brahman and sunyata, he will not be able to construct the formulas he is so yearning to create.

So is space travel (without rocketships) possible?Absolutely.Is time travel possible?Absolutely.But first you have to concede that space and time are illusory; they are constructions of human consciousness, the way we happen to make sense of phenomena.

Physics is one subset of science; it is an hermeneutics, a theory of interpretation, a lens. Biology is another. Economics is another. Painting is another. Music is another.

Human consciousness is influenced by the systems of thought that human beings have created (or that have evolved or emerged, however you care to frame it). Such systems include science, capitalism, American democracy (wherein 2 of the last 5 presidents lost the popular vote), the arts, education, property ownership, competition, sports, travel, transportation, work, banking, currency/money/credit, the future, government, justice, law, history, race, sexuality, media, entertainment, religion, freedom, authority and as I discuss in my bookHow to Survive Your Childhood Now That Youre an Adult: A Path to Authenticity and Awakening,The Myth of Romance.

And then under the above systems fall additional subsets: for example, medicine would fall under science, pharmaceuticals and surgery would fall under medicine, appendectomies and heart transplants would fall under surgery, and so on.

Weinsteins first episode of The Portal was riveting and brilliant because he and his friend and employer Peter Thiel agreed that all systems have been corrupted.

So the common ground that I imagined watching unfold between Rogan and Weinstein would have been as such:

What is the nature of reality?

Weinstein could have offered a perspectives such as Kants: There is an objective reality out there but we can never be certain of our subjective understandings of that reality. And then Joe could have offered something more pedestrian such as, The nature of reality? Thats a stupid question, man! which would have been a humorous update of the Buddhas usage of the word (translated in English as) unprofitable. Yes, maybe a lot of Western philosophy is composed of unprofitable questions. It is distinctly possible.

Then, they could have discussed

What are the limitations of human perception?

To which Joe could have offered that fractals remain invisible to the human eye without enhancements such as DMT for himself and artists such as Alex Gray, or absinthe and other spirits for artists such as Braque, Picasso and Duchamp.

Then, they could have discussed

What are the limitations of human consciousness?

Can you imagine infinity or is the best your mind can offer are placeholders for such unfathomable concepts?

And then they could have delved into philosophy of mind and discussed

What are the categories of consciousness? Or, how does human consciousness chunk reality? Spatially? Temporally? How else?

Then

What are the systems of thought that influence the way we think?

Or as Joe might phrase it

Why do we think the shit that we think?

Wherein Eric could ask Jamie to pull up Foucault and systems of thought on Wikipedia and then Lacan regarding the unconscious.

And then

How have those systems of thought become corrupted?

We already know why those systems became corrupted: because power corrupts and human beings primarily will choose satisfying their own ephemeral hedonic treadmills than looking out for the greater good. This is why regulations ensure secure yet limited freedom while the neo-liberal free market is self-terminating, as Weinsteins friend Daniel Schmactenberger so astutely observes. And if many of the above systems have been corrupted and are amidst self-terminating or imploding, then the final questions would be

What are the next systems after capitalism, currency/money, property ownership and how can we help facilitate a smooth as possible transition to the next way human beings interact?

I love how Thomas Piketty phrased it the opening of his new book: Every human society must justify its inequalities: unless reasons for them are found, the whole political and social edifice stands in danger of collapse. Every epoch therefore develops a range of contradictory discourses and ideologies for the purpose of legitimizing the inequality that already exists or that people believe should exist.

Pimps up, Hos Down. Welcome to the Jungle.

Is human consciousness with all of its quirks and foibles capable of creating sustainable, incorruptible, compassionate, equitable systems?

One fundamental problem is that human consciousness appears to be primarily an either/or system. Weinstein goes into several binary possibilities about his theory late in the podcast. He starts Either Im crazyORI have something (of note) either either. Eric, its a particleANDa wave. You are BOTH crazy AND you have something. So this seems to be a tremendous foible or propensity of consciousness: constantly juxtaposing. Black and white. Sun and moon. Male and female.

And this foible manifests as dialectics both within science and in common discourse. Thesis plus antithesis equals synthesis. But what if reality is more akin to a Jackson Pollock painting and human consciousness inflicts order onto chaos by imposing artificial dialectics? And are their psychological ramifications to perpetual oppositions? R. D. Laing thought that schizophrenics had the most accurate perception of reality.

The mandate of science to ascribe causality; as I have stated elsewhere,ignoramuses conflate correlation and causality, which is one reason that science has become fatally corrupted. A brief search on the Internet will show you that people believe they can prove virtually anything scientifically; however, most scientific studies can be and are eventually refuted.

According to Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle we cannot measure the position and momentum of a particle at the same time. There are infinite variables that compose the matrix of reality; it is impossible to hold enough variables constant in reality to accurately measure anything. Yes, on paper and in graphs we can make if/then approximations but if you deconstruct the field of economics it is easy to discern that it is more of an art than a science and most economic winners are luckier than they are smart.

Including the dimensions of percipients and measurement instruments in 14 dimensional theory is an act of post-Einsteinium genius, but Weinstein is at his best when discussing his brother Brets discovery that the mice used in laboratory experiments are genetically disparate from mice in the wild and may have therefore corrupted a good deal of the results when experiments were conducted using those mice.This is exactly the type of exegesis for which these irreverant podcasts shine: dismantling the old regime and legacy media by exposing hypocrisies, contradictions, and lies and offering new, more accurate, more authentic narratives, narratives that do not depend on anyones bottom line.

Which is why both Rogan and Weinstein undermine their own causes by pumping and pimping sponsors. Both are sufficiently wealthy to never earn another penny and live at the same level of comfort they and their families have become accustomed to for the rest of their lives. By accepting money to advertise products for others they become part of the problem.

Funny, both Rogan and Weinstein respect Tulsi Gabbard because she cannot be bought. Do you not smell the hypocrisy? Or does this betray jealousy, ladies?

In my article,The Problem with Ayahuasca,I argue that ayahuasca is not a hallucinogenic; using Vedanta I argue that maya everything we perceive through our five senses and chunk into narratives is the hallucination. We are seduced by the blue pills of our Matrixs fictions such as, that we live in a meritocracy and will be rewarded for working hard. What folly!

Heres my wishbone to pick with Joe Rogan: I am saddened that the universe/mystery/Brahman/God/sunyata/Eif Sof has not yet allowed you to become one of the animals you have murdered at the second your arrow pierces the unsuspecting animals heart. I appreciate the commitment of a murderer who eviscerates his own victims, in the same way that Bill Maher said, Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, its not cowardly. However, there are consequences of living in a society that murders 50,000 cows per hour, and billions and billions of other animals per year. Ever hear of climate change?

While their discussion of professional wrestling was a great analogy to unveil the intentional theatre of Donald Trump, I propose that Rogan and Weinstein have sinned by missing the opportunity to enlist a wide audience in a methodological new narrative regarding how we attain the next society -preferably before we blow ourselves off of the planet or the earth hemorrhages the cancer known as humanity from itself via tornadoes, tsunamies, hurricanes, volcanoes, plagues, viruses and myriad other problems for which Weinsteins matzah offers neither escape nor solace.

As opposed to say Native Americans who lived as part of Gaia, Christian-Scientific-Capitalism (or the way it has evolved) has placed a primacy on humankind and thus licensed us to be sanctimonious apex predators, conduct grotesque experiments on fellow people, murder billions of animals for meat and fur, pollute the oceans, drill and frack, contaminate the ozone layer, and make the earths climates unstable, as well as continously justify the exploitation of others under the guise of bullshit meritocracy.

And where Weinstein is correct in being contra equality of outcome, he should recognize equality of outcome as a straw man propped up by myopic self-righteous blowhards such as Jordan Peterson. What we should agree on is Equality of OPPORTUNITY. So while reparations for slavery may have unintended psychological ramifications and be useful primarily in assuaging our collective guilt for slavery, as a society we need to figure out a way that all people start on more-or-less equal footing and Warren Buffets lucky gene pool and its requisite nepotism are minimized.

Weinstein is right; human beings are terrible shepherds of the planet earth.

Trump is a symptom; not a cause.

Weinsteins 14 dimensional theory appears to include both McLuhans aforementioned fish as well as Schrdringers Cat, but The Portal will remain a cul-de-sac until people like Rogan and Weinstein admit that white males and the systems we built such as capitalism are the cause of most of our addictions and the planets afflictions.

Einstein said, No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created it. Through his use of DMT, Joe Rogan has had insights into other levels of reality beyond human consciousness; however, he possessed neither the erudition nor acumen to discuss them intelligently with Weinstein. So the next time your hanging out with Eric at the back bar of the Comedy Store, Joe, please tell him that youve already visited Jupiter and Neptune and you didnt need his fellow Penn alumnus Elon Musk to propel you there.

Maybe human consciousness remains in the maya part of the Matrix and trapped on earth because we have become addicted to the taste (of power)? Our predatory proclivities and will to power allowed us to crawl out of the primordial stew, learn how to farm, build glorious cities, create miraculous inventions and channel magnificent music and art. At this pivotal moment in history, lets put searching for the source code on the back burner and instead develop new systems of thought that hinder and alter the predatory and ultimately self-terminating impulses of human consciousness.

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Preventing Coronavirus Exposure When You Have Psoriasis and Eczema – Everyday Health

Posted: at 5:53 pm

Living with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis, or eczema, means Im always thinking twice about what might exacerbate these skin conditions. I need to especially consider what in my environment might trigger itchiness or rashes. Now, as were all faced with the novel coronavirus, Im even more vigilant about how practices such as frequent hand-washing and disinfecting may affect my health.

Take, for example, a recent shopping trip to my local Costco. I grabbed a shopping cart before entering, much like any other time. On this visit, though, a bleach wipe container sat on a table inside the door. I dutifully took a wipe to disinfect the cart handle. Then I looked at my hands, wondering if I should wipe them too and thinking about how it might irritate my skin.

The Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) website lists ways to protect yourself from exposure to the coronavirus. Im already at a higher risk for serious illness because I have asthma. Im also concerned that I might be at a higher risk because I take a biologic to treat psoriasis.

RELATED: What You Need to Know About the New Coronavirus if You Have Asthma

The National Psoriasis Foundation Medical Boards recommendations for those with psoriatic disease state that patients with severe disease, those on potentially immunosuppressive therapies and those presenting with comorbid conditions may be at a higher risk for infection. They recommend patients contact their healthcare providers office with any concerns related to treatments such as biologics.

Even if you are not in a higher risk group for COVID-19, the public health message is for everyone to follow measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

A repeated message to stop the spread is to clean hands frequently, ideally with soap for at least 20 seconds. If soap is not available, then hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol serves as a replacement. Unfortunately, frequently cleaning my hands dries them out. Soaps and hand sanitizers can contain perfumes that my skin reacts to as well.

The American Academy of Dermatology Association (AAD) recommends that you leave some water on your hands when drying them and apply hand cream or ointment while theyre still damp. The AAD also points out that dermatologists recommend using a cream or ointment that contains mineral oil or petrolatum and says its fragrance-free and dye-free.

Another CDC guideline is to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth, because they can serve as pathways for the virus to enter the lungs and throat. Germs can spread when you touch a contaminated surface, such as a doorknob or countertop, and then touch your face.

Touching the face is something people often do without even noticing. A study published in February 2015 in the Journal of Infection Control observed that students touched their faces 23 times an hour, with 44 percent of touches involving a mucous membrane. With rashes on my face, including my eyelids, it can be very difficult for me not to touch my face.

On their website, the National Eczema Association responded to questions related to the coronavirus, including how to avoid touching facial eczema. Their first recommendation is to practice distraction techniques such as playing handheld video games, arts and crafts, or playing a musical instrument.

They also recommend using competing responses, which replace one behavior with another. For example, every time I want to touch my face, I might snap my fingers or touch my leg instead. They conclude, If you do need to deliberately touch your face, wash your hands first; avoid the nose, eyes and mouth; and perhaps use a clean cloth or Kleenex.

Since psoriasis and eczema on my face is an ongoing issue, I follow my facial skin treatments carefully to reduce irritation and itchiness. Contact your healthcare provider or dermatologist if you need to address skin concerns on your face.

Keeping social distance to prevent the coronavirus is critical, but it can be very isolating especially for people living with a chronic condition.

Fortunately, we live in an age where people connect through a variety of electronic means, such as video and text chat, virtual communities, or online games and activities. I felt uplifted and encouraged after recently joining a church group on a video chat. If you are sheltering at home, you may have more time to catch up with old friends and family.

Virtual connections can even help you communicate with your doctor. TheNPF Medical Board, for example, recommends telehealth appointments whenever possible for routine visits during the pandemic. Both my daughters successfully used telehealth for their recent doctor appointments. I utilized messaging to discuss my psoriasis with my dermatologist.

RELATED: Your Everyday Guide to Telemedicine

Living with skin diseases might add some complication to following CDC guidelines, but they can be overcome. Lets pledge to do so together to flatten the curve and save lives.

Here are some resources to help answer your questions about managing psoriasis and eczema these days:

National Eczema Association (NEA): Ask the Ecz-perts: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

National Psoriasis Foundation (NPF): Coronavirus Concerns?

NPF Psound Bytes podcast: Ep. 64 "Coronavirus and Psoriatic Disease: Your Questions Answered"

You can read more about my experiences in myblogfor Everyday Health and on mywebsite.

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Natural Moisturizers That Will Soothe Dry Skin From All Your Hand Washing – HuffPost Canada

Posted: at 5:53 pm

Were all washing our hands multiple times a day to help keep us safe from COVID-19, but the non-stop scrubbing leaves our hands a lot drier than were used to.

Frequent washing draws moisture from the skin, and for those of us that are prone to dry skin, eczema, or have other sensitivities, something to soothe our hands post-wash is a necessity (not to mention a relief).

WATCH: Songs thatll help you remember how long to wash your hands. Story continues below.

Weve rounded up a selection of some of our favourite natural hand creams to nourish and soften our skin, all of which can be safely delivered in Canada.

Clinically tested and proven to protect against excessive dryness and eczema, we keep a tube of Skinfix Hand Repair Cream at the ready for repeated hand washings, and pop it into our pockets for post-sanitizing moisture when were out for a socially distanced walk.

A combination of healing botanicals and natural oils including colloidal oatmeal and sweet almond oil relieves our hands of itching and irritation while providing the nourishment we need.

A luxurious treat for tired and dry hands, the uplifting floral fragrance of this cream helps us unwind, while argan oil, shea butter, and aloe vera nourishes our skin with vitamins and fatty acids.

VladimirFLoyd via Getty Images

We also appreciate that Kahina donates a portion of their annual revenue to support the communities of the Moroccan workers who harvest the argan oil.

This gluten-free and vegan lotion is perfect for hands (or anywhere else on the body!) and most of the ingredients are sourced from local Canadian growers.

We keep our bottle next to the sink for a simple pump or two after washing our hands, and we love the fresh scent of rosemary, citrus, and lavender. The notes of lavender in particular help calm us after a tough day studies have shown that lavender can help reduce stress and anxiety.

Weve found a relaxing self-hand massage before bed is a soothing way to wind down, and this lotion is a lovely addition to our mindful ritual.

The cream nourishes our skin like a dream thanks to organic argan oil, olive oil, and an aromatic blend of essential oils.

A blend of sustainably sourced shea butter, palm and coconut oil gathered through womens collectives in Ghana repairs and soothes dry, sensitive skin.

We love using this cream on our hands as its enriched with vitamin E, which has anti-aging properties and can help reduce inflammation.

WATCH: Six tips to keep your hands moisturized from all that washing. Story continues below.

Unscented and perfect for tucking into a pocket or keeping on the nightstand, this made-in-Toronto blend of camellia, hemp and meadowfoam oil protects our hands night and day.

The fresh scent and smooth feel of this easily absorbed hydrating hand cream almost makes up for the fact that were washing our hands a dozen times a day.

Made of a dermatologically tested and certified natural blend of sea buckthorn (traditionally used to repair and renew skin), sesame, and essential oils, this cream works wonders on our chapped hands.

We got a giggle from Cocoon Apothecarys cute product name (a bit ironic since were missing hugs and physical contact right now), and the Touchy Feely Lotion itself is one of our faves to protect our skin from dryness and the effects of ongoing hand washing.

The spring-fresh scent of lavender and rosemary boosts our mood, while organic olive oil helps our hands stay soft.

This soothing hand lotion, made from a healing blend of lavender, aloe and grapeseed, instantly moisturizes our skin and uplifts our spirits with a soothing scent.

Available in either a convenient pump dispenser or a portable tube, the upside to all this hand washing (asides from the health benefits) could be the opportunity to heal our skin with this aromatic and therapeutic lotion.

For extra sensitive skin, or for those of us who are feeling the effects of multiple lathers, this cream is a gentle, fragrance-free option to protect our hands.

Hypoallergenic and dermatologist tested, this oatmeal-based cream instantly soothes and helps to gently moisturize and soften.

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Here’s Why Regenerons Stock Is Worth More Than Its Coronavirus Work – Motley Fool

Posted: at 5:53 pm

Regeneron's (NASDAQ:REGN)stock has increased by 34% in 2020 as the company and its partner Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY) initiated two large scale phase 2/3 clinical trials in March where it is providing an existing drug, Kevzara, to treat patients with severe COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. This development has investors optimistic about its prospects. But Regeneron's financial performance for the full year will be driven by the company's core business of treating eye diseases, asthma, eczema, and cancer.

Let's take a closer look at the biotech stock's main revenue drivers to decide if it's a buy today.

Image Source: Getty Images

As of April 9, there have been over 1.4 million worldwide confirmed COVID-19 cases and almost 90,000 virus-related deaths. While there are no approved drugs to effectively treat COVID-19 patients, many companies, including Regeneron, have commenced clinical trials to determine whether existing compounds used for other diseases can help these patients recover.

In March, Regeneron and Sanofi announced that they initiated two large phase 2/3 trials to assess whether Kevzara can prevent lung damage and respiratory distress in patients with severe COVID-19. Regeneron and Sanofi currently market Kevzara as a treatment for adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Kevzara blocks the interleukin-6 (IL-6) protein, which may cause a patient's immune system to overreact and damage the lungs.

Recently, a preliminary study performed at a Munich Hospital found patients who have a minimal amount of IL-6 protein have significantly lower rates of respiratory failure and may not need mechanical ventilation. Earlier, a small Chinese study showed that patients who received Actemra, Roche Holdings' (OTC:RHHBY) IL-6 receptor antagonist and competing RA drug, were able to be discharged from the hospital and return home.

Eylea, an injectable drug that prevents blindness, grew by 14% in the U.S. to over $4.6 billion in 2019 (about 60% of Regeneron's sales).Eylea's revenues should continue to increase as it the company fully launches a pre-filled syringe delivery option for physicians and continues to market to the drug to adults with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a disease that affects almost 11 million people in the U.S and is the leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 and older. Eylea prevents the disease from progressing to an advanced stage and results in rapid, large sustained improvement for patients with mild to moderate AMD.

Regeneron will also benefit from growth in its diabetic eye business as it has established a dedicated salesforce to specifically contact specialists that see these types of patients. The company is devoting a significant amount of resources to improve on the low current rates of diagnosis and treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR). DR is a complication of diabetes that causes damage to the retina and can lead to severe vision loss. Early treatment with Eylea, however, can halt the progress of DR, reducing the risk of blindness. This is a welcome development for the almost 8 million people who have DR.

Dupixent sales reported by Sanofi grew by almost 151% to over $2.3 billion in 2019 as physicians prescribed the drug to other adult patients with eczema and treated patients in three new sub-segments (asthma, children with eczema, and adults with chronic long-term sinus inflammation linked to nasal polyps). While Sanofi records all of global Dupixent sales on its income statement, it paid Regeneron over $1.4 billion in contribution revenue in 2019, up 40%, relating to royalties and profits from Dupixent (and two other drugs).

Dupixent should continue to grow as it is used for other patients in these three markets and it will enjoy further growth if it obtains approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for using the drug for asthma in pediatrics, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, eczema in pediatrics, and several other indications.

Regeneron generated $176 million in revenue from Libatyo in 2019, up from almost $15 million in 2018. Libtayo treats advanced Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma (CSCC), a form of skin cancer that accounts for an estimated 7,000 deaths each year in the U.S. As of November 2019, its share of U.S. patients with CSCC was 43%, up from 3% when it was launched in October 2018.

Regeneron is currently testing Libtayo in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) patients, cervical cancer, and Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC; the most common form of skin cancer). Libtayo's revenues should increase in the near-term as physicians continue to prescribe the drug for their CSCC patients and the drug is eventually used in other types of cancers.

I consider to be Regeneron a buy right now because it has ample opportunity to increase the revenue and profits it currently generates from its three key drugs, Eylea, Dupixent, and Libtayo. While investors will be waiting for further updates on Kevzara, they should focus and monitor Regeneron's progress in expanding its the diabetic eye segment, further penetrating the three emerging areas for Dupixent, gaining market share in CSCC, and obtaining FDA approval for treating other indications with these drugs.

While it's easy to be enthralled by its progress in the COVID-19 space, investors thinking about buying Regeneron would do well to consider the stock from a more holistic stance. And it looks good from here.

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