By David Futrelle
One of Reddit’s Men Going Their Own Way, a gentleman known as Donald-Hump-Jr, has convinced himself that zinc is the magical coronavirus cure-all, and that everyone who doesn’t have enough of the magical mineral in their system will likely die from the virus.
This last bit, evidently, makes Mr. Hump happy.
If Coronavirus is really hurting those with Zinc deficiency (old people, high carb diets, Soy Boys, possibly vegan), wouldn’t it be hilarious if all those who eat red meat (high levels of Zinc absorption/retention) remained at the end?
I am no expert at this, but would it be a great male reset if all this virus was due to poor eating habits that created a generation of pussified men?
Yes, what better punishment for eating a lot of vegetables than horrific death?
Setting aside Mr.. Hump’s inhumanity for a moment, his zinc fetish isn’t borne out by the scientific evidence. It’s true that one of the results of zinc deficiency is a weakened immune system, which could leave those without enough zinc especially susceptible to pneumonia. But zinc deficiency is relatively rare in the developed world — in which Mr. Hump presumably lives — and can be remedied with supplements and relatively small changes in diet. If zinc deficiency does indeed make getting the coronavirus a bigger risk, the people it’s going to hurt aren’t western “soy boys” but poor people in the developing world, where zinc deficiency is much more common.
Also, “soy boys” aren’t really a thing; memes aside, there really isn’t a subculture of “pussified men” whose pussification is due to the excessive intake of soy. Meanwhile, vegans, who do run the risk of zinc deficiency, don’t need to start eating red meat; they can instead add things like sprouts, baked beans and wholegrain bread to their diet, if they don’t eat them already. (Soybeans are actually high in zinc; it just doesn’t absorb well.)
And if Mr. Hump really thinks that high doses of zinc are some sort of coronavirus cure — as he seems to suggest — he should think again. While zinc can help to shorten the length of a cold, it doesn’t help with flu, and too much zinc can cause an assortment of health problems and potential drug interactions.
So, no, there won’t be a “great male reset,” and drinking a soy latte won’t mark you for death.
Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.
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@Ohlmann
It’s possible this is an MRA, but they said “the left today,” which implies that they were complaining about the current state of the left, which dirtbag leftists do often. Therefore, I’m inclined to think this is a dirtbag leftist.
OT: Remember Aella and her thoughts on trans* people from a few months ago? Well, she has some more bad takes (Cw: transphobia).
TL;DR is she refuses to view trans* folx (especially non-binary folx, whom she calls “genderpeople”) as their genders and wants to tell them that.
@Yutolia So sorry about your cousin.
Yes, people like blaming outsiders for disease. My husband got grief from one of his coworkers for having a foreign wife, and therefore being a risk factor for bringing COVID-19 to work. This in spite of the fact that I haven’t left the island since October and the coworker’s wife works at the hospital. Oh and two other coworkers had a trip to Italy.
Of course plenty of other people put up with far worse bigotry. I’ll just put him in a story sometimes and maybe just kill him horribly (only in fiction of course). One advantage of no tour guiding work is that I’m getting more writing done.
Sharing some good news – I have some Twitter buddies who are nurses in the NY/NJ area, and this week they’ve had a couple patients successfully extubated and discharged home to finish their recovery.
YEAH.
I’m so sorry, Yutolia.
@Naglfar
Gotta love the “you can’t change your gender because that’s how the society sees you”. I can understand if someone goes around saying that no one can change their biology, but to say that we can’t change society? No wonder there’s no universal suffrage and slavery is still legal and all that.
@Masse_mysteria
So if gender is solely based on perception, then does that mean that butch women are men? I know several butch lesbians who regularly get mistaken for men. So much for “we can always tell.”
I’ve actually seen TERFs flip this and demand that trans* women somehow force men to not assault us in men’s restrooms and to reduce gender roles to reduce dysphoria. This obviously makes no sense because a) we aren’t men and b) that puts it on us to not be assaulted, which is classic victim blaming. I fully support reducing stereotyped and enforced gender roles (and TERFs definitely do not support that), but that doesn’t eliminate dysphoria. Even if I lived in a society where there were no gendered expectations of roles, I would still want to transition because of body-related dysphoria, and I would assume many other trans* people feel the same.
@ Yutolia the Laissez-Fairy Pronoun Boner:
All sympathies
@Naglfar
Seems like a lot of words for a circular argument. “I don’t think trans folk are their gender, so they aren’t.”
And what’s up with folks confusing GNC folks and trans folks?
@Bakunin
I think it’s that TERFs hate both, so they conflate them together so they can smear both with the same brush. They do the same thing with trans* women and drag queens.
TERFs see anything that challenges an enforced binary dichotomy of male and female as a threat. GNC people, while not crossing or directly challenging the binary, make it harder for TERFs and patriarchal conservatives to place everyone in neat boxes of male vs. female on sight.
Of course, once in a while TERFs will pay lip service to (some) GNC folks because they think that if they pretend to like butch lesbians there will be less trans* men (an argument wrong on multiple levels). They still hate them, as House of Lords member Ruth Hunt disscussed here.
@Yutolia
I’m sorry for your lost. If you, yourself struggle with any substance abuse problems, I can link you to some resources that helped me greatly if the grief and situation is taking a toll on you.
@Naglfar
I’d also like to know where I fit in this model. As an adult, I’ve gone to a school where the majority of people I came in contact with assumed I was a guy, and then worked at a job where majority of people assumed I was a woman.
Maybe it’s just that
didn’t change my gender, but the people around me did? Or maybe I should try to step up my androgyne game so that people don’t reach consensus and I can exist without gender?
Ontario may be nearing the peak now. New cases over 11% consistently for a while, but only around 8% the last two days.
OT:
Survived another retail shift. Have to wear health masks and sanitize, entire thing is like Black Friday.
Worst is that store isn’t even essential it’s a craft store but CEO claims it’s “essential.”
@Ooglyboggles
..What.
I’m hunkered down here at home with husband unit. His job is “essential” but at least the nature of it is such that he can VPN in and do it that way. Fortunately we are both introverts so the cabin fever is reasonably minimal.
My job as a hardware cashier is also “essential”, but I’m taking sick and vacation time through at least the 20th. At least my place of work had enough decency to offer two extra weeks of sick time, more for those in vulnerable groups. Contractors gotta get stuff ‘cos they’re still contracting, I understand them. You need a lightbulb or Drano or a plumbing part and make it quick, good. But every brainless dipshit and their family was treating it like a staycation instead of a pandemic and buying everything in groups and thinking it’s a GREAT time to redo their goddamn floor. My own safety is one thing, but putting my diabetic husband at risk so Karen and her three spawn can touch and breathe over everything and act like entitled hellbeasts because we’re undermanned and don’t have sanitizer yet? Fuck that. I’m not putting my family’s health and lives at risk so some CEO can rake in a bigger bonus later on this year any more than necessary.
Also, the internet is utter shit and I can’t play MMOs as a result and every trip to the grocery store feels like Mission: Impossible meaning I’m rationing my ice cream stores for myself like whoa. I am a grumpy Dakry.
@Yutolia
I’m very sorry to hear about your cousin. 🙁
(Sorry about the OTness of the prior post, I got my comment threads mixed up.)
@Yutolia
I am so sorry.
@Oogly: you have the bad luck to work for those thieves and pseudo-Christian assholes known as Hobby Lobby?
@Bananananana dakry: Short-Haired, Fat, and Deranged
@Nequam
Sort of yeah.
I can’t speak for other dirtbag leftists, but I personally value compassion and empathy very highly. That’s why I hate seeing them wasted on people who have none in themselves.
@Bojo_corpseman
Spoken like a true hypocrite.
@Boso the dead clown over here
Wow man, you sound like batman villain, but not a good one like joker, more like Riddler territory. Or the creepy little scientist that turns into manbat.
@Bojo : you don’t know what compassion and empathy are, then.
@Yutolia
I’m so sorry to hear that your cousin died. What a tragic end to a young life. Stay strong.
@Bojo
Ick. So unfunny.