In the times we’re living in, it’s nearly impossible (notice I said, “nearly”) to find useful and accurate information. If you are relying on Mark Zuckerberg’s Lunchroom (aka Facebook) for your science updates, then more often than not (always?) you are going to be misinformed or just plain wrong.

As a public service, I’m going to devote some space here at the JBE to science. Perhaps I’ll start doing these weekly until Janet Mills lets us out of our bunkers. Let me do the heavy lifting and thinking for you.

Did you know that the “dreaded” Michael Savage is a scientist? Yes, he is. In fact, he is has a biology degree. He also has his master’s in medical anthropology. Then, he picked up a Ph.D in nutritional ethnomedicine from UCal-Berkeley. He next went to South Africa to study medicinal herbs. This was well before he ended up on the radio. He has more scientific credentials than most of you (and me), that’s for sure. But of course, don’t listen to a scientist unless he’s in the tank for your team.

Back in 1986, he wrote a book, Maximum Immunity. The book addressed the body’s immune system and how to fortify it against infections, cancer, and arthritis, along with other diseases. I wish I’d grabbed it at the used book fair last summer when I saw it available for $2. Now, it’s selling used on Amazon for close to $500.

Michael Savage, an actual scientist

Just this morning, Peter Alexander, the White House reporter (mimbo?) for NBC was hosting the weekend edition of the Today Show. He opened the broadcast by spending 15 minutes choreographing another media mocking of the president. I say “mocking” because that’s what television news has become—a never-ending equivalent of ring-around-the-rosy that goes something like this: “Orange Man bad; Orange Man bad.”

Is Peter Alexander a scientist? Is Anderson Cooper a scientist? Or, Rachel Maddow? No, no, and no! But Savage is. But of course, we can’t listen to him because he’s supported the president in the past (and also honestly criticized him, too) and isn’t in the tank for the Democrats. But I digress. Back to science.

We are hearing things about Vitamin D and UV light. Should you be supplementing with Vitamin D? Well, maybe. But, if you are a person with a suppressed immune system, then taking Vitamin D supplements would be unwise. If you are relatively healthy and want to supplement with Vitamin D, then 50 to 500 IUs daily is the recommended level. But, consult your physician or other healthcare expert. I don’t pretend to be one. I’m just pretty good at doing basic research and connecting dots. I’ve been doing that as a blogger for nearly 20 years.

I’ll end with this on Vitamin D. Most of us know that we get Vitamin D from sunlight. So getting out and getting sunlight (and fresh air) is a positive thing. Of course, like most things, moderation matters. Standing out in direct sunlight for hours on end without any kind of UV screen can cause skin cancer. But you already knew that, right?

This study is worth reading. It’s science-based, so I’ll leave it up to you how much or how little you choose to access.

Back to Savage for a moment and thinking. I don’t expect some of you lurkers and some of the people who acted like you thought my son was someone special in the days and weeks following his death to understand. For a group with far more academic credentials than I have, you are terribly predictable and reliable in your liberal quiescence to the standard narrative. And honestly, if Mark were still around, I know he’d be wincing, reading that his good ole’ dad brought up Savage and his science credentials. But what was always true with my son: he’d hear me out and offer  least worthy counter-arguments. And he’d never write me off. The rest of you, however, will just go back to your same old biases sources.

How/where have you cultivated your own critical thinking skills? Do you actually have any? I think it’s imperative for me and everyone else to work at holding multiple ideas simultaneously. We need to resist the binary default.

No person, race, ideology is inherently good or superior. Likewise, no person, race, or ideology is inherently bad, or evil (in the case of the Orange Man). Resist lumping people together, or believing your ideas and political ideology is superior.

Let me leave you with this on sunlight (UV effects) and the novel coronavirus. The president mentioned that UV light might be a possible cure for those affected by coronavirus.

There are a host of actual studies (science, my scientific “friends”) that actually speak to UV light and inhaled therapeutics. They are worth consulting.

So Trump actually said this about UV light.

“…supposing you brought the light inside the body, which you can do either through the skin or in some other way. And I think you said you’re going to test that too… So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute – that’s pretty powerful.”

While he’s not a scientist. He doesn’t say he is and at the end of the quote that everyone is talking about, he defers to the doctors.

Trump was free associating. If you’ve ever done that (as I have as a public speaker), then you know that you’ll say things (thinking out loud) that if taken out of context, can get you in trouble. And Trump gets himself into trouble, often. I’ll leave it at that.

So, if you are actually interested in science and being honest about Mr. Trump’s statements he’s being excoriated for making, then there are numerous studies worth reading. This one on UV blood irradiation is one of them. But if you just want to keep walking around like zombies mindlessly chanting “Orange Man bad; Orange Man, bad,” take a fucking hike (with your face mask) somewhere else. It’s more than likely, you already have.