The silent killer

[Magical Realist]

My heart goes out to James Vanderbeek's big beautiful family after his untimely and tragic passing. Remember to screen for colorectal cancer every year! They have kits now you can do it yourself with.

[Image: qHfQ5nS.webp?fbclid=IwY2xjawP9nE5leHRuA2...q12gtwyKRw]

"Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths for both men and women in the U.S. combined. It is projected to cause approximately 55,230 deaths in 2026. Critically, it has become the leading cause of cancer death in people under 50, with mortality rates in this younger group rising by about 1% annually."

[Syne]

Seems the left didn't like him: https://www.fridaythings.com/recent-post...y-wellness

[C C]

Never realized he had so many kids -- would have been eight if not for a couple of miscarriages. Good that a GoFundMe campaign raised well over two million dollars for the family, since cancer treatment apparently gobbled up all his money. Only married to Kimberly for circa 15 years, and then had to depart. She can't exactly go back to her old job, because at least one of the kids probably isn't school age yet.

[C C]

Seems the left didn't like him: https://www.fridaythings.com/recent-post...y-wellness

A year before that, Rolling Stone made him sound like a quiet left-center who was caught between a rock and a hard place, since his wife is vocally anti-vaxx (i.e., he was obligated to support her).

And yet Austin is often viewed as the most liberal city in Texas (due to the campus environment). So maybe Wheal below has it pegged correctly that this is the "psychedelic alt-left". She might be more of a New Ager trying to live a pharma-free "enlightened life".

Before COVID, the establishment recognized that anti-vaxxers were a mix of neo-hippies, apolitical independents, and traditionalists. But now it's narrative can only perceptually discern the latter. If it is a culture without long-term fixed party orientations, nothing surprising about Vanderbeek being temporally anti-Biden (several Democrats would have been saying similar things if they hadn't been gagged from doing so). The advantage of Trump's populism is its ability to attract groups that Republicans classically would not bother to court (especially conspiracy-oriented independents and disgruntled Democrats). 

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/cul...m-1243643/

EXCERPTS: Van Der Beek himself has not openly discussed his views on vaccinations, and his representative did not immediately respond to questions regarding the Van der Beeks’ views on vaccines, or whether they are vaccinated against Covid-19. In one video titled “in loving support of bodily sovereignty,” in which he speaks out in support of abortion rights, he admits he “avoids getting political” on social media.

In the past, Van Der Beek has publicly advocated for vaccines, partnering with AstraZeneca in 2014 for a flu shot awareness campaign. In 2021, the couple partnered with the Red Cross to encourage blood donation, after Kimberly lost two pregancies. Yet he appears to at least be comfortable in Covid denialism and conspiracy theorist circles... [Again, that could be due to needing to support his wife.]

[...] The emerging anti-vaccine climate is largely a result of “overlapping philosophies and ideologies — a hyperindependence fused with a slightly prickly, ‘don’t tread on me, don’t mess with Texas’ [ideology], with elements of new thought and new-age woo,” Jamie Wheal, an author who has written about his general concern over Austin’s growing anti-vaccine scene, previously told Rolling Stone. Wheal characterized this strain of thought as “not the SJW left. It’s more like the psychedelic alt-left. It’s largely apolitical and hyper individualistic. It's a specific thread of uniquely American political spiritual thought, the Great Awakening gone badly sideways.”