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If it weren't for all the media attention would most people have been able to tell? Where was their deep desire for a rational moral explanation of why thousands of people were dying of heart disease?
How about this, rather than filling a gap, lockdowns created the need for lockdownism. I'm coming round to the idea that the most people are simply statists (maybe less true in the US), and such massive government action created the deep desire for a justification. Not in the sense of demanding a justification, but rather wanting to justify it. It is perhaps the same psychological mechanism that allows totalitarian governments to survive for so long just by going big: The state acts, victory!
I mean, it's all the fuck around us dude. I can't walk down a supermarket aisle without being assailed by various low-fat, low-carb, heart-healthy, diet, etc foodstuffs. Walk into a GNC you'll find a hundred supplements designed to help with heart health. The buildup of superstitions about, and inefficient societal reactions to, heart disease probably adds up to plenty if you spread it over time.
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