MAHA Almost Got Me

If you’ve been around here for a bit, you’re probably already sick of my constant griping about how easy it is for someone living on either extreme of the political spectrum to jump to the other side. Horseshoe theory anyone? 

There is nowhere that I find this more apparent than in the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement. Hippies did not spend years growing their own weed only to watch the generations that follow rally behind RFK Jr. because they genuinely believe he is going to make their children healthier. 

But you know what? That kind of rhetoric is exactly what pushes people deeper into the movement and away from reality. Because when suddenly you find your child or your spouse — or yourself — in the midst of a health crisis…you begin to understand how desperation fuels your own vulnerability.  

As some of you know, I’ve been dealing with some health issues lately. In fact, I’m literally editing this article from an infusion chair (I’ll be fine, dw) as I simultaneously attempt to distract myself with writing while I also pray that this is the beginning of the final chapter of this nightmarish phase in my life. 

There are always going to be challenges when life throws you an unexpected curveball. And this saga has been no exception. But one that I wasn’t fully prepared for was how difficult it would be not to fall down an internet rabbit hole when doctors had no idea what tf was going on with my body. 

When this all started, I followed all the “right” steps — I went to the doctor. I got a full workup. We identified areas that needed to be examined and red flags to look out for. And then I had to wait. Wait for additional tests and then results. Wait to see if my body responded to various interventions. Wait to hear back from my doctor when it was clear that she was no longer concerned that we were dealing with something the medical field would describe as urgent (i.e. I wasn’t in imminent danger of dying). But I still knew I wasn’t “well”…I still didn’t feel like myself. So what was I supposed to do in the midst of all that waiting?

My brain often couldn’t focus well enough to write. I didn’t have the energy to socialize. Hell, I could barely go for a walk around the block at first. I began rereading some of my old favorite books since at least if I zoned out I knew the ending anyway. But distractions like that can only take you so far before the space seeps in and your brain fills itself with any negative emotions it can get its hands on — anxiety, fear, uncertainty. 

What if the doctors missed something? What if they’re wrong? What if they don’t find it in time? “It” being whatever boogieman your subconscious has created to stoke your deepest worries. 

I had my weak moments. I pretended to be a doctor discussing an anonymous patient with ChatGPT and provided it with the highlights of my medical records. I tried not to freak out when it told me there was a decent probability something serious was going on. It advised me to go see a medical professional. But I already had! And even as I stopped myself from falling further into the abyss, the algorithm picked up on it. 

Suddenly my TikTok FYP mixed health-focused videos in with the puppy content (my usual feed). It was pretty obvious to spot…amongst the videos with tens of thousands or even millions of likes was one with maybe a few hundred. Generally a lone woman detailing her unique health crisis and how doctors weren’t able to help her, so she had to take matters into her own hands.

Even being aware of what the algorithm was doing, I still found myself watching many of these videos through. Perhaps they had an insight that I could pass along to my doctor and we could finally figure this out. 

I’ve written before about the dangers of getting swept away by one’s social media algorithm. But no one is immune to the siren song of supposedly unlimited (and allegedly true) information at our fingertips. And if all it took was a delay in response from my doctor or an ambiguous test result to get my algorithm churning behind the scenes, I couldn’t help but think about how easy it would be for someone in an even more vulnerable position. Someone concerned about the health of their own child, perhaps? 

Women are at the center of the MAHA movement. More specifically mothers. The majority of the people that I know who have either flirted with or fallen prey to the rhetoric would never claim to support MAGA. To them, the priorities are wholly distinct and they in fact get quite offended if you conflate the two. 

Because at its very core, MAHA has an empathic mission: make people — especially children — healthier. Who could call that ignorant or uncaring? 

The issue of course is how this simple desire has been co-opted into something else entirely. It’s a far cry from mothers simply wanting their children to have access to unprocessed foods to refusing to vaccinate their infants. How did we take such a giant leap? 

I’ll tell you how. By alienating the very real concerns of individuals unsatisfied with the status quo. 

If you were a mother whose child was unwell, and the normal medical interventions weren’t working…what would you do? You would seek out alternate solutions by any means necessary. You would do whatever it took to protect your child. So it’s pretty ignorant and short-sighted to vilify mothers who seek out new ideas when so many people refuse to treat their questions with genuine curiosity. Let alone come to the table with genuine solutions. 

It’s not outlandish to wonder if the pesticides in our fertilizer have an impact on the development of a child’s brain. It’s not insane to question a doctor whose immediate answer is to prescribe intense medication rather than explore the root cause of an issue. And treating very legitimate curiosities — not even concerns! — with disdain is only pushing people further into the grips of a movement that is quickly becoming dangerous. 

MAHA may have begun with a focus on things like reducing processed foods or banning harmful chemicals. But it has quickly devolved into rejecting genuine science and cherry picking alleged solutions that have a real risk of causing more harm than good. 

But the explanations they present seem so simple, so comforting, that it’s no wonder people want to believe they’re true. Especially when modern medicine hasn’t been able to figure out the real answers to questions like what causes autism or why certain people develop severe peanut allergies while others grow out of them. 

As a huge proponent of western medicine, I can simultaneously tout the incredible innovations it’s made to disease eradication and prevention while also accepting that it has limitations. And sometimes even more frustrating than limitations, it has uncertainties. Because every human body is different. Every lived experience its own story. So no single medical solution is going to work exactly the same for every person who employs it. 

It’s realities like this that cause people to seek out the absolute answers that seem to be lurking in every corner of the internet these days. It’s no wonder that people distrust doctors when their child is suffering and their physician refuses to give them the answer. As if they’re hiding it from them. As if it’s a vast conspiracy for them to make more money while your child pays the price (both literally and figuratively). In reality the truth is much simpler and infinitely more depressing — the doctor simply doesn’t know. They need more information. Or this particular case is behaving unexpectedly. If I were a mother in this situation, I would probably lose my mind if a doctor couldn’t give me a straight answer about my child. Hell, I’ve almost lost my mind countless times over the past six months. 

We’re told, especially as women, that we need to advocate for ourselves. Because the medical landscape has limitations. It’s constantly evolving. And we all know that the female body historically has been excluded from the bulk of research. Meaning there is every likelihood that you’re experiencing something that actually hasn’t been thoroughly examined. But that shouldn’t mean turning away from science. Instead it’s important to enable people to advocate for their own unique experiences. To voice valid concerns and questions without condescension or dismissal. To simultaneously embrace a deep respect for science with our own knowledge about our own bodies and lives. 

There’s a reason that medical school takes so many years. Why the bar to making decisions that can impact our health and wellbeing is so extremely high. And no amount of data aggregation and pattern-matching can compete with that. But we do know ourselves better than any doctor could. So it’s just as important to listen to your body as it is to listen to your doctors. 

And when someone in your life expresses dissatisfaction with modern medicine. Or non-organic food. Or brags about how much better they feel when they come back from a week in Europe (you know it’s true). Don’t dismiss them. These are the people who the MAHA movement are targeting. Slowly. With aesthetically pleasing videos promoting an easier, healthier lifestyle where the answers are simple and readily available. Shouting at them that they’re being ignorant for voicing legitimate concerns isn’t going to accomplish anything other than to push them into MAHA’s waiting, open, welcoming prairie-dress clad arms. Don’t be the person who pushes them away. Be the one who pulls them back to balance. 

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