Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said mental illness may be best treated using "faith-based approaches" as opposed to pharmaceuticals.

He gets so close-

Violent crime has risen over precisely the period we have shuttered these psychiatric institutions. And you know what? The number one psychiatric institution today is jail. It’s prison. And they don’t do a very good job. And now you then get the calls to clear the jails or to have commuting of sentences or shortening of sentences. People leave those jails in a worse psychiatric condition, often, than when they even entered.

Yes! Yes!

We can do this again learning from past mistakes without those abuses. I don’t think I want to be pumping psychiatric institutions with pharmaceuticals into people.

Seems reasonable.

Faith-based approaches – there are better ways to do this.

Oh for fuck’s sake.

And, of course, the ironic thing is that Ramaswamy is a pharma bro.

  • ThrowawayOnLemmy@lemmy.world
    126·
    9 months ago

    Ramasmarmy saying whatever he thinks the Republican base wants to hear. So weird seeing him bet all in on a base that despises him.

    • nutbiggums
      591·
      9 months ago

      He hasn’t figured out that he will never win because he isn’t white

      • teft@startrek.website
        421·
        9 months ago

        He probably considers himself white since he isn’t a black man meanwhile the republicans will never see him as anything but non-white. It’s similar thought processes to the South American neo nazis.

    • FlexibleToast@lemmy.world
      221·
      9 months ago

      It’s working so far for him. He’s the rising star in the party. I’m sure there is a portion of the republican electorate that would like to vote for a brown person so they can use it as “evidence” that they aren’t racist. Just like when they claimed racism was over when Obama got elected.

    • psmgx@lemmy.world
      4·
      9 months ago

      Aye. At this point I’m convinced he’s saying anything to get attention and raise money. I also wonder if it’s a play to siphon off extremist votes, but I’m not sure who’d benefit outside of moderates like Chris Christy

      • Socsa@sh.itjust.works
        5·
        9 months ago

        This is literally his brand. His books are actually filled with policy contradictions, because he’s figured out that a significant portion of Americans simply reflect whatever most recent political messaging they’ve heard. There is no attempt at broader synthesis or framework consistency.

        The average voter hears something they like, neuron activation gives them dopamine, and that’s the end of the experience. This entirely explains why there are more than zero people who can vote for Obama and then vote for Trump. Because these are simple folk. The common clay of the new west. You know, morons…

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      This He’s just trying to get a buzzword the religious right can latch onto.

      I bet he’s not even a Christian

  • carl_dungeon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    741·
    9 months ago

    That’s fucking dumb, people kill each other over religion every single day in staggering numbers. Maybe they can institute a program that has speakers from the IRA and the Taliban come in to talk about strong faith.

    I cant believe grown adults believe in fairy tales, it’s absolute insanity.

    • A Phlaming Phoenix@lemm.ee
      322·
      9 months ago

      At the end of Peter Pan, the Lost Boys along with Wendy and the other kids are tied to a mast while Captain Hook monologues at them. Peter has pushed Tinkerbell away, and she’s fading out of existence. It seems all hope is lost.

      But then Peter gets an idea and begins to chant. “I do believe in fairies, I do, I do.” Soon, they’re all chanting it together. “I DO believe in fairies! I DO I DO!”

      And Tinkerbell pops back into existence to save the day. This is what faith is. The idea that if you believe in something hard enough it will pop into existence.

      Of course, it’s a fantasy story for children. I can’t believe grown adults think it’s true, either. It’s absolute insanity, agreed. But that’s where Republicans have to meet their constituents, who apparently live in Never Never Land.

  • LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world
    62·
    9 months ago

    This guy is an even bigger shill than Turd Cruz. He made his money in pharma, his wife is a physician. And yet here he is shilling for FaiTH BaSeD CuRE.

    Fuck off Vivek

  • lolcatnip@reddthat.comEnglish
    45·
    9 months ago

    Fuck George W Bush forever for popularizing “faith based” as a euphemism for people forcing their religion on others.

    • ackzsel@kbin.social
      292·
      9 months ago

      Religion is about control and people exploiting this are 100% sane and know exactly what they’re doing. That’s the scary part.

      • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
        211·
        9 months ago

        Religion is about control

        Turns out that if you can convince people that unless they behave in a certain way and follow a specific set of rules, they’ll be dropped into a burning lake of fire when they die, they are pretty easy to manipulate.

    • pachrist@lemmy.world
      2·
      9 months ago

      I don’t know. If I tell the entire church my daughter is depressed, and we all pray about it during the 11AM Sunday service, and every old lady in the church constantly asks her if she’s “feeling blue,” she’ll shut up about it and never trust me with any intimate secrets ever again. That means it’s cured, right?

  • Sanctus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    9 months ago

    YOU started a pharmaceutical company. Shut the fuck up. Your face is as big as Charlie’s. Seriously, there must be some sort of correlation between right-wing vitriol and small faces because holy fuck.

  • incendiaryperihelion@lemm.ee
    16·
    9 months ago

    Only someone who is (probably) comfortably insulated from the reality that real people face in crises could say something so inane