Posted on Apr 2, 2023
From 4chan to international politics, a bug-eating conspiracy theory goes mainstream
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In mid-March, a far-right Dutch member of parliament named Thierry Baudet tweeted "WE WILL NOT EAT THE BUGS" accompanied by a photo of himself holding a microphone in one hand and pouring golden mealworms out of a bag in the other.
Earlier in the month, Poland's ruling nationalist party Law and Justice falsely alleged that the opposition Civic Platform was trying to push citizens into eating worms, prompting the opposition to hit back with a similar accusation.
Those are just some of several instances of European right-wing politicians lobbing a conspiracy theory that elites want people to eat bugs. The accusations arrived shortly after the European Union approved mealworms and crickets as food ingredients.
Across the Atlantic, American right-wing pundits and influencers decry a similar plot. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits small amounts of insect matter to be included in foods.
Earlier in the month, Poland's ruling nationalist party Law and Justice falsely alleged that the opposition Civic Platform was trying to push citizens into eating worms, prompting the opposition to hit back with a similar accusation.
Those are just some of several instances of European right-wing politicians lobbing a conspiracy theory that elites want people to eat bugs. The accusations arrived shortly after the European Union approved mealworms and crickets as food ingredients.
Across the Atlantic, American right-wing pundits and influencers decry a similar plot. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration permits small amounts of insect matter to be included in foods.
From 4chan to international politics, a bug-eating conspiracy theory goes mainstream
Posted from spokanepublicradio.org
Conspiracy Theories
Netherlands
European Union
Conservative
Posted 1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...""There was very much an idea that you are what you eat back then. And so the Europeans felt they needed European foods," says Lesnik. "There is very much a worry that if you ate the Indigenous foods, you would become a savage."
Conservative media influencers continue to tap into this sentiment today. "I don't want to live like a peasant in the middle of the jungle in Vietnam. I want to live like a civilized person with a cultural inheritance," said Knowles in response to the Bloomberg article. "I'm not going to eat the bugs."
Lesnik sees a throughline between the early colonizers and the conservative outrage today.
"The easiest punching bag ... is to pick on something that looks uncivilized."
...""There was very much an idea that you are what you eat back then. And so the Europeans felt they needed European foods," says Lesnik. "There is very much a worry that if you ate the Indigenous foods, you would become a savage."
Conservative media influencers continue to tap into this sentiment today. "I don't want to live like a peasant in the middle of the jungle in Vietnam. I want to live like a civilized person with a cultural inheritance," said Knowles in response to the Bloomberg article. "I'm not going to eat the bugs."
Lesnik sees a throughline between the early colonizers and the conservative outrage today.
"The easiest punching bag ... is to pick on something that looks uncivilized."
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel good day Brother William, always informational and of the most interesting. Thanks for sharing, have a blessed day!
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