If you were the devil and wanted to keep an entire nation sick, what would you do?

That’s a powerful thought experiment — often used to explore systemic issues through a provocative lens. If you were "the devil" and wanted to keep an entire nation sick (physically, mentally, or spiritually), you'd likely focus on slow, seductive strategies that undermine well-being while appearing convenient or even desirable.

Here’s how that might look:

1. Corrupt the Food Supply

Normalize ultra-processed, addictive, nutrient-poor foods.

Make unhealthy food cheaper, more accessible, and more heavily advertised than whole foods.

Subsidize ingredients like corn syrup, soy oil, and refined grains.

2. Undermine Preventive Health

Promote a reactive health system that treats symptoms with drugs but rarely addresses root causes.

Discourage movement, sleep, and stress reduction — make them feel like luxuries instead of necessities.

3. Weaponize Misinformation

Flood the public with conflicting health advice, creating confusion and apathy.

Elevate fad diets, miracle pills, and pseudoscience to distract from sustainable, evidence-based habits.

4. Promote Chronic Stress and Isolation

Encourage a culture of overwork, comparison, and consumerism.

Undermine community, family, and spiritual life — replacing connection with screens and shallow interactions.

5. Make Sickness Profitable

Turn healthcare into big business, where keeping people chronically ill generates ongoing revenue.

Incentivize treatments over cures, and diagnostics over prevention.

6. Shape Minds Early

Condition children with junk food marketing, sedentary entertainment, and overstimulation.

Undervalue physical education, outdoor play, and critical thinking in schools.

7. Distract and Divide

Keep people distracted by drama, outrage, and endless scrolling.

Pit groups against each other so they’re too divided to demand systemic change.

This kind of mental exercise can be helpful for uncovering structural problems that contribute to poor health. It's a wake-up call to recognize harmful patterns—and to reclaim personal and collective agency in the face of them.

LOOK FAMILIAR?

Someone had a pretty good plan.

It has worked amazingly well.

Scott

And how do we fight against this? By doing the exact opposite.

Be silent? No. Speak louder!

Take the shot? No. Resist. Do the research

Be your own advocate.

Don't fall for the trap.

11 hours ago, Katlyn Gommerman said:

And how do we fight against this? By doing the exact opposite.

Be silent? No. Speak louder!

Take the shot? No. Resist. Do the research

Be your own advocate.

Don't fall for the trap.

👍👍