#AND her thesis that is about quantum mechanics but she's a fucking philosophy major and doesn't fucking understand quantum mechanics!

[teeniepaws]

Hey genuinely wondering what you meant when you said that Vandana Shiva has "blood on her hands"

You might remember the pictures going around on tumblr a little while ago when the president's palace in Sri Lanka was stormed by angry citizens.

You know

Now part of what caused all this unrest was caused by a famine that struck the country, effecting both the economy as well as, you know, people's ability to eat. Now this famine did not spring up out of nowhere, nor was it a natural crisis. This was caused by the country embracing and changing 100% of it's farms to organic. See, organic farming is nice and all but between having a much smaller yield, it's also much more susceptible to pests and disease. It's why it's generally a bad idea to have literally every farm in your country using methods that are over a hundred years old.

See, the president was a big big fan of Vandana Shiva, drank in every word she said, and it was quite literally due to her advice that he banned all chemical fertilizers in the country, leading to a famine by the end of the year. Now I'm not a biologist nor am I in any agricultural-based science field. Neither is Vandana Shiva! She does have a PHD, but it is not in nuclear physics or whatever other science field she has lied about. It's in philosophy. Now I won't say that disqualifies her from speaking on the matter of farming, but her being listened OVER experts in the field is what is concerning.

I'm not even focusing on the various other lies she peddles, like calling golden rice a myth, claiming GMOs are filled with nonspecific "toxins", lying about Indian farmers committing suicide thanks to bi-cotton, as well as just comparing a detractor of hers to a rape apologist. She peddles anti-GMO conspiracy theories with little to no proof as if they're gospel.

As well as all of the above, back in 1999 when a cyclone left millions of people in India in crisis the US sent aid in the form of a corn/soy meal mix. Now, I need to make myself clear, I do absolutely believe that the united states has, and does use humanitarian aid as a way of extending imperialism. This is not in question. However people were dying, they desperately needed food and they had been given food, in my mind their need in that moment outweighs my moral objections to the predatory nature of foreign aid in the US. Vandana Shiva thought otherwise, fearmongering over the genetically modified nature of the crops used.

"The U.S. has been using the Orissa victims as guinea pigs for GM products"

In a time of desperate need she called the Indian government to not accept food people would die without, not because of the soft power it would lend the US over her country, but because GM crops scary.

If an anti-vaxxer spreads lies and it causes someone to die from an illness that could have been prevented, that is blood on their hands. They may be ignorant or lying willfully, but neither really matters, that death is directly linked to the fear and lies they helped propagate.

I don't know if Vandana believes her own BS, and I don't care. Her critiques on capitalism are actually pretty good and when she argues about GMOs from that angle she actually makes some very valid points. However that is mixed in with countless lies, her own ego stroking, her inability to ever be corrected, and the simple fact that she is willing to let people die for her values.