Brand new ABC News article on Sanders' odd views on what causes cancer

[highplainsdem]

This new article, published just this afternoon, also points out some statements Sanders made in the 1980s indicating his views hadn't changed much by then:

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bernie-sanders-radical-views-extended-theories-cancer/story?id=69213240

The essay, published in The Vermont Freeman and previously reported, extensively and approvingly cites studies suggesting a relationship between "inhibited sexuality" and cancer risks. "In other words, did women who develop breast cancer have certain similar psychological traits which might lead one to see a connection between emotional health and cancer," Sanders wrote.

It's part of a vast written record of many of his views – some well outside the mainstream – that are coming under scrutiny again as he emerges as a front-runner in the 2020 race for president.

When the issue first arose in the 2016 presidential campaign, a Sanders aide dismissed the comments as dated. “These articles were written more than 40 years ago,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told Mother Jones in 2015. “Like most people, Bernie’s views on many issues have changed over time.”

But his commentary on the subject of cancer and its causes suggest his beliefs about links between the disease and human sexual behavior continued well into the 1980s.

-snip-

And ABC News links to the images of the essay uploaded to Documentcloud years ago by the BuzzFeed journalist who wrote about Sanders' early writings then:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2157403-sanders-cancer.html

And of course the entire essay includes Sanders' theory that "an old bitch of a teacher (and there are many of them)" could cause a person to develop cancer later.

[Karadeniz]

1. Stay in your lane, Bernie. No one expects you to know everything.

[Metodiko]

2. and since Bernie is Authentic and Consistent

I assume he still holds those views.

[TwilightZone]

3. One would presume so, based on the statements of some of his supporters.

[Callado119]

6. Yup, this will be a perfect counter for republicans..

...when BS tries to hand wave all the shitty things he said as being decades ago...he never changes right?

[Cha]

4. KR

[sheshe2]

5. However...

However we have been told that Bernie never waivers. Stands by his word and never changes and that is why many love him so much.

“These articles were written more than 40 years ago,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told Mother Jones in 2015. “Like most people, Bernie’s views on many issues have changed over time.”

Then Briggs comes out in 2015 and said he waivers on issues. Which is it?

[JudyM]

7. Not just the butt of a joke... There is research suggesting he may have been correct.

I’m not going to read everything he wrote and all the scientific literature, but there is ongoing research to determine the extent to which emotional stress may cause cancer or speed metastasis. Some studies seem to show that it does, others, not so much.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f98e/0a3667d1bef0ee88081d09b5935366181ee0.pdf

Sex relieves stress, boosts endorphins, etc. Lack of sex also may not be causal, itself, but the stress that may inhibit someone from wanted to engage may more directly create a physiological environment that sets the stage for cancer.

[BusyBeingBest]

8. He's got some strange fixations.

[BootinUp]

9. The thing that bothers me about this

Is that it shows a poor approach to understanding issues.

[comradebillyboy]

10. So Bernie has no clue about modern biological science or

the realities of human anatomy. He appears to be scientifically illiterate.

[k2qb3]

11. Psychology was a wasteland back then.

Especially in the 60's when Bernie evidently worked in the field for a bit.

Freud just made a damn mess, not that he was completely wrong about everything but there were lots of derivatives who were.

OTOH a lot of these quotes have some truth or at least some reason to believe they might be correct to them.

I'm not sure it's reasonable to expect a candidate to have maintained a presidential voice before he ever ran for office.

I'd hate to be judged on everything I've ever written, I don't think it's reasonable. You need feedback from others to refine ideas, and to stay sane, and you can't get that if you never say anything controversial.