On Fear of Nuclear War and Horse Medicine: A Conversation with Diane Perlman

A psychologist's take on COVID fear mongering.

This story is a conversation with Diane Perlman, an outspoken clinical psychologist from Philadelphia, who has been using her professional lens to analyze the “COVID health response.”

I stumbled upon Diane's work last year, when she published a comprehensive Substack post on ivermectin, called, “Open Letter and Challenge for Rachel Maddow.” At the time, I was looking into ivermectin and had compiled a giant list of sources but had never gotten to actually writing about it—and I was so happy that Diane had taken the time to do it and did such a thorough job!!

(If after reading the word “ivermectin,” you are itching to go into the missionary mode and scream, “But viruses don’t exist so don’t bring up ivermectin!” I kindly ask that you hold that thought. First off, a number of very brave and free-thinking doctors swear by early treatments. Those doctors have gone through great troubles, including medical board reviews and getting their licenses suspended, for their stance on their professional sovereignty and for giving early treatments that, in their opinion, work very well. I hold a lot of respect for those doctors! If, down the road, it turns out that what we know as viruses are imaginary singing rainbows, and ivermectin works by merely by impacting the patient’s perception of imaginary singing rainbows, we can discuss! But in practical terms, helping people in need of help by using whatever works to help them remain alive is far more meaningful than winning an online argument in comments. I personally don’t flatter myself thinking that I know everything about everything. I am fine with not knowing everything, it doesn’t bother me, it makes the world interesting, And while I was joking about the singing rainbow, it’s true that all aspects of our being can be described in multiple ways, including through electricity or sound—so I am open to any theory that comes without yelling. It’s good to know about the world—without yelling. As far as ivermectin, I have personally seen it work, so it’s hard to convince me that it doesn’t work—and that’s regardless of what anyone thinks about the viruses. Oh and also, any of us can most certainly bring up whatever we want to talk about, as long as it’s loving…)

So, back to the main story! I loved Diane’s article about ivermectin and Rachael Maddow because, well, I cannot stand Rachel Maddow and have no kind words for her. A number of people told me that she used to be on the good side of things—and anything is possible—but I only found out about her existence for the first time maybe 5 years ago or so, when all she was doing was rambling madly about scary Russians and blinking profusely. So, no kind words from me for Maddow, and lots of kind words for Diane’s article!

Another article by Diane that I recommend is “Natural Immunity Denial Disorder” (below).

Yet another thing Diane and I talked about in the interview was her involvement in researching the “fear of nuclear war” in 1980s. I found it fascinating because I distinctly remember how one day, when I was a kid, my school teacher told us that America could send a nuclear missile, any time, day or night. And since that moment, I couldn’t relax in the evening, I was staring at the window curtain, waiting for a missile to fly in. Then of course the times changed, and everybody laughed… and laughed… and laughed… and then stopped laughing and started talking about an impending nuclear war because I guess, the military spending needed a, uhm, boost—and also, scared citizens tend to ask fewer questions!

Talking about the anti-nuclear activism of 1980s threw me back to the time of my early childhood when I was scared of nuclear war so much that I wrote poems about it, and we were all so pure…

Without fewer ado, here is the interview: