This fainting phenomenon has four explanations, some practical, one funny, another more serious for the student of eschatology. First, the comical one.
REASON #1 – Veganism!
Vegans often time have a diet that lacks many essential nutrients. One site mentions that this is because:
“A vegan diet could be low in calcium . . . and also B-12, iron, and zinc which you would normally get from meat,” says Makris, adding that unless you’re eating lots of beans you’ll also need to supplement protein.
Vitamin B12 can be obtained from plant sources.
Of all the myths, this is perhaps the most dangerous. Vegans who do not supplement their diet with vitamin B12 will eventually get anaemia (a fatal condition) as well as severe nervous and digestive system damage (6). Claims are made that B12 is present in certain algae, tempeh (a fermented soy product) and brewer's yeast. All of them are false.
Like the niacin in corn, the B12 analogues present in algae and tempeh are not bioavailable. We know this because studies done on people's blood levels of B12 remained the same after they ate spirulina and tempeh; there was no change, clearly indicating no absorption by the body (7). Further, the ingestion of too much soy increases the body's need for B12 (8). Brewer's yeast does not contain B12 naturally; it is always fortified from an outside source.
Some vegetarian authorities claim that B12 is produced by certain fermenting bacteria in the intestines. This may be true, but it is in a form unusable by the body. B12 requires intrinsic factor from the stomach for proper absorption in the ileum. Since the bacterial product does not have intrinsic factor bound to it, it cannot be absorbed (9).
It is true that vegans living in certain parts of
The only reliable and absorbable sources of vitamin B12 are animal products, especially organ meats and eggs (11). Though present in lesser amounts, milk products do contain B12. Vegans, therefore, should consider adding dairy products into their diets. If dairy cannot be tolerated, eggs, preferably from free-run hens, are a virtual necessity.
That vitamin B12 can only be obtained from animal products is one of the strongest arguments against veganism being a "normal" way of human eating. Today, vegans can avoid anaemia by taking supplemental vitamins or fortified foods. If those same people had lived just a few decades ago, when these products were unavailable, they would have died.
In my own practice, I recently saved two vegans from death from anaemia by convincing them to eat generous amounts of dairy products. Both of these sickly gentlemen thought their B12 needs were being met by tempeh and spirulina. They weren't.
6. Dunne, L. The Nutrition Almanac, 3rd ed. (McGraw Hill;
7. Scheer, James. Health Freedom News, (
8. Smith, Allan. Soybeans: Chemistry & Technology, vol 1 (Avi Publishing Co; CT), 1972, pp. 184-188.
9. Rowland, David. Digestion: Inner Pathway to Health (Health Naturally Publications;
10. Specker, B.L. et al., Am. J. Clin. Nutr., 47:89-92 (1998); Van den Berg, H. et al., Lancet 1:242-3 (1998); Abrams, H. Leon, "Vegetarianism: An Anthropological/ Nutritional Evaluation," Journal of Applied Nutrition 32:2, (1980) p. 59.
11. Dunne, op cit, p. 31.
Often times this diet causes a lack of iron and b-12 and other nutrients. Now, you may be asking what all this has to do with fainting at Obama rallies? I will explain.
Obama is the most liberal candidate offered in this current election cycle. In fact his meager voting record shows such:
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings. The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the other front-runner in the Democratic presidential race, also shifted to the left last year. She ranked as the 16th-most-liberal senator in the 2007 ratings, a computer-assisted analysis that used 99 key Senate votes, selected by NJ reporters and editors, to place every senator on a liberal-to-conservative scale in each of three issue categories. In 2006,
Here it is. Vegans tend to be very liberal. In fact, I have not met a single vegan who is a conservative – and I have met a lot of them due to where I work. Since they tend to swing far to the left, they will be attracted to a very far left politician, so these malnourished portion of our population are at Obama rallies more than they are at Hillary, McCain or Huckabee rallies. So they are fainting left-and-right. Makes sense.
REASON #2 – Just Plain Unprepared
Many of these people may have never been out of their homes for anything more than a movie. So water, hats that block the sun, food, may have been neglected as they unprepared hurry out to these huge rallies to wait in the sun for hours. Really, this can be a commentary on the lack of intelligence of the common Obama “dead-head.” Not a good sign.
REASON #3 – Political Dogmatism
More often than not, people from the Democratic persuasion tend to be less religious in the classical sense of the word. Religion can be defined broadly as I point out in an essay from many yearn ago:
What is religion and can it be defined? I will attempt to do so for the purpose of “clarifying terms.” The best term I feel is applicable to religion is this: Religion may be defined as a way of thinking about ultimate questions. A persons religion answers questions such as how and why (and everything else) came into existence, whether the purpose of life has been established by a Creator or is up to us to decide, and how we can have reliable knowledge (revealed by God or revealed by Nature) about the world and about ourselves. The officially recognized answers to these questions make up a society’s established religious philosophy, its culturally dominant way of thinking about origins. But let us look at what some dictionaries say about faith and religion.
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines religion as “a specific system of belief, worship, often involving a code of ethics.” Faith is defined as “unquestioning belief… complete trust or confidence… loyalty.”
Funk and Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary has this to say about religion, “The beliefs, attitudes, emotions, behavior, etc., constituting man’s relationship with the powers and principles of the universe.” On the matter of faith it says, “Confidence in or dependence on a person, statement, or thing as trustworthy… Belief without need of certain proof.”
There is nothing sinister or inherently unconstitutional about the existing of a de facto established public philosophy on religious questions (such as origins and mans purpose). The philosophy is established not in the sense that it is formally enacted or that dissenters are subject to legal punishment (although in recent years this has started to happen), but in the sense that it provides a philosophical basis for lawmaking and public education, in law school this is taught as “public policy.” For example, one culture may endeavor to encourage its schoolgirls to look forward to lives as mothers and homemakers, while another may encourage them to reject traditional gender stereotypes and pursue formally masculine careers. To encourage either choice reflects a dominant public philosophy about human nature and gender roles. Similarly, any community that operates a public school system must have a policy of some kind concerning, say, sexual morality, even if the policy is merely to encourage adolescents to choose for themselves. Relativism itself is a policy choice, it rests on assumptions about reality, and “man’s relationship with the powers and principles of the universe” as Funk and Wagnalls says.
Do we have recent examples of this religious fervor? Fainting is one sign, another are people crying:
Chris Matthews Almost Cries at the thought of Obama loosing
Hillary Cries and explains her Religious fervor
REASON #4 – Eschatological Reasons
The Bible has more to say about Jesus second coming than the first. Many aspects of the
The Bible hints at the Middle East coming to a head with a pan-Arab front joining with a possible uniting with Russian forces moving against
Prior to this a man shows up on the scene first espousing peace and bringing (for the first time) what truly seems to be peace in the Middle East between Arabs and Jews. Both the Jews and the Arabs are looking for their messiah/prophet. Much like Liberation theology, they see this prophet as not only a religious leader but a political leader who will bring the “
So to have someone who is socialist in his political views and goes to a church that combines Marxist idealism with Christian theology is interesting. Especially when this guy (Barack Hussein Obama) is pulling 40,000 people into a stadium and there seems to be a rash of religious type experiences and people crying for him… moved out of emotion.
Again, I am not saying he is an… or the anti-Christ. But he has already proposed a world-tax, and would be apt to support more government control over the lives of people as well as supporting more vigorously the socialist goals of the United Nation. While denying his “anti-Christ” capability, I also want to note that he is the best candidate I have seen yet coming from west of
Papa Giorgio Out!
