RFK Jr. And Family Happily Splash Around In Creek Full Of Raw Sewage And E. Coli
In jeans, no less.
Is there anything more wholesome than taking a nice nature hike with one’s children and grandchildren, stopping by a nearby creek in order to take a little swim in one’s jeans?
Well, maybe.
At least when the creek we’re talking about is Rock Creek in Washington DC, which is more or less a sewer filled with untreated sewage (i.e.: fecal matter), e. coli, bacteria and other unpleasantness.
Nevertheless, that is how Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his children Bobby and Kick, their spouses and their children, all chose to spend Mother’s Day this year. Not in attendance, rather notably, was Bobby and Kick’s actual mother, Emily Black Kennedy, who we can assume probably had the good sense not to go frolicking in poo water.
According to the National Park Service:
Rock Creek has high levels of bacteria and other infectious pathogens that make swimming, wading, and other contact with the water a hazard to human (and pet) health. Please protect yourself and your pooches by staying on trails and out of the creek. All District waterways are subject to a swim ban - this means wading, too!
Scrambling in and out of the creek can also erode stream banks, which can negatively impact habitat for the park’s aquatic wildlife.
Wasn’t he supposed to be some kind of environmental crusader at some point? Guess that’s out the window these days.
Swimming and wading in water full of raw sewage and e. coli is not just gross, it’s dangerous, and can result in vomiting, diarrhea, and skin infections, particularly for young children.
Of course, those who mentioned this in the responses to his post were quickly slapped down by the “It’s FINE to swim in raw sewage if your immune system is super great, even if the National Park Service has banned it” brigade.
“You think he doesn’t know there is e. coli in a stream? People with healthy immune systems don’t wither away when a speck of dirt touches them. A healthy body can fight off external bacteria. You should go outdoors more if this is so shocking to you to see someone swim in a creek,” explained one guy who definitely did not know what he was talking about, later adding, “Most of us grew up playing in the creeks as kids and a little bit of sewage runoff never hurt us. Nature is full of bacteria, decaying animals, animal waste in all waterways, you can’t escape it. IMMUNE system.”
It should be noted that even a well-functioning immune system does not literally make people immune to everything. While RFK Jr. may consider himself above the law, there is a reason why there is an actual ban on swimming, and it’s not just because the National Park Service hates the beautiful majesty of nature.
Many others cheered for what a beautiful and healthful experience it appeared to be, lamenting the lack of shit-filled waterways in their own areas.
Of course, Kennedy himself does not appear to be especially clear on how diseases are transmitted or interested in understanding how or why someone might want to avoid that. In an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier that aired last Thursday, he lamented that anti-vaxxers are treated like lepers, clearly failing to grasp the fact that the reason people wish to avoid lepers is that they do not want to contract leprosy/Hansen’s Disease, just as those who avoid anti-vaxxers do not wish to get the measles. It’s really more of a disease-avoidance thing than a personal prejudice.
Of course, measles is far more contagious than Hansen’s Disease, and the anti-vaxxers that get measles are actively doing things that would cause them to get measles, so it would almost be more fair to say that lepers are treated like anti-vaxxers.
OPEN THREAD.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
The Empire State Building in blue, green and hot pink in celebration of Gloria Estefan’s 50 years in music and release of her new songs Raíces and La Vecina (No Sé Na') https://substack.com/@ziggywiggy/note/c-116677274?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=2knfuc
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