Dr. Bronner’s Or Dr. Strangelove?

Sean Gill
Slackjaw
Published in
2 min readFeb 15, 2024

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Image Copyright: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (Fair Use)

1. “A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual, and certainly without any choice.”

2. “Einstein, 1939, after Nazis & Commies united, proposed spacebombs that destroy all, unless we finally teach the moral ABCs!”

3. “Water is the source of all life. Seven-tenths of this earth’s surface is water. Why, do you realize that seventy percent of YOU is water?”

4. “At conception, 10 GRAMS CONTAIN 100 MILLION HUMANS! or… 10 HUMANS IN 1 INVISIBLE MICROGRAM — smaller than dust! Absolute cleanliness is Godliness!”

5. “I would not rule out the chance to preserve a nucleus of human specimens. It would be quite easy!”

6. “Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?”

7. “ATOM BOMBS CAN BE CONTROLLED BECAUSE URANIUM IS RARE! BUT HYDROGEN BOMBS CANNOT ALWAYS BE CONTROLLED BECAUSE HYDROGEN IS EVERYWHERE!”

8. “‘A true hate, parasite-blackmail-welfare-slave! So we don’t descend down from perfect Adam and Eves divided untrained Beasts. Marxist slave!

9. “With the proper breeding techniques and a ratio of say, ten females to each male, I would guess that they could then work their way back to the present gross national product within say, twenty years.”

10. “For one God’s Spaceship Earth, with Bomb & Gun, we’re All-One or none!”

11. “DILUTE! DILUTE! OK!”

1, 3, 5, 6, 9: Dialogue from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

2, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11: Text from bottles of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, 1973–2023

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Sean Gill
Slackjaw

Sean Gill is a Primetime Emmy-nominated writer and filmmaker. His work appears in The Iowa Review, McSweeney’s, Michigan Quarterly Review, ZYZZYVA, & elsewhere.