5 ms·

I agree. There are currently a lot of problems with vaccine development transparency and the chain of custody in handling of the vaccines is non existent. Yet s

I agree. There are currently a lot of problems with vaccine development transparency and the chain of custody in handling of the vaccines is non existent. Yet someone is paying for this major social media propaganda push that anti-vaxxers are all low IQ deplorables who kill their own children. In parallel the fact that everyone should be forced to be vaccinated regardless of any other concerns is pushed as a sane rhetoric. Next thing they will be saying is that government conducting experiments on people (like the Tuskegee Study) never happened and it’s all just conspiracy theories.

alexandercrohde 8y ago
I don't know that it's paid for right now (though it could be, there is a huge financial upside). Do you have anything concrete for that assessment (as opposed to just angry/bored people on the internet looking for something to get mad about?) ?
bryanlarsen 8y ago
"Yet someone is paying for this major social media propaganda push that anti-vaxxers are all low IQ deplorables who kill their own children." Why would people be paying for this? There are probably millions of people out there who would be willing to say something similar without payment.
- new_guy 8y ago
  Because it ostracizes 'anti-vaxxers' as a group and creates a 'them' or 'us' mentality. Vaccines aren't 100% safe, there's been something like $4 billion paid out in compensation for them, and to get compensation you have to legally absolve them of liability and keep the media out of it! But by pushing the narrative and ridiculing anyone who asks legitimate questions the pharmaceutical companies bury that and no-one wants to be branded as an 'anti-vaxxer' so they keep their mouths shut. https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Vaccine_Injury_Compensation_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Vaccine_Injury_Compen... It's very similar to how the tobacco industry (and the sugar industry even earlier and the coal companies) manipulate the media take this study for example: ( https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/vaccines-autism?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/vaccines-autis... ) They studied 650,000 people. But injuries from vaccines are about 1 in one million, so the study was designed to fail but it got the press coverage! edit: formatting
  - WA 8y ago
    As a counter point: Vaccines aren’t a big profit center for big pharma. They are expensive to develop and most people need only one to three shots for 10 years or a lifetime. On the other hand, there is hormonal contraception, which is indeed a great profit center, because people need it every day (or a hormonal IUD, which is good for 3-5 years, but also a lot more expensive). And now read news reports about all the nasty side effects of the pill. There was a big shift around 2016 and since then, there are media reports all the time. Nothing is put under the carpet here, although I think, economically speaking, it would make much more sense to “manipulate the media” that hormonal contraceptives have no side effects than manipulating the media about vaccines. And the number of people affected is even less than with vaccines (only women in a certain age and not all of them vs. basically all children and many adults). So it should even be easier to manipulate the media about the non-existence of side-effects of the pill (of which stuff like thrombosis is deadly). I know, just because one thing isn’t manipulated, everything about vaccines could still be manipulated, but I don’t buy it. Follow the money – doesn’t seem that lucrative.
choko 8y ago
The "push" to show anti-vaxers as idiots is probably not a coordinated effort. Standard human behavior explains the wave of anti anti-vax (and anti-flat earth) memes, news stories, and social media posts already. These are both unpopular outgroups that people can make fun of with little to no social repercussion. Many people use the "bullying" (for lack of a better word) of outgroups as a way to make themselves feel superior and to fit in with the larger in-group. If someone is paying for the effort, they are wasting their money.
RobertRoberts 8y ago
I don't know why you are getting voted down for this comment, but it seems that anything that questions vaccine safety, even if completely rational and reasonable is being shut down on social media.

alexandercrohde 8y ago

I don't know that it's paid for right now (though it could be, there is a huge financial upside). Do you have anything concrete for that assessment (as opposed to just angry/bored people on the internet looking for something to get mad about?) ?

bryanlarsen 8y ago

"Yet someone is paying for this major social media propaganda push that anti-vaxxers are all low IQ deplorables who kill their own children." Why would people be paying for this? There are probably millions of people out there who would be willing to say something similar without payment.

new_guy 8y ago
Because it ostracizes 'anti-vaxxers' as a group and creates a 'them' or 'us' mentality. Vaccines aren't 100% safe, there's been something like $4 billion paid out in compensation for them, and to get compensation you have to legally absolve them of liability and keep the media out of it! But by pushing the narrative and ridiculing anyone who asks legitimate questions the pharmaceutical companies bury that and no-one wants to be branded as an 'anti-vaxxer' so they keep their mouths shut. https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Vaccine_Injury_Compensation_Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Vaccine_Injury_Compen... It's very similar to how the tobacco industry (and the sugar industry even earlier and the coal companies) manipulate the media take this study for example: ( https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/vaccines-autism?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1 https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/vaccines-autis... ) They studied 650,000 people. But injuries from vaccines are about 1 in one million, so the study was designed to fail but it got the press coverage! edit: formatting
- WA 8y ago
  As a counter point: Vaccines aren’t a big profit center for big pharma. They are expensive to develop and most people need only one to three shots for 10 years or a lifetime. On the other hand, there is hormonal contraception, which is indeed a great profit center, because people need it every day (or a hormonal IUD, which is good for 3-5 years, but also a lot more expensive). And now read news reports about all the nasty side effects of the pill. There was a big shift around 2016 and since then, there are media reports all the time. Nothing is put under the carpet here, although I think, economically speaking, it would make much more sense to “manipulate the media” that hormonal contraceptives have no side effects than manipulating the media about vaccines. And the number of people affected is even less than with vaccines (only women in a certain age and not all of them vs. basically all children and many adults). So it should even be easier to manipulate the media about the non-existence of side-effects of the pill (of which stuff like thrombosis is deadly). I know, just because one thing isn’t manipulated, everything about vaccines could still be manipulated, but I don’t buy it. Follow the money – doesn’t seem that lucrative.

choko 8y ago

The "push" to show anti-vaxers as idiots is probably not a coordinated effort. Standard human behavior explains the wave of anti anti-vax (and anti-flat earth) memes, news stories, and social media posts already. These are both unpopular outgroups that people can make fun of with little to no social repercussion. Many people use the "bullying" (for lack of a better word) of outgroups as a way to make themselves feel superior and to fit in with the larger in-group. If someone is paying for the effort, they are wasting their money.

RobertRoberts 8y ago

I don't know why you are getting voted down for this comment, but it seems that anything that questions vaccine safety, even if completely rational and reasonable is being shut down on social media.