When it comes to spreading disinformation about climate change or the risks of smoking, I can clearly see how it protects economic interests (e.g. the value of the assets of the fossil fuel industry or the tobacco industry). I therefore understand that these lies are (have been) regularly pushed by people who do not necessarily believe in them.

But what are the strategic considerations behind the active spread of anti-vax theories? Who gains from this? Is it just an effective topic to rile up a political base? Because it hits people right in the feels? Is it just a way to bring people together on one topic, in order to use that political base for other purposes?

Or is anti-vax disinformation really only pushed by people who believe it?

  • @OccamsTeapotEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    I think many vaguely believe it. One thing I haven’t seen people mention is the kind of “momma bear” protectiveness that many anti vaxxers had (at least pre covid). You take your kid to the doctor to be stabbed with scary needles full of chemicals to protect against some disease we barely even remember? Some people hate it: what are you doing to my baby?!

    But then you have the grifters. Dr. Andrew Wakefield, or to give him his official medical title, Mr. Andrew Wakefield, created the autism myth about the combined MMR vaccine but then had a patent on a single shot vaccine.

    So many of the prominent voices create fear of vaccines though general ignorance (e.g. the “mercury” in vaccines which isn’t actually mercury, doesn’t cause autism and isn’t in childhood vaccines anymore anyway) and then that shifts to a kind of fear of the medical establishment altogether. At least to the point it makes you more likely to buy a detox kit or alternative medicine or whatever.

    So on one hand you have people who are just afraid and untrusting of big pharma - especially with the covid vaccine - misguidedly trying to protect themselves and their kids, and on the other you have absolute fucking vultures who will say anything to get you to buy their sugar pills and vagina crystals.

    Of course there are also smarter anti vax advocates who genuinely just think they see something in the data that isn’t there but don’t really stand to gain from it. And covid did change things but not too much really, just brought in more of the crowd mainly worried about government overreach.