The anti vax conspiracy

[PlanetOfTheApesLives]

Channel 4 tonight.

Watching it? What is behind the ones that spread rubbish, what is the aim? What makes people more likely to believe in conspiracy theories 🤔

WATCHING it
Yes yabu doesn't interest me at all
No YANBU yes want to see why people spread anti vax conspiracy theories

Yabu not watching

Yanbu watching

Not watching idiots

I doubt I will tbh.
It’s very likely to be unbiased and offer a balance of information so it would be pretty pointless.

real life is to depressing imo so better to have some1 to blame

God that was depressing

Part of the issue is, in the past there have been issues e.g. The whole ddt, chemical for example, and other events that at the time was considered conspiracies, but then eventually documents ect proved x conspiracy was true or partly true,

One way to look at this is - if they catch covid, then natural selection is working as intended.

I haven't seen it but would recommend Behind the Curve on Netflix. It's about flat earthers (they're all anti vaxxers) but gives some insight into conspiracy believers.

YABU not watching, I don't care. If someone is so far gone into the rabbit hole that is conspiracy theories, then you you have no hope of saving them.

XenoBitch

The programme was shocking, a lot of people believing in it all rather than just the odd individual

Yanbu I’m watching, and thinking what the hell have I just watched. It’s scary that so many people follow this movement.

I'm still cringing over Jeremy Corbyn's brother dancing in that rap! It would be a joke if it wasn't so sad.

I started to watch it but found it boring tbh, so switched off after 15 minutes or so.

I switched over to Keir Starmer on Pier Morgan Life Stories, but that was boring too.

So I am now watching 'The Pact' on BBC iplayer. I caught the last episode of 6 earlier, and I don't even know when it started, but it looked good.. So am starting on episode 1. Good so far...

*Piers Morgan! (Nor Pier!)

I watched it and thought it was very good. It showed how cynically the anti-vaxxers target people when they are vulnerable and how big the profit motive is. I admire those people who are trying to fight against the misinformation.

It's depressing that Andrew Wakefield was struck off in the UK but was able to go to America and become so successful.

God those poor autistic kids. That was shocking.

I watched most of it. I found it interesting how people are sucked into this sort of thing. looks like the leaders are in it for the money and the power they have over others a bit like cult leaders.

@shakingstevensfan

God those poor autistic kids. That was shocking.

I didnt see it what happend?

It was some of the quack theories about " curing" autism including drinking a form of bleach, because Wakefield's theory was that the MMR caused autism. Truly horrendous.
Felt it concentrated too much on this rather than the Covid anti vax whackos.

It did spend a lot of time on this but that's because Wakefield is the father of the modern anti-vaxx movement. He really reinvigorated it when he went to the US.

Then when Covid came along, anti-vaxxers leapt on it, using it as a chance to recruit more people. It would have been interesting to show how they did this, especially how they preyed on different anxieties to lure different groups and also to examine the role of social media, especially the way the algorithms work more closely.

I suppose one programme isn't long enough to cover everything. Maybe, instead of a single very long programme, it should have been a series with three or four one hour episodes.

A number of podcasts have relevant episodes for anyone who is interested eg Behind the Bastards, Talk Nerdy and Making Sense.

Not watching. Couldn't give two shites if folk were anti vaccine or not.

Also for the record I've declined the vaccine but I am not an anti vaxxer

Couldn't care less what other people choose to do with their own bodies and neither should you.

I do care what people do with their bodies when it affects other people which vaccine refusal does.

We need a certain percentage of the population to be vaccinated against a disease in order to achieve herd immunity and protect those who have clinical conditions which prevent them from being vaccinated themselves.

Smallpox has been wiped out purely because of vaccination. Nobody will die of that disease in the future. We have come close to doing the same thing with polio.

The outbreaks of measles worldwide following a sharp reduction in vaccine uptake following Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent claims, shows what happen when fears about vaccination become widespread. The disease had been declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but was imported (a child carrying measles entered the US from Israel) and then spread among unvaccinated communities. Thousands of children in the US have been hospitalised due to complications from an entirely preventable disease.

I've only seen 30 minutes so far but I'm struck by the huge similarity to the gender identity ideology. Andrew Wakefield, struck-off doctor moves to US with its culture of philanthropy where a small number of hugely wealthy people "fund anyone who will reinforce their opinions". "Wakefield fell into the arms of financially lucrative quackery in an environment that he had helped to create." He opened a clinic exploring unscientifically vetted treatments for autism and established a foundation which gave money to doctors practising dangerous treatments including one who was struck off for treating children with autism with a drug used in chemical castration - Lupron! Vulnerable people falling prey again to those with questionable motives.

@Coatandhat I hadn't thought of that but the comparison is spot on.

wasthataburp

It affects everyone though not just you if people don't get vaccinated, matters massively.