Again, antivaxers know this and even encourage this. Few are the science advocates who have the intestinal fortitude to withstand being falsely portrayed as calling a grieving mother a liar. 4/
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The implication is that vaccination for HPV is based not on science, but rather on some form of irrational, religious belief system that demands a virgin sacrifice. (No one ever accused antivaxers of being subtle.) 16/
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The point is, blaming SIDS and the deaths of children and teens on vaccines is longstanding tactic of antivaxers. They've even tried to portray shaken baby syndrome as a "misdiagnosis for vaccine injury" to acquit baby killers. 17/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/the-antivaccine-lie-that-just-wont-die-shaken-baby-syndrome-is-really-due-to-vaccine-injury/ …
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I couldn't believe it myself when I first encountered this vile antivax lie examining the case of Alan Yurko. 18/ http://www.ratbags.com/rsoles/comment/yurko1.htm …
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The bottom line is that antivaxers are masters of preying on a grieving parent's need to have an explanation, to know why her child died. 19/
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Antivaxers bait their hook with a seemingly reasonable explanation for the child's death, and the parents' hunger for any explanation leads her to take the bait and be reeled into the movement. 20/
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Once there, the grieving parents receive empathy aplenty and a new, powerful social support network to help them. To antivaxers they're martyrs who unknowingly "sacrificed" their children after all. 21/
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That same grief is then weaponized, making the parents a human shield against critics as described above, and a powerful "in" to gain access to lawmakers and powerful people. Who would turn down a meeting with a grieving mother? Who wouldn't give her a respectful hearing? 22/
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What reporter would risk appearing callous reporting on such parents? What parents wouldn't feel their pain? 23/
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That's what makes
@BrandyZadrozny's report so valuable. Until now, pretty much only bloggers and pro-science social media personalities have dared touch this sort of story. Kudos to her and@NBCNews for taking this one on. 24/Show this thread -
Sadly, I predict that the antivax backlash will be epic.
@BrandyZadrozny is the first mainstream media reporter that I can recall to have so directly taken on the #1 sacred cite of the antivaccine movement. 25/25Show this thread -
The #1 sacred cow. Damn, Twitter. I need an edit function, even if it's only good for a few minutes.
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End of conversation
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