I've written about many such cases of antivaxers weaponizing the grief of parents whose children have died, children such as Colton Berrett. 8/https://respectfulinsolence.com/2018/01/17/did-gardasil-kill-colton-berrett/ …
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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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