Vaccines & Cognitive Dissonance – Inside the Pro-Vaxxer Mind
Along with the belief that vaccines are “safe and effective” come other beliefs. There is a belief that vaccines do not cause autism, that vaccine reactions are rare, and so on. This is what the public is told about vaccines through the mainstream media. Despite these beliefs having no basis in scientific reality, they are continually reinforced by propaganda-laden journalism.
Only six corporations control the mainstream media. Though their popularity is waning, the “mainstream media” still dominates news coverage. Many people still rely on news outlets like CNN, Fox News, USA Today, NY Times, etc. Expecting journalistic integrity, instead we are told what their advertisers want us to hear. Seventy percent of mainstream media’s advertising revenue comes from the pharmaceutical industry. That is why there are so many people under the fervent belief that vaccines have no connection with autism. These slogans are fundamentally no different than Got Milk?, McDonald’s I’m Loving It, or Coca Cola’s Can’t Beat The Real Thing. The nefarious thing is that consumers of mass media have no idea that their news reports are filled with slogans that Big Pharma wants them to hear.
Trusting in “Big Brother”
There is a prevailing belief that adverse reactions to vaccines are rare, because if they weren’t “they” wouldn’t let “them” sell dangerous vaccines. (It is true that vaccines are unprofitable in a free market. Vaccines cripple, injure and kill far too many people to be subject to the same standards of safety as everything else bought and sold in the U.S. This is why vaccine manufacturers are immune to all liability). The rational goes on. Even if vaccine manufacturers could make money selling dirty vaccines, the government would never allow it (or so goes the belief). These beliefs are not based on a critical analysis of vaccines; these beliefs are based on sound bites (even among doctors). This is why the primary message from the anti-vaccine movement has been, “Do your research.”
You Want Me To Do What?
Research is analogous to homework, and it hasn’t been very popular with Westerners. “Research” is typically limited to watching the news, or reading the newspaper. Internet research is distrusted, simply because most people do not how to check the veracity of their sources. Opinions are often formed on limited information and motivated by fear. Fear is a powerful motivator; politicians play on the public’s fears to get elected and to elicit cooperation in undermining civil liberties. Pharmaceutical companies use fear tactics to influence public opinion. Medical freedoms are more easily taken away when people are frightened. Such tactics are highly effective. The public is told if vaccination rates fall, we will see a return of global epidemics, such as the Spanish Flu or small pox. Under the shadow of this misinformation, pro-vaxxers are forming the best opinions they can, given the information available to them.
We Are Not Going Away
Inevitably, pro-vaxxers encounter objections to vaccination. These counter arguments range from unrefined views that vaccines are bad to highly sophisticated scientific objections. The vaccine debate is framed by the mainstream media as an argument between those in the know (scientists and doctors) and those who are anti-science, stupid, or even superstitious. In truth, there are numerous doctors and scientists opposed to vaccines. There is a debate among independent scientists and industry funded scientists, not among scientifically literate and the scientifically illiterate, as the mainstream media would have us believe.
Disagreements Happen, but Are They Necessarily Productive?
No one enjoys being wrong, but many of us do enjoy proving someone else wrong. Given this basic proclivity of human nature, pro-vaccine advocates and anti-vaccine activists are bound to get into arguments. These arguments tend to have predictable beginnings and endings. Dale Carnegie may have said it best when he wrote:
Nine times out of ten, an argument ends with each of the contestants more firmly convinced than ever that he is absolutely right.
You can’t win an argument. You can’t because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. Why? Well, suppose you triumph over the other man and shoot his argument full of holes and prove that he is non compos mentis. Then what? You will feel fine. But what about him? You have made him feel inferior. You have hurt his pride. He will resent your triumph.”
A vaccine argument usually begins with the same declarations “show me the peer reviewed academic articles” or demands of “show me the data”, even in instances when data wouldn’t really apply (such as case studies, which provide anecdotal evidence). When pro-vaxxers’ demands for scientific evidence are met, predictable objections arise.
No One Needs a “Degree from Google University”; You Just Need To Be Able To Work a Keyboard
The information is out there, and it is not hard to find. When offered peer-reviewed scientific articles, the pro-vaxxers dig in their heels. They were, after all, under the impression that such studies didn’t exist, and they do not wish to profess their ignorance. The average Westerner has not read peer-reviewed academic anything since college, but when debating the merits of vaccines most vaccine advocates are self-appointed armchair experts. It is uncomfortable to admit that your ignorance far exceeds your knowledge, so for this reason, a know-it-all approach is often adopted. If they are incapable or unwilling to attack the research based on its inadequacies (no research is perfect) they will attack the source, questioning its credibility even though they never even glanced at the information. The other option is to attack the person providing the evidence, because a meaningful exchange of ideas is beyond the maturity of most people, regardless of their views.
When pro-vaxxers are shown evidence of government corruption they simply dismiss the evidence as conspiracy theories. As if by the suggestion that something conspiratorial is taking place; that alone invalidates the argument.
Conspiracies are Actually Quite Commonplace
Webster’s defines a conspiracy as a secret plan made by two or more people to do something that is harmful or illegal, or the act of secretly planning to do something that is harmful or illegal. This may sound like a far-fetched concern to some, but it happens all the time; especially in regards to vaccines.
- Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski filed lawsuits in 2010 alleging that Merck falsified data by adding animal antibodies to blood samples. In order to protect their government approved monopoly, Merck had to demonstrate that their vaccine produced antibodies with a 95% rate of success, so they defrauded the U.S. government because that is easier than making a vaccine that reliably produces an antibody response.
- William Thompson was a senior epidemiologist at the CDC, and he co-authored research on the MMR vaccine for the CDC in 2004. Years later he revealed data that showed that the MMR vaccine strongly correlates with autism in African American males and that the CDC concealed this information. For months the story was ignored by the mainstream media, and then only briefly reported on.
- Judy Milkovitz made the discovery that destroyed her career. She found that at least 30% of our vaccines are contaminated with gamma retroviruses. This contamination is associated with autism, chronic fatigue syndrome, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Alzheimer’s. She was under the naïve impression that her due diligence (all of her work being properly reviewed, meticulously documented, etc.) would protect her from persecution, but she was mistaken.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6HPe-s1V2o
An objective analysis reveals that conspiracies happen all the time, and that there must be something nefarious going on when it comes to vaccines. But objectivity is the exception and not the rule, the pro-vaccination advocate has never been objective about vaccines if they were, they couldn’t possibly condone their use.
A Mind Already Made Up
A confirmation bias was in place long ago, rooted in a need to trust one’s doctor. Desperately wanting to outsource responsibility for their health, patients base their medical decisions on their doctors’ recommendations, and informed consent is at the convenience of the physician. If their doctor recommends it, it’s good enough for them. (Does the doctor really want to lose a sale by explaining risk in an honest and straightforward manner?)
The pro-vaccine advocate doesn’t want to do the research. They want to be able to rely on their physician. Life and death is frightening, even terrifying. Something must be done to reduce the risk of death, so we must immunize against the threat of disease. After all, germs are everywhere. Inside the pro-vaccination mind is the devout belief that vaccination reduces the complications associated with living. It’s what most doctors recommend, so it must be the right thing to do. Ultimately, pro-vaccination logic falls prey to a logical fallacy: the appeal to authority.
When asked why they support vaccination, the vaccine advocate responds with incredulity. There is no in between to them. Vaccines are above reproach. You are either pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine, and if you’re anti-vaccine you’re against science. Vaccines are a sacrament to the pro-vaccine mind, science is the religion, and doctors are the priests. Vaccines are what saved us from the dark ages of disease, or so they believe.
Seeing What They Want To See
When shown the data, graphs that show historical rates of mortality and morbidity, pro-vaccine advocates see what they want to see. Anyone who doesn’t harbor deep-seated prejudices can see that it was improvements in sanitation and nutrition, not immunization, that eradicated disease, unless of course one is looking at a skewed graph created for vaccine propaganda.
Check out more graphs at Dissolving Illusions – Disease, Vaccines, and Forgotten History.
Conclusion
Our medical system abandoned its own scientific and medical ethics decades ago. In order for science to flourish, a free exchange of ideas must take place; there is nothing in the scientific method that condones the persecution of scientists that hold differing scientific views. Most of our greatest scientific discoveries were once ridiculed, taking years to be accepted as mainstream scientific theory. Continental Drift which was later developed into Plate Tectonic Theory, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, Galileo’s discovery of a round earth and Ignaz Semmelweis’ declaration that hygiene can save lives were met with abject persecution. In our current era of scientific illiteracy, many of these theories are still poorly understood. For instance, there are still thousands of people who ardently believe the world is flat.
Inside the pro-vaccination mind, there is a desire for simplicity and safety. It is easier to believe that vaccines are safe and effective (the Supreme Court has ruled them unavoidably unsafe) than it is to do the research. Despite feigning scientific literacy, the pro-vaxxer is unfamiliar with the counter arguments to vaccination, they simply want to shut down any discourse on vaccine safety. If anyone criticizes anything about vaccines they are deemed “anti-science”. In reality, it is the pro-vaxxer who suffers from delusional views. This is called anosognosia or lack of awareness of a deficit.
Isn’t it time to wake up? Multi-national pharmaceutical corporations don’t care about your health; they care about the bottom line. The government is not looking out for our best interests. Government workers are looking out for their own interests-as long as bribery of elected officials remains legal (aka lobbying) we will always have a corrupt system of government in place, regardless of which political party is in control. We need to be savvy consumers of news media and check their sources. We should know all about what we put into our bodies and have the freedom to decide. We are being herded into a future without freedom, not herd immunity. Check out How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children and Doctor’s Against Vaccines.
Recommended Reading:
- Scientists Against Vaccines – Hear From Those Who Have Done the Research
- A Burden of Guilt – Learning About Vaccine Dangers the Hard Way
- Why Antivaxxers Don’t Vaccinate
- Cultural Cognition and Alternative Medicine
Sources:
- Dissolving Illusions
- The Tiniest Ones: Doctors Ignore Data on Premies – Kelly Brogan, M.D.
- Limbic System: The Center of Emotions – Julio Rocha de Amaral, M.D. and Jorge Martins de Oliveira, M.D.
- Vaccine Whistleblowers File to Compel Merck to Respond to Federal Lawsuit – Health Impact News
- Merck accused of stonewalling in mumps vaccine antitrust lawsuit – Reuters
- How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie