When is an Ugly Truth a Conspiracy Theory?
By Kim Rossi
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy
The moon walk
If you play the record backward, it says "Paul is dead."
You will die if you drink Coca Cola while eating Pop Rocks.
Step on a crack. Break your mother's back.
Mikey killed himself.
Cigarettes cause cancer.
There's a "thing" called crisis actors who are faking mass shootings.
The world is flat.
There is no climate change.
September 11 was an inside job.
Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide.
Vaccines cause autism.
Who decides what information should be called a conspiracy theory worthy of the Weekly World News versus hard hitting reporting worthy of the front page of the New York Times?
The information age has given way to the over-information age. Social media created an opportunity to influence our thinking in ways the old fashioned news, whether on television or in print, could never have imagined. The thought of waiting a week for the next issue of Time or Newsweek is quaint, as is turning on ABC, NBC, or CBS each night at 6:30pm for the evening news. But - are we being inundated by or isolated from what is really happening in our world? I feel less aware than ever. I turn on the morning cable news networks and hear nothing but arguments from Trump supporter or Trump detractors. I don't bother to listen. Cable "news" is opinion and bias and snarky judgemental politics for most of the day. Sometimes, I turn on BBC radio to get a glimpse of what's happening around the world.
When Jeffrey Epstein's death was announced, America had a unique, almost unheard of moment of unity where we all blurted out, "Suicide?????" The evidence against Epstein was piled high. His past conviction and white glove treatment generated worthy doubt. The manner of his crime and its reach into the echelons of politics and high society so abhorrent it had to be true. The suicide so convenient for those for whom the canary might have sung a loud tune. Questioning his death was a logical response. Even Howard Stern waxed apologetic for becoming a conspiracy theorist by questioning Epstein's death. I don't understand the leap to overusing the term conspiracy. Why aren't we allowed to think something we hear isn't true without being painted as kooks? Dangerous kooks even.
Unless Americans understand, and truly believe with their eyes, ears, brains and heart, that vaccines have side effects, from mild to devastating, and that the side effects occur far more often then they could ever imagine, they will consider us and paint us as conspiracy theorists, crazy people, desperately seeking to blame. We're labeled "anti-vaxxers," a disparaging term that shuts down any and all conversations with us as rational people. After all, if the injury does not exist, how can the connection
The SacBee newspaper ran a story about a lawsuit by 2 California citizens against Senator Richard Pan. The lawsuit argues Pan’s Twitter account is a modern "public forum" because he is a government official. But here's the headline: "This lawmaker blocked anti-vaccine activists on Twitter. Now he’s facing a lawsuit
Can you hear the collective, "Oh those crazy people. Poor Pan." I do not know the plaintiffs. Nor do I know if they call themselves anti-vaxxers with pride. If so, that's their choice. I stand by my believe that the term, as used in the media, is a weapon that has impeded our fight to protect children.
Signed,
Mia, Gianna and Bella's Mother. (If you're old enough, you'll get the joke.)
Kim Rossi is Managing Editor for Age of Autism.
War is when the government tells you who your enemy is...
Revolution is when you figure it out for yourself.
Posted by: go Trump | August 20, 2019 at 08:20 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsXLtU2YVU8
Not sure if this copy/paste will work, but if it does, this one is for you Eindecker
Posted by: susan welch | August 20, 2019 at 04:36 PM
Eindecker. My statement may be false in your world of statistics. In my world of reality, having seen one of my grandsons have a severe reaction the day he received his MMR, I assume he had encephalitis which did lead on to severe autism. However, this would not have been recorded anywhere (apart from notes on his medical record). I have seen, and read of, countless parents who experienced the same reaction. The doctors always say 'that is normal'. So, how many children who had encephalitis are missing from yours stats? The number can never be known, but it certainly makes your figures look less reliable.
As far as learning a lesson, yes, indeed I did. This time (it's my second troll attack) I was braver. I spent about 10 hours playing 'whack a mole' with them yesterday. However, instead of blocking straight away, I responded to quite a few, with information they probably had no idea about. Hopefully I will have planted a few seeds.
One comment I had forgotten that did make me laugh was from someone who said how embarrassed my children must be which I pick them up from school. They are in their 50s.
Posted by: susan welch | August 20, 2019 at 12:21 PM
At Volkswagen a handful of engineers decided to rig tests showing emissions were reduced on new VW’s. Unknowingly a network of thousands of sales people, the media, and govt agencies lied to consumers.
Had someone said “ I don’t believe this car has as little smog as they say” that person would have been laughed at. And called a conspiracy theorist.
But it was a conspiracy. Duh. Organizational crimes get covered up by small groups at the top. This is how they get away with crimes. They use the reputations of the good people who unknowingly defend them to perpetuate the crimes for profit or to save themselves from accountability. Like all the good priests who were smeared by the crimes they didn’t know about either. Like all the good drs who could once say vaccine injury doesn’t happen, but surelY, by now, are hopefully waking up.
Posted by: Carolyn | August 20, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Eindeker,
That "study" looks to me like a fishing expedition for excuses to vaccinate. Only half a million kids were included so you're not going to find your one in a million there. If I understand it correctly, the 3 months following vaccination with MMR were compared with subsequent 3 month periods for "expected" numbers of encephalitis. But all of those periods of 3 months were POST vaccination with MMR. Also, other vaccines were not taken account of, which might also have caused encephalitis, and there were absolutely no never vaccinated children included as a control. As for no autistic children being hospitalized, how many children are hospitalized for autism? Furthermore, once you've got autism or M.E. you don't get medical treatment for anything. One young woman with M.E. was allowed to die in a psychiatric hospital, rather than admit she was medically ill and in need of treatment. I, along with many others here, have personal experience of vaccine injury, vaccine injury denial, and vaccine injury cover-up, so you can't convince me with your industry-financed "studies".
As for your comment to John, I would love to go back to the good old days of pre measles vaccine. I had the measles - no problem - my first son had it aged three - he was fine - but my younger son never did. Now I worry that he could catch measles as an adult and be much more at risk. I can only be thankful I didn't have daughters, as their children would also be at risk from the moment of birth. It's crazy.
Posted by: Grace Green | August 20, 2019 at 09:13 AM
Eindecker
Well, I don’t think the government should either overstate the risk of measles or the infallibility of vaccine science. Measles, while not trivial, is a very small problem compared to the damage and chaos of the neurological impairment and mental ill-healthy engulfing our young people. When I wrote to Dame Sally Davies (the British government’s retiring Chief Medical Officer) in the winter she was trying to make out that everything was perfectly normal, which it is not. What I am saying is that this is a distortion of policy: we are ignoring the bigger, more serious problem and there is already hell to pay. You have probably never had to bring up a disabled child with often pathetic and even hostile services, or had to worry what would happen to them when you were no longer there. Well, now this is happening in industrial quantities and the DH have nothing to say - no apology, no explanation, no acknowledgment. And you reproach me!
Posted by: John Stone | August 20, 2019 at 08:43 AM
Grace "How can you just accept the propaganda that 1-2 children in 1,000,000 will get encephalitis from vaccination?"
Well I accept the results of a retrospective study based on MMR vaccination data and a hospital discharge register on 535 544 1- to 7-year-old children who were vaccinated between November 1982 and June 1986 in Finland https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/110/5/957
Their conclusions are quite clear:
In 9 children with encephalitis and 10 with meningitis, the disease developed within 3 months of vaccination, revealing no increased occurrence within this designated risk period. We detected no clustering of hospitalizations for autism after vaccination. None of the autistic children made hospital visits for inflammatory bowel diseases.
Conclusions. We did not identify any association between MMR vaccination and encephalitis, aseptic meningitis, or autism.
John: please give your suggestion what "the government" should do in the face of a clearly escalating outbreak of measles in the UK, sit on its hands? wait for a death? or give the facts that measles does kill and maim and is a VPD? Perhaps you would like to go back to the "good old days" pre measles vaccine, sure there was transfer of maternal immunity but there were also a couple of hundred deaths.....I'd be interested to see your answer to this issue
Posted by: Eindeker | August 20, 2019 at 07:47 AM
Perhaps the question for Eindecker is why is the government industrial complex in perpetual war against the patient? If this was really human science they would not be, and he would not be telling people to shut up all the time.
Posted by: John Stone | August 20, 2019 at 07:26 AM
Eindeker,
How can you just accept the propaganda that 1-2 children in 1,000,000 will get encephalitis from vaccination? The Encephalitis Society are no doubt spewing the same "information" they've been given, just as the Autism Society says autism is not caused by vaccines. They are all government sponsored. I recall you have written on here that you don't believe in religion. The problem with that can be that some people feel the need to fill the "God-shaped hole" with something else. You need to question whether the fact that someone works for the UK government means they must be Jesus Christ and incapable of ever telling a lie. Most of us, when we grow up, realize that our parents are not perfect, and neither are the police, civil servants, doctors, MPs etc. Then we start being able to think for ourselves.
Posted by: Grace Green | August 20, 2019 at 06:51 AM
OK Susan so you made an blatantly false statement on Twitter about a very important, and controversial, issue and you're surprised by the reaction you got, perhaps a lesson learnt for you.
Posted by: Eindeker | August 20, 2019 at 06:47 AM
Eindecker, I think you are rather over-estimating the intelligence of 'Twitter trolls'. I am not sure who sends the command to release the pack, but the following are just a few examples of the level of 'knowledge'.
Very, very many called me stupid (you may agree with that one)
The 'F' word was used quite a lot, as well as 'disgusting'.
Quite a few accused me of killing children. I have been reported to Twitter admin for being 'dangerous'. (One supporter nearly made me cry when he praised me for being dignified, rather than angry, so I know that none of my tweets were dangerous).
No-one, but no-one posted any science to back up their comments
I think my favourite - just for being so weird: someone hoped my flowers would die! (My icon is an old photo of my garden, so the flowers are, indeed, long since dead)
I do utterly dislike your lack of empathy for families with vaccine injured, Eindecker, but I would not fault your intelligence.
Posted by: Susan Welch | August 20, 2019 at 06:34 AM
EVIDENCE please Susan "Hopefully you are not aware that there is far more encephalitis from the vaccine than there ever has been from #measles."
Encephalitis post measles is c 1 in 1000, From the Encephalitis Society
" 1-3 in 1,000 children contracting measles will develop encephalitis concurrent with the measles infection. 10–15% of those children will die and a further 25% will be left with permanent neurological damage."
"1-2 in 1.000.000 children who had vaccination will develop encephalitis from the vaccination which is less than the incidence of all types of encephalitis."
If you don't want to trigger such a reaction as you had all you have to do is provide your evidence to support such an obviously wrong statement!!
Posted by: Eindeker | August 20, 2019 at 03:20 AM
Perhaps you don't realise
@BorisJohnson
that by promoting #MMR you are advocating for more brain injured children. Hopefully you are not aware that there is far more encephalitis from the vaccine than there ever has been from #measles. On your head be it.
I posted this on Twitter this morning and have been subject to vicious 'troll attack' all day. I have responded to many and blocked many more. My usual number of impressions a day is between 3 and 5,000. At the moment, for today, it is over 127,000. I am playing 'whack-a-mole' to respond/block the responses still coming in. Slowing down, now, thank goodness. However, it is nearly midnight in UK and I must go to bed some time, so if anyone is on Twitter and wants to lend a bit of support, my name on there is Susan Elizabeth @susan_welch7
Please don't feel obliged if you are on Twitter, but thanks if you can support.
Posted by: susan welch | August 19, 2019 at 06:57 PM
https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-rules-against-missouri-lawmaker-who-blocked-twitter-critic/
Posted by: greyone | August 19, 2019 at 06:25 PM
John - I've had a look at the latest measles surveillance figures (for England; Scotland and Wales had very few cases).
Laboratory confirmed cases of measles, rubella and mumps, England: January to March 2019 Health Protection Report Volume 13 Number 18 24 May 2019
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804024/hpr1819_mmr2.pdf
The 231 confirmed measles cases were recorded for the first quarter of 2019.
Quote from PHE Commentary:-
"Most of the cases this quarter were associated with outbreaks in London, the North West and the East of England. Under-vaccinated ultra-orthodox Jewish communities and traveller communities have been particularly affected. In total this quarter there were 25 (11%) infections associated with recent travel abroad."
It is well known the traveller communities tend to shun vaccines. They are generally very healthy. The Jewish Communities, particularly in London, also tend to avoid vaccines, in common with their targeted community in New York.
Quote from PHE Commentary:-
"On 9 January, the UK published a new measles and rubella elimination strategy aiming to achieve a future without measles, rubella and congenital rubella [3].
The strategy focuses on four core components required to maintain elimination of measles and rubella: achieving and sustaining ≥ 95% coverage in the routine childhood programme; achieving ≥ 95% coverage with two doses of MMR vaccine in older age cohorts through opportunistic and targeted catch-up; "
There were NIL rubella cases recorded for the first 2019 quarter and previous surveillance stats record very few. Almost all cases of congenital rubella are due to immigration, usually brides for ethnic communities already settled in the UK. The most significant data is for mumps cases, 795 confirmed cases in the first quarter, yet almost no publicity about mumps cases, more than three times the number of measles cases.
Quote:- "Mumps cases were reported in all regions of England, (see table 3) predominantly in young adults aged 15 to 34 years (703/795, 88%). Almost half (352/795, 44%) of the cases this quarter were unvaccinated. "
I find it quite sinister the intention to achieve "two doses of MMR vaccine in older age cohorts through opportunistic and targeted catch-up; " - almost certainly this will mean vaccination teams descending on schools in the UK. Parental permission is unnecessary since the Gillick Competency allows older children to consent themselves. Previous attempts to vaccinate older children have failed due to resistance from the children themselves . Will this new strategy involve mandatory vaccinations?
Posted by: Jenny Allan | August 19, 2019 at 05:42 PM
Jenny,
Yes, an we both know because we have been through the data (anomalous as it was) that measles was not absent from the UK at at any time in 2018. Such a pronouncement pronouncement was made by the WHO in 2017 but it is hard to know what that was about: there were surely cases through 2017. So, now we have the fake narrative that it is coming back when it has mostly been present at a similar level for a long time.
https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3596/rapid-responses
Posted by: John Stone | August 19, 2019 at 02:33 PM
I notice that in recent years Skeptics (or the Skeptic-adjacent) are interested in publishing books about conspiracy theories. Along with discussions of the Illuminati, lizard people and the earth actually being round (imagine that), they usually manage to include that vaccines and GMOs are good and alternative medicine is bad. Weird that.
Posted by: Carol | August 19, 2019 at 01:35 PM
National Education Without Sincerity
Posted by: Shelley Tzorfas | August 19, 2019 at 01:35 PM
Thanks Kim agree with all that.With Epstein the canary can still sing although he can no longer fly the law as he had over the years.He was certainly one of the dark sides go to.
Pharma For Prison
MMR RIP
Posted by: Angus Files | August 19, 2019 at 12:58 PM
It's only an Over load on certain information, of what those in power wants the populace to believe.
Posted by: Benedetta | August 19, 2019 at 12:36 PM
Yes the BBC is the Biased Broadcasting Corporation, or in view of this news item New Prime Minister Boris's propaganda soapbox.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49393279
"Boris Johnson orders action to stop measles spread"
From above:-
"Prime Minister Boris Johnson is ordering urgent action to ensure that children and young people in Britain are protected against measles.
The disease can be stopped through two doses of the MMR vaccine, but immunisation rates have been falling for a number of reasons.
And the UK has lost its measles-free status, three years after the virus was eliminated in the country.
In the first quarter of 2019, there were 231 confirmed cases in the UK.
Social media companies are being urged to quash misleading anti-vaccine messages
The firms will be invited to a summit to explore how they can better promote accurate vaccination information
The government will also use the NHS website to address misleading claims about the safety of vaccines"
231 confirmed cases of measles is nothing in a population of more than 50million and we are not told what percentage of them were vaccinated, adults? children ? overseas visitors and migrants?
The article fails to mention around 94% of children received a first dose of MMR vaccine at one year old, but this dropped to around 87% for the second dose administered pre-school. No one seems interested in the reasons why a significant 7% of parents, willing to allow a first MMR vaccination, won't allow a second dose. Did their children react badly to the first dose, or subsequently become autistic?
As I stated on another thread, two doses of MMR vaccine are now considered necessary for protection and sub teens are being targeted for 'catch up' MMR jabs. I suspect this is an excuse to administer a third dose to as many older children as possible..
Mandatory child vaccinations are now being mooted for the UK. Watch out Boris! Your Government has already been warned about civil unrest over Brexit. This would cause a furore.
Incidently the 'Getty Image' newborn baby at the top of the page appears to have had the rash added via Photoshop. Babies are not born with measles!
Posted by: Jenny Allan | August 19, 2019 at 12:33 PM
Thank you, Kim. Telling the truth, lately, has become an act of sheer bravery.
Posted by: Jennifer Vaughn | August 19, 2019 at 10:07 AM
Kim
Brilliant observation but only to say if the tone of BBC news is lower key than US TV news it is just as driven by powerful agendas, and deep cynicism. Watching news has become a repulsive activity on either side of the Atlantic. I can just about bear to sift what I am being told for possible information when it is on the page. Otherwise it is like a bunch of foot-in-the-door salespeople.
Let's tell our politicians and journalists: "It is about corporate sponsorship of politics and news, stupid. No one believes you anymore. You all just stink!"
Posted by: John Stone | August 19, 2019 at 08:04 AM