The Vaccine Misinformation Crisis Is More Severe Than You Think

[John Ludi]

3. Good essay.

I confess...I myself was addicted to conspiracy theories back before the internet was a thing and there were BBS systems peddling the stuff. Mostly it was some pretty outrageous material about UFOs, much of which turned out to be possible government disinfo and/or stuff some kid came up with in their parent's basement. Once I saw the backyard gossip compounding nature of it all, I wised up and started looking VERY closely at where and whom it was emanating from. I became FAR less credulous where such things were concerned.

It's not that I don't think there ARE conspiracies out there; there have been plenty through history...but not EVERYTHING that happens in our world is the result of some Illuminati-like cabal conspiring away in a smoke-filled room.

All that being said, things on the devolutionary downward spiral have progressed to the point where I don't think much can be done about much of anything...too many holes in the dike, too few fingers, and many of the fingers are also attached to those who have a built-in profit motive...so when someone comes along with a sweet story that hits you right in the amygdala and that story includes a come on to buy their snake oil crack instead of a big-pharma vaccine, I totally get it that people would go that route...even if it kills them. And in this era where people will double down on their doubling-down before EVER admitting they were ever so slightly incorrect about anything, I doubt that all that many people can be fished out of the rabbit holes they have scampered down.

So it truly IS up to natural selection at this point, which makes me sad...but I doubt there is all that much that can be done about it at this juncture.