antiVa: deconstructing their disinformation
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Respectful Insolence
Dr. Gorski debunks disinformation, a bit snarky for some but essential for moving beyond myths. Profiles nearly all of the leaders and memes. Dr. Gorski has been deconstructing these lies for nearly two decades.
Science Based Medicine
Debunk the Funk
www.youtube.com/c/DebunktheFunkwithDrWilson/
Dan Wilson, Ph.D. in molecular biology that covers bad science while making good science accessible. This channel focuses mainly on pseudoscience surrounding the anti-vaccine movement and COVID misinformation.
Conspirituality Podcast
"Conspirituality is a study of converging right-wing conspiracy theories and faux-progressive wellness utopianism."
For Better Science
https://forbetterscience.com/category/covid-19/
BY LEONID SCHNEIDER, ON RESEARCH INTEGRITY, BIOMEDICAL ETHICS AND ACADEMIC PUBLISHING
No License for Disinformation
www.nolicensefordisinformation.org
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis we have seen a deliberate disinformation campaign being perpetuated by doctors regarding the severity of the disease, masks, public health measures, vaccines and more.
Doctors who have engaged in spreading deadly COVID-19 related disinformation have faced virtually no consequences so far.
WE’RE AIMING TO CHANGE THAT.
Health Feedback
Health Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in health and medical media coverage. Our goal is to help readers know which news to trust.
non-technical - warnings to pay attention
Sorry Anti Vaxxer
site highlighting anti-vaxxers who ignored precautions and wound up very sick or dead. Some of the comments are impolite but they highlight the dangers of acting "against medical advice." Bad choices can have consequences.
Herman Cain Award
www.reddit.com/r/HermanCainAward/
Herman Cain was an African American Republican presidential candidate, businessman (he owned a chain of pizza fast food restaurants) and member of a regional Federal Reserve board. He made the fatal mistake of attending the Donald Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma in June 2020. Unmasked, of course. He contracted covid and wound up in the hospital, dying the following month.
The Herman Cain Award could be considered a successor to the Darwin Awards. Winners are anti-vaxxers who wind up dead due to disbelieving in the efficacy of vaccines and other public health measures.
HCA also highlights people who decided to get vaccinated after learning about the unfortunate fates of others who refused protection. Redemption.
Reddit has several other forums on similar themes, including Deaths of Disinfo and r/Nurses. Reading accounts from medical staff about how they are trying to cope with the onslaught of unvaccinated covid patients, some of them extremely hostile to their caregivers, is profoundly sad and maddening.
Who's Who in AntiVa
- Plandemic disinfo "documentary"
- Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine: work against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro but not in vivo
no longer a doctor Andrew Wakefield
The guy who started it all (or at least, more than any other person). Mr. Wakefield created the hoax that vaccines supposedly cause autism - in cahoots with an attorney who wanted to sue vaccine manufacturers and make lots of money. When his claims were accurately debunked and his alleged study withdrawn, his medical license (in Britain) was revoked. He now plays the victim to medicine deniers, especially those in the USA.
https://briandeer.com/doctor-who-fooled-world.htm is a good profile of his malpractice.
Robert F. Kennedy, Junior
Donald J. Trump
Hydroxychloroquine and bleach. Dr. Scott Atlas (radiologist). Do nothing but privately concerned - Woodward tapes. Walter Reed. vaccinated / boosted, not always appreciated by his supporters.
Fox TV
The Republican Party
most of Congress is vaccinated
Senator McConnell supports vaccines
Governor Ron DeSantis
pro-vaccine in 2021, in 2022 became anti-vaccine to grab Republican voters who reject vaccination in anticipation of the 2024 Presidential campaign
Governor Greg Abbott
in contrast - Republican Governors in Ohio, Alabama, West Virginia have recommended everyone get vaccinated.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)
opthamalogist who formed his own pseudo-medical group to certify himself.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin)
Says mouthwash and ivermectin cure covid.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and her colleagues in the Know Nothing Party's Insurrection Caucus
The Disinformation Dozen
www.counterhate.com/disinformationdozen
24 March 2021 Center for Countering Digital Hate Ltd
The Disinformation Dozen Why platforms must act on twelve leading online anti-vaxxers Just twelve anti-vaxxers are responsible for almost two-thirds of anti-vaccine content circulating on social media platforms.
Joseph Mercola
promotes hydrogen peroxide nebulation - try putting a tiny bit on your finger and see what happens. Then imagine that reaction in your respiratory system.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
allied with Trump, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Koch Brothers
Ty & Charlene Bollinger - were part of January 6
Ty and Charlene Bollinger are anti-vax entrepreneurs who run a network of accounts that market books and DVDs about vaccines, cancer and COVID-19. In 2020 they launched the United Medical Freedom Super PAC ahead of last year’s United States elections. The Bollingers have promoted the conspiracy theory that Bill Gates plans to inject everyone with microchips as part of a vaccination program
Sherri Tenpenny
magnetic
Rizza Islam - Nation of Islam
A vaccine to the Nation of Islam is Malcolm X's views after he quit NOI and transcended his previous narrower thinking.
Rashid Buttar
ultra quack
Erin Elizabeth
Erin Elizabeth, partner to Joseph Mercola, runs Health Nut News, a prominent ‘alternative health’ website with affiliated newsletter and social media accounts.
Sayer Ji
Sayer Ji runs a popular alternative health website, GreenMedInfo.com, and affiliated social media accounts that promote pseudoscience and anti-vaccine misinformation. ... In this March 2021 post Ji shares claims that the Pfizer vaccine has killed more people than COVID.
He is a germ theory denier:
Kelly Brogan
Promotes drinking urine, an odd view for someone who supposedly studied medicine. (Hint: kidneys filter blood for a reason).
She is a germ theory denier.
Kelly Brogan is the partner of fellow alternative health entrepreneur Sayer Ji. She claims to practice “holistic psychiatry” and sells a range of books and courses from her website.
In a widely viewed video in March, 2020, Kelly Brogan claimed that “there is potentially no such thing as the coronavirus” because “it’s not possible to prove that any given pathogen has induced death.”
Christiane Northrup
Ben Tapper
Ben Tapper is a chiropractor with a growing following on social media. He has routinely posted COVID disinformation and spoken out against masking.
Kevin Jenkins, CEO of "Urban Global Health Alliance"
Kevin Jenkins is an anti-vaccine activist with a growing social media presence who has appeared at public events with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Jenkins has called vaccines a “conspiracy” to “wipe out” black people
www.counterhate.com/_files/ugd/f4d9b9_fddbfb2a0c05461cb4bdce2892f3cad0.pdf
The Anti-Vax Playbook
Anti-vaxxers have developed a sophisticated playbook for spreading uncertainty about a Covid vaccine and answering the concerns of vaccine hesitant people with anti-vaccine misinformation.
1 Establishing the anti-vaxx “master narrative” on Covid vaccines
Online anti-vaxxers have organised themselves around a “master narrative” comprised of three key messages: Covid is not dangerous, the vaccine is dangerous and vaccine advocates cannot be trusted.
2 Adapting the master narrative for online subcultures
Different elements of the online anti-vaccine movement adapt the master narrative to expand its reach. Alternative health entrepreneurs, conspiracy theorists, and accounts directed at parents or ethnic communities add their reach to the master narrative and tailor it for their audiences. In doing so, they add to the sum of uncertainty around Covid and the vaccine.
3 Offering spaces for vaccine-hesitant people
Anti-vaxxers harness the uncertainty that they create by offering online “answering spaces” where people with doubts about Covid or the vaccine can direct their questions. These spaces are often more easily accessible or more tailored to their audience’s interests than their pro-vaccine equivalents. People entering these spaces are met with answers that harden their doubts into vaccine hesitancy.
4 Converting the vaccine-hesitant into anti-vaxxers
The most established “answering spaces” identify vaccine hesitant individuals, convert them into committed anti-vaxxers and offer training to make them more effective activists.
5 Mitigating attacks on their online infrastructure
Leading online anti-vaxxers have adopted a “Lifeboat Strategy” to migrate their followers to “alt-tech” platforms such as Telegram and Parler in anticipation that their mainstream accounts will be removed. They have also developed techniques for undermining fact-checking and attempts to remove their misinformation.
Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance: epicenter for ivermectin
Joe Rogan: pro-vaccine at the start of the pandemic, pivoted to being anti-vax after the Spotify corporation gave him $100 million (not a typo)
John Birch Society doctor Peter McCullough
Robert Malone: did not invent mRNA
https://decoding-the-gurus.captivate.fm/episode/robert-malone-peter-mccullough-a-litany-of-untruths
Robert Malone & Peter McCullough: A litany of untruths
Episode 23 • 13th January 2022 • Decoding the Gurus • Christopher Kavanagh and Matt Browne
Matt and Chris return to the Joe Rogan-verse much quicker than they would have liked to take a critical eye to two recent episodes (6 more hours!!!) offering controversial takes on Covid 19 and the dangers of vaccines. Yes, that's right more fear mongering, more global conspiracies, and more unrecognised heroes of science that Joe needs to promote to his large audience.
In this case, we have Dr. Robert Malone, the *self-proclaimed* inventor of mRNA vaccines, and Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist who was recently sued by his old hospital for using its name when promoting his covid theories. Both figures are well documented promoters of covid misinformation, including in various appearances on extreme right wing conspiracy sites like Alex Jones' InfoWars.
Matt and Chris are no medical experts nor do they play them on podcasts (if you are looking for a point by point technical/medical debunking, we would recommend following the links at the bottom of these show notes). But what they are very familiar with are modern gurus and conspiracy theorists. So in this episode, after twenty plus episodes of calibrating the Gurometer(TM) with known gurus, they take it for a new test with these two maverick doctors. Applying the well-developed science of Gurometry(TM) to a novel dataset. How do they fare? Guess...
Honestly, this is probably the darkest and most depressing episode we've done. It was not fun and we would really prefer to be talking about something else but here we are. Hopefully we will not be back soon...