{"id":1409,"date":"2020-05-28T18:17:51","date_gmt":"2020-05-28T18:17:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2020-05-28T18:18:11","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T18:18:11","slug":"the-anti-vaxxer-problem-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/the-anti-vaxxer-problem-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Anti-vaxxer Problem Conspiracy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

How do you solve the problem of those who see anti-vaxxers as a problem?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published: 28 May 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting in the doctors waiting room, which I used to do quite a lot in England, I would see these messages popping up on the electronic notice board and their hardcopy equivalents: \u2018Have you had your flu jab?\u2019 I had not. And that was that. But then it never occurred to me, even though I am knocking on a bit, that the flu could prove fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in 2018, I experienced one of the worst respiratory illnesses that I have ever experienced. A doctor advised me that I might have pneumonia and recommended a chest x-ray. I ended up putting off the x-ray and settled for a drink instead. The illness cleared itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s me, I suppose, an indifferent and stubborn old c \u2026 character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anti-vaxxer Problem Conspiracy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So, what about the as of yet mythical vaccine for Covid-19? According to my wife, who is slipping deeper everyday into the coma of conspiracy theories, as soon as a vaccine is announced I will be the first in line to drop my trousers, even though the vaccine jab will be administered in my arm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She is wrong ~ wives always are. As with anything and everything to do with Covid-19, I shall adopt a \u2018wait and see policy\u2019. After all, Obama sat on the fence for the whole of his presidential tenure and everyone applauded him, so what was good enough for him is good enough for me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks it seems as if the focus on when will a vaccine be ready has shifted to when a vaccine is ready should I allow myself to be vaccinated, a realignment of faith brought about by the vagaries permeating almost every aspect of the pandemic from origin to outcome. It is, undoubtedly, this abstruseness that lends itself so readily to accusations of obfuscation from which the world of conspiracy is but a short leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as I can tell, almost all of the conspiracy theories orbiting in the coronavirus firmament eventually come to rest with a very rich and powerful man in the U.S. whom, in the minds of the conspiracy theorists, is inextricably linked with compulsory mass vaccination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Anti-vaxxer Problem Conspiracy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Conspiracy theorists have long been used to being put down as fruitcakes ~ and perhaps with good reason. Take, as an example, the terminology used in this recent article by The Guardian<\/em>, *\u2018Europe’s Covid predicament \u2013 how do you solve a problem like the anti-vaxxers?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Anti-vaxxers\u2019? There is something overtly discrediting and tacky in this monica, is there not? At any rate, it hardly commands the same respect as counter vaccine protestors, or protestors against mass vaccination, or activists against vaccination, such being the kind of terminology that the liberal-leaning media traditionally reserves for street movements to which it gives the green light.  But then, as with Brexit, something funny is going on and for them it is not \u2018Ha! Ha!\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The narrative goes that alarming new allegiance lines are being drawn on the strength of the mass vaccination conspiracy, so alarming that those liberals who identify themselves as activists against mass vaccination are being marginalised by their own kind as \u2018esoteric hippies\u2019 and \u2018esoteric leftwingers\u2019, and if this slight is not enough, there is the ultimate accusation that in making a stand against mass vaccination they are cuddling up to neo-Nazis. Some might argue that enforced mass vaccination is very much a Nazi-type of thing to do, but then I am no conspiracy theorist!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The esoteric problem of being a liberal Anti-vaxxer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The definition of \u2018esoteric\u2019 is \u2018intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people\u2019. The implication here being that unless you follow the flock you are no liberal! As for the reference to neo-Nazis, this is the old name and shame game, as well as being a convenient labelling ploy, ie the only people who are resisting mass vaccination are neo-Nazis; good people, nice people and proper liberals don\u2019t do that ~ esoteric ones might, but not you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anywhere else, and this association by implication would have some clout but not as clouty as it does here: consider the city and country on which this article focuses and then say the word again (but to yourself, very quietly) \u2018neo-Nazi\u2019 and, before you close the window to keep out the chill, add Pegida to that vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pegida is, of course, resurrected in this article and, in the given context, turns out to be a most unfortunate choice of comparison: \u201cfears of the movement [anti-vaxxers] growing into a force equivalent to the Pegida protests against Angela Merkel\u2019s asylum policy seem to be shaping the thinking in Berlin\u2019s seats of power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, the protests against Merkel\u2019s asylum policy were not restricted to Pegida but very rapidly suffused the greater German populace, particularly after the act, when, despite the media’s best attempts to suppress both the calamity that resulted from it and the nation\u2019s growing resentment to it, the protestations gained such traction that it levered support across the channel for Brexit, sent Merkel into media hiding and is arguably one of the most powerful contributing factors to the course of dissolution and wilful self-destruction on which the European Union seems to be set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reeling from the Brexit fallout, the waning popularity for almost all its leaders and institutions, fractured and fragmented by the clumsy and seemingly disinterested way in which it is has failed to assist its member states during the coronavirus crisis, a turmoil that has all but completely undermined any credibility it may once have had as a foundation for a United States of Europe, the entire EU project seems to be teetering on the brink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-who?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The usual means by which governments and their media handmaidens deal with conspiracy theorists is to ignore them, to deprive them of the oxygen of publicity. Think: when was the last time that you saw a head-on TV debate in which ministers, prime ministers, etc sat in a TV studio with a live audience of conspiracy theorists and addressed their fears?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps this is the best way, and possibly the best way to deal with the anti-vaxerrs is hands off. After all, anything less will expose the EU to allegations that the self-styled crucible of human rights and sovereign upholder of the tenets of liberalism is nothing but a sham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot to be said for sitting on the fence. It might not get you the Nobel Peace Prize as it has for some, but the last thing that Germany needs in these discrediting times is for those in the seats of power to be seen to be rushing to change their underpants1<\/sup> ~ conspiracy or no conspiracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
MASS VACCINATION? HOW TRANSPARENT DO YOU NEED IT TO BE??<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Reference<\/strong>
*https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2020\/may\/23\/europes-covid-predicament-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-the-anti-vaxxers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/strong>
1<\/sup> This comment does in no way imply that the chancellor wears Y-fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mick Hart’s Diary 2019\/2020<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How do you solve the problem of those who see anti-vaxxers as a problem? Published: 28 May 2020 Sitting in the doctors waiting room, which I used to do quite a lot in England, I would see these messages popping up on the electronic notice board and their hardcopy equivalents: \u2018Have you had your flu […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75,6],"tags":[415,417,413,418,416,412,414],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diary-2019-2020","category-kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary","tag-bill-gates","tag-compulsory-mass-vaccination","tag-coronavirus-conspiracy","tag-nobel-peace-prize","tag-obama-sat-on-the-fence","tag-the-anti-vaxxer-problem-conspiracy","tag-vaccination-conspiracy-bill-gates"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2075,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/on-the-crest-of-the-covid-wave\/","url_meta":{"origin":1409,"position":0},"title":"On the crest of the Covid wave","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"30 \u0430\u0432\u0433\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0430, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Diary of a Self-isolator: Day 169 [30 August 2020] Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye ... 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