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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAntivaccine activists bully high school filmmakers over a student documentary about vaccines
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2014/05/09/antivaccine-activists-attack-and-bully-high-school-filmmakers-over-a-student-vaccine-documentary/#.U2ziLiASKgk.twitter"...
Theres a famous quote by Karl Marx that says, History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce. Well, history is repeating itself, except that it was farce the first time, and its even more of a farce this time. Yes, you guessed it. Now that Invisible Threat is out and being screened, antivaccination loons are doing what they, unfortunately, do best, namely to attack these high school students as pawns of the pharmaceutical company. They do it because its what they do and its all they can do, given that they dont have the evidence on their side and that vaccines, to the best of the ability of science to detect, do not cause autism. Last week, there appeared a press release, which was, as is so often the case, rapidly regurgitated over at that wretched hive of scum and antivaccine quackery other than The Huffington Post, namely Age of Autism. It was from Focus Autism, a group that describes itself as dedicated to exposing the causes of the autism epidemic, specifically the role of vaccinations, which should tell you all you need to know about it, particularly after looking at the website it sponsors, the woefully misnamed A Shot of Truth, which is chock full of the sort of pseudoscience, misinformation, and conspiracy mongering thats par for the course among vaccine-autism cranks. Lets just put it this way. If Jake Crosbys newest best friend forever and antivaccine hero Brian Hooker is a scientific advisor for the group, you know its pure antivaccine pseudoscience.
So what about the press release? Its despicable, even by antivaccine standards, and thats saying a lot. It starts right out referencing a report from 2008 by everyones favorite former CBS News reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, who was known for being as antivaccine as antivaccine can be and abusing her position at CBS News to suck up to Andrew Wakefield and compete with David Kirby and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for crankiest antivaccine crank, How independent are vaccine defenders?, which is more or less a massive pharma shill gambit writ large in neon letters. Yes, when a press release starts out citing Attkisson, you know its going to be bad, and this one is. And who is the evil pro-vaccine force pulling the strings of these impressionable teens? Oh, take a guess. Yep, its Every Child By Two (ECBT). Why? Because Paul Offit was an advisor and the producer was not one of the students. Except that much of the documentary was filmed during the summer of 2012, and the producers daughter, Camille Posard, graduated from CHS in 2012. So at the time of filming, her daughter was a very recent graduate of CHS and no doubt had worked on the project during her senior year in high school. I dont see a problem with that, but then Im not an antivaccine loon.
...
See what I mean. Focus Autism is asking antivaccine activists to complain to their legislators about the students efforts. These kids faced major challenges when making their film and are to be commended, while the antivaccine loons trying to harass them are nothing more than, yes, bullies trying to beat up on a bunch of high school students to promote their agenda to endanger public health."
I admit I think the term bully can be overused in a manner that makes those who have truly bullying feel dismissed. In this case, I do think the term is accurate, although the author certainly pulls no punches. His frustration with anti-vaccine movement is clear. Anyway, check out the movie and support the kids who made it!
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Antivaccine activists bully high school filmmakers over a student documentary about vaccines (Original Post)
HuckleB
May 2014
OP
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)1. Support the Student Filmmakers of Invisible Threat
Send letters of support to the kids who made the movie:
http://us6.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e17a65409cd8f13ba7e58cc97&id=b6d254feed&e=
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)2. Invisible Threat Filmmaker Discusses Journalistic Integrity
http://shotofprevention.com/2014/04/23/invisible-threat-filmmaker-discusses-journalistic-integrity/
One of the lead film makers discusses the challenges of making the movie.
One of the lead film makers discusses the challenges of making the movie.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)3. A pro kid film maker kick.
Lady Freedom Returns
(14,120 posts)4. KICK and REC!
Go kids go!