September 23, 2021

"Anti-vaxxers in the Taconics-Berkshires region include local organic farmers, members of homeschooling and alternative-education communities, anti-war hippies...."

"The anti-vax faction here has its roots in the left-libertarian politics of the Back to the Land movement, which flooded the area with the disaffected urban upper-middle class in the 1970s and ’80s. That influx of hippies and students, most of whom came from New York City, brought with it a political belief in naturopathy and a mistrust of institutional authority.... Enid Futterman, a local journalist and Bernie Sanders supporter... told me she finds the idea that COVID is caused by 5G cellphone towers more believable than person-to-person transmission. 'I’ve read both sides, and that’s what makes sense,' Futterman said.... Traditional left-wing concerns about corporate influence mesh well with anti-vax fears that the pharmaceutical industry pushed federal regulatory agencies to sign off on the COVID-19 vaccines before they were truly ready. Skepticism about the safety of genetically modified food can easily blend into worries about mRNA vaccines....  Futterman told me she sees no contradiction between her views on vaccines and public health and her lefty Democrat political positions, citing the 'open-minded' approach of liberalism... 'I do see a disconnect between me and a lot of Democrats, which is sort of shocking, but true.'"

27 comments:

Kevin said...

The anti-vax faction...

Again, there is a clear line between people who don't want this vaccine and those who don't want any vaccines.

Labeling them all anti-vax or anti-science is willful misrepresentation.

It's being done purposely.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

I'm impressed at the blatant dishonesty of the headline - I mean, I know it's a lefty rag but there's no evidence anywhere in that article that the reason these latter day hippies are refusing vaccination is to "own" anyone.

I guess the author had to frame the article according to narcissistic worldview of the Millenial, urban socialist demographic that buys this trash magazine.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The writer seems to operate from the incorrect assumption that there exists an “anti-vax” Right. There are no organized anti-vaccination movements among Conservatives. If there were then “reporters” out looking for anti-vax sentiments would find such a group. That seriously looking only reveals post-grad types, health professionals and black Americans grouped together as resistant to the jab.

TreeJoe said...

Maybe.....wait, bear with me here....MAYBE it's not a contradiction to think about something in a similar way as people who don't typically think the same way as you.


Maybe, just maybe, you should consider whether or not you make principled stances if you believe that alignment with your political different is a "contradiction"

Joe Smith said...

The whole '5G/covid' thing is a bit flat-earther, but I'm willing to be proven wrong.

It's amusing that the hippies of old would have never trusted 'the man,' but now that they are 'the man,' big corporations and the government are A-OK.

This group sounds like they've stayed on course with their hippie ideology.

Michael K said...

Opposition to vaccination was a lefty position until this epidemic. Look for Whole Floods markets and the vaccine resistors have been clustered around them until this year.

chuck said...

The hippie movement, such as it was, split in the late 60's. The urban based Marxist political hacks have had the most success in obtaining power, the flower children never cared about that.

Wince said...

Okay, now do a profile of the vaxxer totalitarians' motives.

From "Not Getting Vaccinated to Own Your Fellow Libs/They’ve aligned themselves with forces they despise. But lefty anti-vaxxers don’t see the contradiction"

Maybe the people don't really see the overriding need to despise each other?

Maybe the dismay implicit in the article's title reveals the motive of the vaxxer totalitarians: making people despise each other?

Roger Sweeny said...

Skepticism about the safety of genetically modified food can easily blend into worries about mRNA vaccines....

Absolutely. They are both almost certainly wrong. But the first is considered kind of cool and absolutely worth considering, while the second is, well, kind of yuck.

Kai Akker said...

A Katha Pollitt piece vs an Atlantic hand wringer...... opted for The Atlantic. But article wouldn't scroll so I could only get four or five paragraphs in.

From what I did see, it was sad stuff. These "writers" who cannot ever consider their own assumptions "write" these lamentations which are like Rorschach tests of their prejudices. Only they (and their editors, I suppose) are unable to see or recognize it.

Most anti-vaxxers in my experience are lefties. So it seemed as though the writer at least got that aspect right, kind of, before heading into anti-Trumpiana nonsense. The anti-vaxxers' logic and analysis are limited, like that of all lefties. But I still don't rule out the possibility that there has been something in the composition of childhood vaccines that may, conceivably, be provoking autism in rare cases for some unknown susceptibility. I doubt it; but I have an open mind to any evidence that may come forward. So far, little to nothing has.

That's that. When it comes to the CCP virus, it is a different world. The vaccines are showing such questionable performance, their most enthusiastic backers are liars like Fauci, and their long-term record is nonexistent, so that as a result of those factors, I am an anti-virus-vaxxer. I am also an anti-lefty. And these question marks regarding the mRNA vaccines are huge and easy to identify. How could The Atlantic not give them at least some consideration?

Once you hit the last sentence of the lead paragraph in this Atlantic article, you know the thing is not going to have any value. So I cannot read the rest, for whatever cyber reason, and it could be that it turns into great reporting, but odds are 99-1 against. Does our hostess buy any of this self-justifying rubbish from the least skeptical or self-examining authors alive, I wonder? Does she think the author's hypothesis holds even an ounce or two of water? From what I could see, I do not.

MadisonMan said...

There is such a push to get up in everyone's business these days as far as their private lives go. It's anti-American.

Greg The Class Traitor said...

"What do you do when a big swath of Americans believe things that are demonstrably false...?"

You mean like believing that hoax that Trump was colluding with Putin?
Like believing the hoax that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation?
Like believing that the tech companies are censoring "misinformation", rather than that they're censoring anything that offends their politics?
Like believing that Hillary's private email server wasn't a felony?
Shall I go on, oh leftist purveyor of lies?
Hell, if we got rid of lies, you leftists couldn't speak.


"Are we a nation of lunatics...?... My friend Alan, a Marxist historian
Anyone who is friends with a "Marxist historian" is a lunatic.
Anyone who quotes a "Marxist historian", and identifies him as such, is so far off teh deep end she can't even see reality from where she lives


Maybe, Alan suggested... [w]hites and Christians

The most unvaccinated group of people in America are blacks.
The non-religious are in general less vaccinated than the religious.
Speaking of "believ[ing] things that are demonstrably false"

Who is this idiot, "Eoin Higgins"?

JK Brown said...

"disconnect" between Democrats. She needs to face the Marxist reality and the danger her dissension provokes.

==========
"Purges are the necessary consequences of the philosophical foundation of Marxian socialism. If you cannot discuss philosophical differences of opinion in the same way you discuss other problems, you must find another solution—through violence and power. This refers not only to dissent concerning policies, economic problems, sociology, law, and so on. It refers also to problems of the natural sciences. ... For instance, if there is a difference of opinion with regard to science or genetics, it must be decided by the "leader." This is the necessary unavoidable consequence of the fact that, according to Marxist doctrine, you do not consider the possibility of dissent among honest people; either you think as I do, or you are a traitor and must be liquidated."

--von Mises, Ludwig (1952). Marxism Unmasked

cubanbob said...

If the vaccines work why the need to force everyone to get them? Those who are vaccinated are protected and the others are adults with agency. As Roger Sweeny noted above there appears to be a Venn diagram between those who are anti-GMO food and are pro GMO vaccines. I would love to hear them articulate the difference.

Howard said...

Unhinged

RigelDog said...

"Enid Futterman, a local journalist and Bernie Sanders supporter..."

Did Althouse chose this article to post at least in part due to the reference to the perfectly-named Ms. Futterman?

rehajm said...

I'm hectored to follow science so I follow the science and I discover the experts who have correctly predicted the course of the pandemic say the vaccine is too narrow to account for variants and mass immunization in the face of the pandemic has promoted quick mutation of the virus. The variants are infected the vaccinated and making them sicker than the first wave. The naturally immune are having a better time of it. The experts warn deadlier variants are likely on their way...

...meanwhile the Dementia Administration demands vaccines for the unvaccinated in to protect the vaccinated from contracting the virus...

...and these traditional media idiots ignore the science and side with the Dementia Administration.

Iman said...

Damn, dirty hippies!

Gospace said...

told me she finds the idea that COVID is caused by 5G cellphone towers more believable than person-to-person transmission.

Is that a belief you'll find on right wing anti-vax sites? Maybe. I'm not looking for it.

The anti-vax here have been pretty consistent. The dreaded covid is real. If you don't have significant comorbidities, it's no big deal if you get it. There are things you can do to lessen the impact of the virus, and reduce tour chances of getting it to begin with. None of which are encouraged by our trusted CDC, NIH, or any other branch of government. Adequate Vitamin D blood level all by itself being one of them, backed up by multiple government funded studies easily looked up going back over 2 decades. More importantly- the government actively discourages ANY treatment for the dreaded covid. Which is why monoclonal antibodies are now being rationed- all for "the greater good".

The vaccine isn't a vaccine under the old definition of vaccine. Ingsoc has taken hold and the official definition changed. Doesn't matter much- since there's much evidence- which can be looked up, but not found on mainstream media sites, that protection from the vaccine lasts considerably less than a year. And appears to drop off rapidly. The different vaccine do appear to have different rates at which their effectiveness wanes- but it's true of all of them.

Surviving the dreaded covid makes the vaccination irrelevant- yet the government lies about this, saying you still need the vaccine of you're a dreaded covid survivor. There's no other way of putting it- the government is lying about, period, end of discussion.

Forcing the body to create the spike protein- which is what all the vaccines currently administered do- with the spike protein being a known pathogen in and of itself- and the virus part most likely to change as the virus mutates, was a really stupid idea to begin with. AS I've said before- why force the body to generate the spike protein? Why not just inject some directly? Answer: Anyone who did that would be in jail.

On some right wing websites- I have seen grumblings about 5G and the vaccine, not the dreaded covid itself. And there are some who believe there's something in the vaccine that can be activated by a 5G signal... that will either kill you or make you sterile, depending on which site you're looking at. A plotline straight out of Kingsman: The Secret Service.

I do peruse crazy sites- as it's always good to know what the crazies are thinking. I also find as much as I can about religious cults of any kind- they all have things in common.

Skippy Tisdale said...

"Kevin said...
The anti-vax faction...

Again, there is a clear line between people who don't want this vaccine and those who don't want any vaccines.

Labeling them all anti-vax or anti-science is willful misrepresentation.

It's being done purposely."

I am not an anti-vaxer. And I have been vaccinated for pretty much everything. But with regard to Covid-19, well, let's just say that I self-identify as vaccinated, so I can do whatever I want wherever I want to.

Temujin said...

"Not Getting Vaccinated to Own Your Fellow Libs/They’ve aligned themselves with forces they despise. But lefty anti-vaxxers don’t see the contradiction"

What they've 'aligned' themselves to are their personal beliefs. The author, like so many on both sides, seems to think that aligning yourself to Party and Cause above all, including above your own personal, actual beliefs is the only Right Way. Otherwise, you're just aligning yourselves to the...the...enemies.

Party Uber Alles. Even over self. Especially self.

tim in vermont said...

"I'm hectored to follow science so I follow the science and I discover the experts who have correctly predicted the course of the pandemic say the vaccine is too narrow to account for variants and mass immunization in the face of the pandemic has promoted quick mutation of the virus."

So did they predict that excess deaths would begin to drop like a stone once the vaccine was rolled out to the elderly and has remained at near normal for many weeks now?

Achilles said...

Skepticism about the safety of genetically modified food can easily blend into worries about mRNA vaccines....

These aren't eh same thing at all.

Genetically Modified foods have saved millions of lives and improved the health of the poorest people in the world immeasurably. Only things like synthetic fertilizers have done more.

mRNA vaccines are by definition semi-effective and the cost benefit analyses are at best debatable.

But they are taxpayer subsidized cash cows for big pharma.

Unknown said...

“Human Nature” is a recently released documentary regarding breakthroughs in CRISPR gene editing technology. Apparently not long ago experts agreed that in vitro editing would not be allowed. In vitro editing changes not only the genes of the fetus but alters the genes for future generations. But, a recent discovery has made in vitro editing far more possible. So, now most experts are rethinking their previous position. One or more of the featured experts states that use of the procedure will not be mandatory, but instead will be optional like a vaccine. One argument in favor of current COVID vaccine mandates is that they are needed to alleviate critical care shortages. It seems likely that if the current mandates are deemed to be legal that this will serve as precedent the use of in vitro gene editing in the future to correct any condition the government deems unacceptable. Although it shouldn’t matter, I took the vaccine but I’m suspicious of mandates.

Tom

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

I'm not going to give The Atlantic a click, but I'll bet that none of the people that the author wants to other favors making it illegal to get the jab. They just don't want it for themseoves. Similarly, I have taken 2 Pfiaer jabs, but I have never wanted to make it mandatory. Get jabbed or don't; we make our choice and take our chance.
This is turning out to be a contest between people who want to live and let live, and their opponents who seize on any opportunity for them to have a chance to push someone around.
I'm so old that I remember when bullying was a bad thing.
I suspect I will live long enough that those of us on our side will make the other side very much regret their bullying.
It will be unpleasant and ugly.
It might get bloody.

Gospace said...

Unknown said...
... In vitro editing changes not only the genes of the fetus but alters the genes for future generations. But, a recent discovery has made in vitro editing far more possible. So, now most experts are rethinking their previous position. One or more of the featured experts states that use of the procedure will not be mandatory, but instead will be optional like a vaccine...


If they find it can be used to prevent homosexuality- since so many say they were born that way... research into it, much less use of it, will be instantly forbidden.

Chris said...

My wife and I went to a few meetings with a grass roots group that is anti-mandates, and anti-vax passports. The meeting was full of all sorts of different people from all political persuasions. White's, Blacks, Asians, Hispanic, Conservatives, Liberals, Progressives, Republicans, Democrats, Lesbians, and Gay men. I've never seen such a politically diverse crowd, all there to accomplish the same thing. Stop vax mandates, and stop vax passports. The best part is that we all got along!! It was awesome.