1. A brief rant on those who claim they aren't anti-vaxxers but totally are. I first started mucking about on Twitter and creating content in 2012. My focus has always been scepticism and challenging irrational beliefs. Especially when those beliefs can be linked to harm.
2. Anti-vaxxers were always a focus, because pre-pandemic, anti-vax cranks were almost exclusively Christian conservatives. And flakey West Coast 'spiritual' types, oddly. Back then, the big baseless bogeyman was autism. And how vaccines were responsible (they weren't).
3. I released a podcast on this issue in 2015. And it's staggering how little daylight there is between this type of anti-vaxxer and the Covid era 'I'm definitely not an anti-vaxxer but..' types. gspellchecker.com/2015/11/ep71-s…
4. It's always one, or a combination of the following:

📌 Conspiracy
📌 The inability to understand basic causation when attributing illness to vaccines
📌 Disregard of data in favour of anecdote
📌 Touting of ineffective alternative remedies.
5. It was all fun and games when it was simply religious cranks and privileged American crystal-mongers. Now it's self-described free-thinkers and people that genuinely believe they are fighting fascism and the New World Order.
6. So, feel free to say you aren't an 'anti-vaxxer'. But then at least stop regurgitating all the greatest anti-vax hits familiar to many of us already.

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Stephen Knight 🔊 📺

Stephen Knight 🔊 📺 Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @GSpellchecker

23 Jun 21
The @royalacademy have issued an apology to artist Jess de Wahls. They initially removed her work from their shop and publicly accused her of having 'transphobic views' for stating that  "humans can not change sex". To their credit, the apology is solid. Thank you RA Image
Congratulations to @JessDeWahls. I can only imagine how unpleasant this whole thing has been. A reminder that it is fearless women that are on the front line of this debate who find themselves demonized and attacked for speaking simple truths. Don't abandon them to the mob.
There's a startling contrast in the response to this apology. Overwhelmingly, those critical of the RA's initial decision are now praising them for their robust apology. Fair is fair. This never happens when someone apologizes to the woke mob however. They twist the knife more.
Read 4 tweets
29 Jul 20
1. Far-right extremism has been intellectually terminated in the uk, thankfully. That's not to say it doesn't exist, it does. But whenever it rears its racist intolerant head, civil society, authorities and institutions oppose it unanimously. It no longer gets a seat at the table
2. Things can regress however, which is why it's important to keep challenging/rejecting the bad ideas/violence of the far-right. It's also why we need to apply the same standards to the current rise of far-left extremism
3. The far-left in recent years have succeeded in bringing about a return of racial identity politics, dividing & defining people by skin colour. They have advocated political violence & criminal damage in service of their goals. And they have enjoyed mainstream support for it.
Read 6 tweets
15 Jul 20
I'm currently reading 'White Fragility', and so far there's a heavy emphasis on the argument "if you disagree with me, it just proves that I am right".

I was truly expecting something more challenging. Perhaps it'll pick up. Perhaps not.
Ugh. I've just got to a section where it's argued that it's simply not enough to accept you have privilege handed to you because of your white skin. No, that's too passive & implies lack of choice. You must acknowledge that you are actively, consciously complicit in this act
This is exactly why it's like a religion. It doesn't matter how hard you try to satisfy all the dogmas and injunctions, there will still be those whose zealotry will demand further sacrifice of your faculties.
Read 15 tweets
13 Oct 19
Wakey wakey. I'll be providing some commentary from the Speaking Truth To Social Justice conference today. A really ideologically diverse group of people in the room today.
I got to meet and shake the hand of Alan Sokal of 'The Sokal Affair' infamy moments ago. He's here today en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_aff…
After the opening remarks from Michael O'Fallon, @peterboghossian will take to the podium with 'How Social Justice Silences'.
Read 71 tweets
27 Apr 19
@MythicistMKE @AmericanAtheist @WEEDMONTON @aliamjadrizvi Absolutely. Singling out Harris and Dawkins as contributing factors to a terrorist attack in New Zealand is not only deranged, but dangerous and cowardly.
@MythicistMKE @AmericanAtheist @WEEDMONTON @aliamjadrizvi I'll no longer be supporting @AmericanAtheist (and will be telling others not to bother either) until they can clarify:

1. If it's necessary to openly criticise Islam

2. Whether Harris & Dawkins are anti-Muslim bigots.
For context, @AmericanAtheist thought it was a good idea to share smear pieces accusing prominent public atheists of being partly responsible for the Christchurch attack. What they should have done is publicly defended them from these disgusting attacks. What are you even for?
Read 5 tweets
10 Apr 19
The New Statesman printed the above quote simply as "Each Chinese person is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing"

The original context makes it an attack on the effects of authoritarianism in China. Their editing just makes it racist. Shameful
There was a time when our own society constrained most women to a similar path (domestic work, motherhood, no autonomy)
"They’re creating robots out of women by so constraining what can be done. Each woman is a kind of replica of the next one and that is a very frightening thing"
Read 8 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(