I wrote yesterday that I am thrilled to be on the Anti-Vax Enemies List, but proud as I am, the truth is that I am far more thrilled that the list exists in the first place.
We can learn so much from it!
The most important thing about the list is not the identities of the people on it, but the mere fact that it exists. Its existence, its size, and its uses tell us a great deal about the vulnerabilities not merely of the anti-vax movement, but of all pseudoscience movements. By understanding those vulnerabilities we can be ever more effective in marginalizing, ridiculing and ultimately destroying those movements.
Simply put, the Anti-Vax Enemies List is a sign of weakness, not of strength.
How? Let me count the ways:
1. An enemies list is an implicit acknowledgement that the facts are not on their side.
When you know that you have scientific evidence in your corner, as everyone fighting pseudoscience does, from the luminaries down to individual bloggers, you need not worry about enemies since they are powerless to change the scientific evidence. They can lie about it, suppress it, and deny it but those are always failing strategies. The truth inevitably rises up to bite them.
When you are promoting lies, those who know the truth are naturally your enemies. Those who know the scientific evidence about vaccination don’t just demonstrate that anti-vaxxers are wrong, they humiliate them by pointing out their ignorance, illogical arguments, and, most devastatingly, their vastly overinflated egos. Those who know the scientific evidence about childbirth don’t just demonstrate that homebirth advocates (like Modern Alternative Mama Katie Tietje) are wrong, they humiliate them by pointing out their ignorance, illogical arguments, and, most devastatingly, their vastly overinflated egos. Those who know the scientific evidence about nutrtion and toxicology don’t just demonstrate that food-fools like Vani Hari (Food Babe) are wrong, they humiliate them by pointing out their ignorance, illogical arguments, and, most devastatingly, their vastly overinflated egos.
2. The size of the Anti-Vax Enemies List (30,000 names!) starkly reflects the weakness of the anti-vax movement.
For anti-vaxxers to assemble a list of 30,000 “enemies” means that the number of those arguing against pseudoscience dwarfs the number of those promoting pseudoscience. As others have noted, it would have taken far less time for the anti-vax crowd to assemble a list of their friends. There really aren’t that many “friends” of consequence.
The anti-vax crowd is in retreat. Reality has dealt them devastating blows, from the resurgence of diseases like pertussis and measles, to the willingness of legislatures like that in California to force them to pay a price for clinging to ignorance.
3. The purpose of the Anti-Vax Enemies List is perhaps the most revealing vulnerability of all.
The purpose of the list is to preemptively exclude list members from the echo chambers that are so vital to the propagation of pseudoscience. The information that the 30,000 list members post on Facebook, blogs and message boards is so incredibly compelling that banning it within moments does not fully obliterate its harm to anti-vax beliefs. Even the briefest exposure to scientific evidence fills anti-vaxxers with doubt. That ability to induce doubt of anti-vax propaganda is even more powerful among those who are in the process of being recruited by the anti-vax movement.
Anti-vaxxers, like most purveyors of pseudoscience, recognize that their most powerful weapon is the echo chambers that they create. Only by tricking each other into believing that they represent the majority can they sustain their nonsensical beliefs. Even the briefest intrusion of actual scientific evidence or logical argument can be fatal to maintaining the fiction that they are anything other than crackpots and conspiracists.
That’s why it is crucial for opponents of pseudoscience to breach those echo chambers and introduce truth and logic. Anti-vax, like all of pseudoscience, is rotten, weak and crumbling at its core. Its continued existence depends on hiding the rot within groups of ideologically committed believers. Even the brief entry of a single individual wielding the truth can be fatal to the group’s legitimacy. No one understands that better than the anti-vaxxers themselves. That’s why a list is needed; waiting to ban and delete the truth after it is written is too late. It must be banned preemptively.
It is equally critical for the opponents of pseudoscience to create alternative Facebook pages, blogs and message boards that don’t simply offer actual scientific evidence, but also host open debate of the issues. Open discussions, where anyone can post any information and argue about it with others, sends a powerful message to those flirting with pseudoscience, whether it is anti-vax pseudoscience, homebirth pseudoscience or any other variety: proponents of science and logic have nothing to fear because the truth is on their side. In contrast, proponents of pseudoscience are deeply afraid because they recognize, at a most fundamental level, that the truth undermines their cherished beliefs.
Those who wield the ban hammer (you know who you are!) may feel a temporary frisson of power by obliterating the truth from your Facebook pages, blogs and message boards, but you’ve actually advertised the weakness at the heart of your beliefs. You are acknowledging that those beliefs are so fragile that even the merest wisp of scientific evidence can overpower them.
I’m thrilled that the Anti-Vax movement has drawn up an Enemies List. I’m even more thrilled that it won’t help them in the least.
