Right Wing Conspiracy Theories, Pt. 2

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Conspiracism: "A form of scapegoating that portrays the enemy as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good. Conspiracism assigns tiny cabals of evildoers a superhuman power to control events, frames social conflict as part of a transcendent struggle between Good and Evil, and makes leaps of logic, such as guilt by association, in analyzing evidence. Often employs common fallacies of logic in analyzing factual evidence to assert connections, causality, and intent that are nonexistent. A distinct narrative form of scapegoating, conspiracism uses demonization to justify constructing the scapegoats as wholly evil while reconstructing the scapegoater as a hero. Sees secret plots by tiny cabals of evildoers as the major motor powering important historical events."

Part One of this series discussed Newsweek Magazine's recent article, “The Plots to Destroy America,” written by Kurt Eichenwald.  Part Two will also refer to this highly informative article, addressing "Death Panels" and autism.

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image credit thedailybeast.com

We all remember Sarah Palin, the former Alaskan governor, beauty pageant contestant and Wasilla mayor (who didn't serve out her elected term in office). Palin went on television in 2009 and coined the term "death panel," saying the ACA (or, with sneer-filled intonation, "Obamacare") would call for bureaucrats to decide whether Americans - kids with Downs, say, or the elderly - would be worthy of receiving medical care.

image credit NewsBusters

Palin pointed to Section 1233 of H.R. 3200, which would have allowed doctors to be paid for discussing such things as living wills, advance directives and end-of-life care options with their terminal patients, as support of her death panel plot. (Apparently, the idea of doctors providing comfort and information to their dying, aged patients was just too much for Palin to abide by.) The conspiracy theory's wide reach (almost 30% of Americans who'd heard the pitch believed it at the time) successfully resulted in this section of the bill being stricken. No longer would the ACA include a provision for paying doctors for their time spent offering information about pain management, resuscitation or religious support.

Have we benefited from this conspiracy theory? 
Not at all.

image credit vaccines.com

Even our children’s health is fair game for conspiracy theorists. Actress Jenny McCarthy’s son was born with autism. McCarthy, like any mom, wanted to know what could have caused her son’s autism and searched for answers. She must have scoured the internet in order to arrive at the conclusion that vaccinations were to blame, and has campaigned tirelessly against vaccinations since. She claims a causal relationship exists, even though the theory has been debunked.

The scientist who started this theory, Andrew Wakefield, has been thoroughly discredited, and his work has now been deemed an “elaborate fraud.”

image credit thinkstrangethoughts

Wakefield lost his medical license for a variety of acts, including paying kids at his son’s birthday party to donate blood for his experiments. Wakefield has gone so far over the edge that he headlined at a rally called “The Masterplan: The Hidden Agenda for a Global Scientific Dictatorship.” Presenting their theories were 9/11 Truthers, One World Government conspiracists, and anti-fluoridationists.

Additionally, other scientists who had jumped on the anti-vaccine bandwagon and who offered “cures” for autism have also now been outed as snake-oil salesmen.

While we do not yet know precisely what causes autism, we do know that there are several genes that are involved in autism spectrum disorder. Some cases are directly linked to some genetic disorders, in other cases genetic changes may make kids more susceptible to autism, or create environmental risk factors. Other genes may affect the way brain cells communicate, or they may determine the severity of symptoms. Some genetic problems are inherited, while others seem to happen spontaneously.

Environmental factors are thought to contribute, such as viral infections, complications during pregnancy, or air pollutants, but studies are still being conducted in the hope of finding verifiable results. Environmental factors are thought to act as triggers for the disorder. And though we don’t know with certainty THE cause of autism, scientists find no link whatsoever to vaccines.

image credit vaccinenews.net

Anti-Vaccine Body Count, a site dedicated to the effects of the anti-vaccine agenda, reports that, between June 3, 2007 and June 14, 2014, there have been  134,405 Americans who have suffered preventable illnesses, and 1,393 who have died, because they were not vaccinated. The site also reports that, thus far, there have been no cases of autism linked to vaccinations.

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Whooping cough was just declared epidemic in California, with the CA Dept of Public Health stating that 3,458 cases have been reported this year alone. The medical journal Pediatrics has determined that areas hit hard during the last state epidemic contained “statistically significant clusters” of parents who refused to vaccinate their children.

While McCarthy may think the lack of a definitive understanding of the causes of autism does not rule out vaccinations, NO cases of autism can be linked to vaccinations.  

So, has her campaign helped us? With the measles and whooping cough on the rise in the U.S., I’d say certainly not.

Please look for my next installment on the conspiracy theories America is struggling with currently...

More conspiracies will be discussed in Part Three of this series.

Sources:
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/23/plots-destroy-america-251123.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_panel
http://www.jennymccarthybodycount.com/Anti-Vaccine_Body_Count/Home.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seth-mnookin/need-for-reliable-science-journalism_b_1183429.html
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/basics/causes/con-20021148
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/14/california-declares-whooping-cough-epidemic-after-staggering-increase-in-cases/