Study: You Can't Change an Anti-Vaxxer's Mind

[proverbialwisdom]

185. Weary sigh. The two sources I've seen promoting that meme are Dr. Nancy Snyderman & Dr. Paul Offit.

https://twitter.com/DrNancyNBCNEWS/status/372469050028199936

Dr. Nancy Snyderman Verified account
‏@DrNancyNBCNEWS

The demographic of parents who opt out of vaccinating their children? White, college educated, suburban....well meaning but wrong @NBCNews

2:21 PM - 27 Aug 2013
Retweets 31 Favorites 4

http://www.ageofautism.com/2013/11/public-enemy-number-one-white-suburban-educated-moms.html

November 19, 2013
Public Enemy Number One: White Suburban Educated Moms
By Julie Obradovic

There’s a theme playing out in our society, and it’s not a good one: white suburban moms are the enemy.

It started a few months ago with a tweet from Dr. Nancy Snyderman. She was addressing the fact that studies have shown the parent most likely to refuse or question vaccinations for her children is a highly-educated white mom.

She wanted everyone to know that we are a well-meaning bunch, but that we are wrong.

It was ridiculously condescending and reeked of racism. Are we seriously to believe mothers of color don’t have questions about vaccines either?

But for the most part the tweet and what it implied…that we stereotypical silly little college-educated white moms are seriously misguided and endangering our children and society…went unnoticed outside of the vaccine-safety movement.

But it has happened again, and this time, not in the form of a tweet most people will never see or pay attention to. This time, it came from the federal government; specifically from the mouth of Department of Education head, Arne Duncan.

While addressing criticism of the Common Core, he speculated what was behind it:

“It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary,” Duncan said.

Now I’ve been an outspoken advocate in perhaps one of the nastiest controversies out there for almost ten years. I’ve heard and read an awful lot of insults during that time, Dr. Nancy’s not withstanding. Anything from being a “flat-earther” to being so stupid it’s no wonder my special-needs child has problems.

I try not to pay attention to those things anymore, but every once in a while something catches me off guard. Mr. Duncan’s comments did just that.

It wasn’t just that as a teacher with 17 years experience and two master’s degrees in education that I know first hand what the real concerns are from both sides of the desk, and that it has absolutely nothing to do with worrying about the perceived brilliance of a child or value of a school. It was that his comment is so far off from reality that it’s not just insulting, it’s frightening: he’s apparently completely disconnected from what teachers and parents are actually worried about.

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http://www.ageofautism.com/2009/11/dr-nancy-snyderman-danger-married-white-female.html

November 04, 2009
Dr. Nancy Snyderman: Danger! Married White Female!
By Katie Wright ADDED NOTE: (Daughter of Autism Speaks founders, Bob and Suzanne Wright)

Managing Editor's Note: I added a little something at the end of this post for your enjoyment, my fellow dangerous types. Tell us in the comments why you're dangerous. (90 comments)

That’s right! Last week Dr. Nancy held up a pie chart illustrating the groups of people are most concerned about vaccine safety. You have seen these pie charts before, especially in the context of crime. Usually this type of visual aid communicates public problems like what % of women have been victims of a violent crimes or the % of men have committed crimes or are in jail, and so forth. Nice stuff.

While pointing to her pie chart, Dr. Snyderman angrily directs the viewer to the high % of “educated but misinformed white Moms” who have concerns about vaccine safety. The gist of it we have been brainwashed by the internet and it is preposterous for us to question CDC safety standards. We have all heard Synderman’s rant before: these Moms are endangering children, Moms don’t know how to use the internet (appropriately!), health care workers (possibly married white Moms lurking in this category as well!) who refuse to get the swine flu vaccine are “selfish” and on and on.

Well, today I am admitting that Synderman has found us out. Yes, it IS a conspiracy! White college educated Moms of America are on a covert mission to ensure our vaccines are safe. We have secret gatherings at Banana Republic. Maybe you have seen us at Starbucks? We hold clandestine meetings at Whole Foods, because when we are not working on our evil plan to make vaccine safe we are buying organic food! Yes, Nancy it is all true! Our nefarious actions include reading and researching and using the internet (again, that dangerous tool!) to learn about vaccine safety issues. Dr. Nancy apparently believes on she and select members of the medical community can properly use the internet and we should visit only their pre-approved sites? Dangerous white married Moms can also be found at Staples, buying supplies for our child’s home program. In short, we have infiltrated all of America!

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Dr. Paul Offit during the past several months on "uniformly highly educated" parents:

http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/09/dachel-media-update-paul-offit-in-wall-street-journal-of-course.html
http://www.ageofautism.com/2014/06/dr-paul-offit-tells-jon-stewart-that-caucasion-upper-middle-class-educated-are-.html