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I Vaccinate My Kids and I Swear I’m Not Selling Anything. Can We Be Friends?
I’m starting this one off with a “Birdbox” reference, because that sure is still relevant! Everyone on the planet watched it at precisely the same time on December 21, 2018, so I’m not worried about spoiling anything for the good people of Ricochet.
Just in case you happened to be wrapping Christmas presents or watching Fox News instead of checking out the new Sandra Bullock movie on Netflix, if you’ve seen M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” or John Krasinski’s “The Quiet Place,” you’ve basically seen “Birdbox.” On the surface, it’s a post-apocalyptic horror movie about a woman who is blindly searching for a safe haven in a world where most of humanity has been compelled to commit mass suicide by a “creature” that’s a death sentence to lay eyes on. But Sandra Bullock has spoken about what the film means to her in interviews, explaining that it’s very much about parenthood. The themes are solid enough; the furious and swift rapids she frantically navigates, the shreds of safety and reliable rules she grasps at, the moments where blind faith is the only terrifying option and she is forced to trust an indifferent force of nature to deliver her family. Almost everything in “Birdbox” can be blatantly or metaphorically guided back to the central theme of parenthood.
Theme is crucial for horror. Often, so is the tenet that when characters are dealing with a monster, there needs to be a kind of logic to it. The vampire only comes out at night and can be killed by a stake in the heart. The werewolf only comes out during the full moon, and is exclusively but unfailingly downed by a silver bullet. The Martians can descend at any time, but if they contract the common cold, they drop like flies. “Birdbox” seems to be setting up a monster that follows a pretty straightforward set of rules at first (you see it, you off yourself), but one widely criticized aspect of the film is the fact that seemingly out of nowhere, at roughly the point where Act II begins, the characters and audience learn that not everyone is affected this way by the creatures.
Rather than immediately committing suicide by whatever means are at hand, there are some individuals who witness the creatures, grow euphoric as they are filled with the glory of the revelation, and become obsessed with forcing all who resist to look. From a storytelling perspective, it makes sense to introduce an element to create some conflict once the characters have basically figured out that they’ll be fine if they just stay inside with the curtains drawn, but going back to Bullock’s parallels, if the creatures represent those things that can hurt our children, ranging from harsh truths to human traffickers to war and disease and ruin, what do the newly minted cultists represent with regards to the theme of parenthood?
The first time I watched Birdbox, I knew. There was no philosophical moment of thought, no hesitation as I really took the opportunity to mull over every facet and possibility.
Good grief, they’re selling MLM Products. That’s what they represent.
Multi-Level Marketing companies insist, vehemently, that they are not pyramid schemes. This is technically true, because there is usually a product being exchanged for the participant’s hard-earned money. That being said, companies like Mary Kay, Lularoe, Herbalife, Perfectly Posh and Pure Romance have gained a certain level of notoriety for seeming innocuous enough but becoming really annoying really quickly when someone you know gets involved. Suddenly, every trip to Sephora is taking a sales opportunity away from your friend who sells makeup, and every time you turn down an invitation to a sales party, you are not being a supportive influence. The dirty secret, of course, is that the product, while real, is window dressing for the true moneymaker: recruiting. You can sell all the 3-D fiber mascara or bedroom tingle jelly in your inventory, and the effort-to-profit ratio is still extremely underwhelming. Of course, the modern MLM relies on weaving the illusion of booming success through social media, with Facebook and Instagram posts crowing about huge paychecks and lavish lifestyles in the hopes of intriguing acquaintances just enough to sign up. And if you do, you’re almost guaranteed to fail, because a whopping 99% of individuals who attempt multi-level marketing involvement lose money on the endeavor. If you’re lucky, it’s only $100 or so for a basic Younique starter package. If you’re not, it’s family-ruining levels of crushing debt and a garage full of unmovable inventory. If you’re extremely unlucky, it’s inventory that has an expiration date.
The business model still has its devotees, in spite of the gutting numbers. Fewer family lifestyle choices are as divisive as Multi-Level Marketing. Vaccination comes close, and I don’t believe it’s a tremendous coincidence that many of the people who love Norwex and Young Living also love to turn their children into modern Typhoid Marys. The common strain is that women, and specifically mothers, are statistically more likely to buy into both the anti-vaxx movement and get drawn into a multi-level marketing company, so there’s bound to be some overlap. Rather than use any kind of cheap and sexist rhetoric to explain this, I believe that much of it just comes down to the fact that while parenting is an incredibly important job, it’s not a tremendously respected one. Being able to rattle off anecdotes about vaccine side effects or running your own “business” creates a sense of exclusive knowledgeability and authority, something that many adult humans who spend the majority of their time with irrational screaming demons crave. It’s as understandable as it is deeply sad. Most mothers of young children today are also millennials, which means that they’re already the butt of many jokes painting them as frivolous, immature and dumb. The rhetoric spun by MLMs is carefully engineered to give an individual feeling judged, stressed, and inadequate the belief they have the potential for power. Income, productivity, and entrepreneurial spirit are all fetishized by our society, and MLM pitches make it sound so easy to have it all and really do the right thing for your family. And the families of others you love, of course, provided they’re willing to see the light.
Recently I found some other local mothers of toddlers on Facebook and we organized an impromptu playdate for our kids, and it was interesting to see how gingerly everyone proceeded when we finally met up at an area bounce house. While our children played, the moms all engaged in light small talk, gently and politely probing, and it was amazing how as conversations split off and grew a little deeper and more intimate, the ice was smashed apart the moment these issues came up. Once “we vaccinate” and “I am not trying to sell you anything or recruit you for my downline” were out of the way, the path ahead to developing genuine and long-lasting connections suddenly seemed possible and exciting. Another very important element that anti-vaxx sentiment and multi-level marketing have in common is that they so thoroughly saturate the personalities of the people who buy in that “cultist” feels depressingly accurate, making warm and caring friendships daunting if not impossible. When every child is endangered by heavy metals and chemicals according to your worldview, and every new friendship is a business opportunity that your success relies on, of course it’s not a topic you can just peacefully set aside for the greater good like politics at your parents’ Easter brunch. On the other side, you have the vaccinating parents, who know that herd immunity only works if your child’s friends are also immunized, as well as the scores of people who just hate feeling pressured to buy essential oils and marital aids from a person who can’t possibly be an expert on medicine or sexuality. I can’t be friends with someone who could make my children sick, and I can’t be friends with someone who is hoping I’m gullible enough to become a “girlboss” under them and risk going into debt.
Most of all, I can’t be friends with someone who is seeing a “creature” that could destroy me and my family, as well as the cohesion and trust of my community. It might be beautiful, truly beautiful, but it’s also a hell of a dealbreaker.
Published in General
Vaccines when utilized in a sensible strategy do help overall. But we have a vaccine schedule that is seriously out of whack.
Baby Boomers endured around 9 to 15 vaccines before their 5th birthday. These days, to “stay on top of the schedule” babies receive over 35 vaccines before their first birthday.
Just perusing the stats on infant morality, there are indications that the over powered vaccine schedule is harmful. In Norway, some 3.5 babies die before their first b-day, for every 1,000 babies born alive. In the USA, that stat is 6.2 babies per every 1,000 babies born alive.
If we had a really serious & health concerned Vaccine Panel, rather than the revolving door that exists here in The USA, so that industry itself promotes who the CDC places on the panel, some governmental researchers would be investigating that disparity.
Granted there are other factors – Norwegians are healthier overall, and lack the poverty we have here. (One third of all kids in California exist at the poverty level – not surprising given our state’s willingness to have an open border.) But Big Pharma doesn’t need to do these studies – they know they have paid off the right people who occupy the right seats on various Congressional committees.
A Fed mandate is coming soon, which unfortunately means that more & more people will be raising Vax injured babies and children. However, eventually – just like with cigarettes, the public will be forced to set things right.
I am not someone who is against all vaccinations. I look at risk vs benefit. If that was a possibility – if that discussion was encouraged, we would have a vaccine schedule that included real risks, like polio.
And the very dangerous hepatitis vaccine, forced on nearly every baby born inside a hospital in the USA on its birthday, would not be given unless the infant’s mom was a hep carrier. Babies are not at risk for hepatitis, except when from a very impoverished drug using, multiple sex partner environment.
One reason that Scandinavian countries have a lower birth mortality stat is that those countries only allow for the hep vaccine to be given to babies who really truly are at risk.
The entire premise of vaccination is that if a child or adult is vaccinated for a specific illness, they acquire immunity provided by that specific vaccine. So the whole notion that everyone needs to be vaccinated to provide a safe environment for a specific population is nuts. It is a notion that was developed recently and it flies in the face of everything the public was taught in the 1950’s.
Carol, I will mention that the Swine Flu vaccine was a major screw up. Lots of vaccine reactions, and the major threat did not materialize. It is taught as an example of a bad program in schools of public health . (I have a Masters in Public Health)
I have to say I’ve been really surprised to see this on the list of infant vaccines. I know I wouldn’t go along with it. I see no reason for it. My kids had this vaccine series on their way to college–given life in a germy dorm, it made sense. But for infants? No.
I meant to get back to you on your assertion that somehow people are benefiting financially from having an autistic child.
From a web site in the UK on the costs of raising an autistic child is the statistic that it costs around three times as much to raise an autistic child as a normal child: https://www.ambitiousaboutautism.org.uk/understanding-autism/life-at-home/financial-assistance
The same article also points out that the parents’ ability to hold down full time jobs is quite a bit more challenging.
I have known very well to do parents of autistic offspring. They were known to spend upwards of $100K annually trying to bring their child back to normalcy.
It is also stated that for autistic adults, those now in their 20’s and 30’s, at least 35% of them have not ever held down a job after graduating HS, nor do they complete a single additional semester of higher education.
Also, EB, I addressed your remarks regarding “anecdotal” in my lengthy reply # 49.
It makes sense for an industry that is profit motivated to make sure the most dangerous vaccine is given to infants who are a mere day old. The repercussions of the hep vaccine can be these: migraines, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, Crohn’s disease, asthma, allergies, paralysis, narcolepsy and death. If a one day old suffers any of these adverse effects, how can any parent argue that the baby was not born that way? After all at the age of 24 hours, that infant’s health is a big unknown.
If someone’s teenager suffers any of these adverse effects, the parents have a slew of resources that prove the vaccine is the culprit. Everything from the videos of the baby blowing out their birthday candles, age one through 16, and the recorded life as a student, a soccer or baseball player, a musical protege, a young wildlife enthusiast who hiked the Grand Canyon plus the comments of relatives and teachers. That is why it was so important for the vaccine industry to push hospital staff into having the “healthy baby clinics” where the babies get the hep vaccine at age 1 day old.
By the way, the vaccine costs over $ 400 a pop – so it is a bonanza to Big Pharma if every baby gets it.
If they are actually autistic. There are parents that doctor shop to get an autism (or other) diagnosis so that they can get additional scholastic and financial aid. This results in increasingly higher rates of autism and other disability diagnoses.
……….. “Also, EB, I addressed your remarks regarding “anecdotal” in my lengthy reply # 49.”
And I addressed your lengthy reply #49 in my reply #52: particularly regarding your unquestioning acceptance of personal stories posted on autism websites – the very definition of anecdotal evidence.