Dr. Oz did a show on autism causation. Alison Singer, Founder and President of the Autism Science Foundation, said:
“We’ve ruled out some environmental factors already, like vaccines.”
But not all of the experts on the show agreed. And even though Dr. Oz managed the conversation so that it fit the mainstream consensus — autism is not caused by vaccines — many audience members did not take “expert” opinion at face value.
Contrary to Singer’s implication, there is no general “we” among the experts. There are Ph.D.’s on all sides of the controversy. To see this bigger picture, you have to turn off the tube and tune into the legal issues as well as the scientific ones.
Do you see the poll?
When I finished viewing the video clips on February 20, a poll caught my attention. In the right sidebar, it asked: “What do you hate most about your doctor?”
Why is it there?
As I automatically began answering the poll in my mind, I noticed something peculiar.
The poll distracted me from continuing to take in all that had transpired between the audience members and the panel of experts — with its complexity and emotional charge.
I had lost my train of thought due to the distraction.
So why was that poll placed there? (It showed up for all the videos that day.)
How was the information used? For market research, or something else?
One possibility
The creators of the Dr. Oz show probably know that skepticism about vaccine safety isn’t just a fad. And that many parents of autistic children aren’t just angry, but coherent and vocal.
Dr. Oz and company may have used this poll to get inside the heads of a particular type of viewer: someone following the mainstream consensus — but open to the skepticism voiced on the show.
That poll could have been placed there to capitalize on the opportunity to:
- Reach viewers who may very well side with the vocal members of the audience
- Capture their attention immediately after viewing a complex social exchange
- Divert attention to a manufactured perspective on doctors and the medical establishment
- Contain and control the train of thought such that it’s simplified and not complex
Take a closer look…
Take a closer look at the poll on the right. Notice the trigger word. “Hate.”
If you start to take poll, you can’t disagree with your doctor, distrust your doctor, or question your doctor. You have to hate something about your doctor.
When you try to answer the question — you let your web browser:
- Control your emotional reaction
- Control your train of thought
Hate simplifies the issue. It pits doctors as bad. The enemy.
If you’re critical of the medical establishment’s dictum that vaccines-aren’t-at-all-related-to-autism — then that simplified mindset won’t help you research beyond the media sound bites. That kind of mindset will hurt you.
Because instead of getting in touch with your actual, complex, emotional response — and the complex reasons behind it — you’ll get dragged into “angry parent/layperson mode.”
That’s exactly what the mainstream medical establishment and mainstream academia want. It makes their argument seem superior.
Emotional, distraught, hate-filled parents are supposedly also uneducated, irrational, and impulsive. And they can’t organize press conferences confronting Bill Gates for calling concerned citizens (who are not necessarily “anti-vaccine”) “child killers.”
The endpoint
Here was the poll outcome after I voted:
Notice how the figure turns an already simplified scenario — voters who “hate” certain things about their doctor — into a much simpler one.
“This bar is longer than that one.”
“But shorter than that one.”
“Oh look, the longest bar is the one I voted for!”
Did you notice the subtle message?
“Doesn’t listen to me” didn’t win. (At least not when I took the poll.) It came in 3rd.
Why does that matter?
Because that’s the heart of the issue. That’s the message that comes through when you watch audience members and experts voice their opinions on the show.
Let’s say there’s a parent with a young child. They’re following the mainstream consensus on autism causation, but open to a more complex dialogue on the issues. So one day they:
- Roam the internet
- Stumble upon the Dr. Oz video clips
- Get to thinking more deeply in response to the audience concerns
- Get sucked into the poll in the right sidebar
- Vote: “Rushes through my visit” (as I did)
- View the poll results
Here’s what could happen next. The image creates the illusion that the items in the poll are the bulk of the autism issue. After all, doctors are involved, right?
The parent loses touch with their initial reaction, and may even suppress it for fear of research that may lead to unsettling conclusions.
Realistically
I don’t know if that poll was intended to have such an effect.
Five days later, a new poll now asks for you credit rating.
However, the internet is wrought with many pitfalls. Catchy headlines, sound bites, provocative visuals, and much more, can influence you on a subliminal level.
And carefully crafted language, as found in the poll, can control your thoughts.
What do you think?
What are your thoughts on the poll? Polls in general? Internet distractions that can get in the way of research? The Dr. Oz video clips?
If you think there isn’t a controversy regarding vaccine safety, that the medical establishment is all about your safety, or having a Ph.D. makes a person right, you’re not living your life as a mindful construct — your life is constructed for you by the mainstream media.
Think for yourself and do your own research.
Just try not to get sucked into any polls while you’re at it.
Blindly following experts can hurt you. You have to start finding your own answers. Learn more by signing up for the free e-class: Your Life is Your Construct.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I did not vaccinate my 2 of my 4 children. My first 2 i follow what the doc said, but after my second child got sick from her 5th shot and it didn’t help that one of the forms they had me sign said ‘in case of death the doc is not responsible. I started to do some research that made my decision not to give my children any form of vaccines, this was way before autism was attached to this.
Many parents don’t realize how much they are actually on their own when it comes to vaccinating their children. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “[N]o vaccine manufacturer shall be liable in a civil action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death.”
Melissa, I just stumbled on your site somehow and it’s great to see more people question issues like these.
It’s interesting that the parents seem to question, on their own, the mainstream perspective. In general, people seem to be realizing the the mainstream is not the One True Perspective, and it gives me much hope.
Have you noticed a similar trend over the last several years?
Craig
Hi Craig, yes I think the internet has made a huge dent just in the past five or so years. The subcultures of alternative media and research make these topics more accessible, especially when they can filter into the mainstream (e.g., the movement for the book, Vaccine Epidemic). It gives me hope as well.
I’m glad you’re hopeful. I am too at times, but I often fear that in general, we’ve gone too far to come back, or, we’re still really far from any kind of real swing in the right direction.
I was just on facebook and noticed that while nearly 12 million people “like” Glee, only 18,000 people like 1984.
A lot more people need to wake up before we can swing things in the right direction. I think that will have a lot to do with making alternative media much more accessible, and ultimately mainstream. Facebook isn’t a total downer! I’m a fan of several alternative pages/sites that reach thousands of informed individuals. :)