‘I’m Right you’re wrong’: Apathy, Disillusion and the Anti-Vax Movement

Society as we know it is on the brink of collapse. Living standards are in global decline. Battlelines have fractured nations. The Earth is literally on fire. But when did we all stop caring?

Apathy and disillusionment with mainstream politics is a greater threat now than it has ever been, and if we don’t start paying attention to it soon, then we are complicit in its consequences. Turnout in General Elections has stagnated under 70% for over two decades,  party memberships are at their lowest levels in living memory and many have chosen to reject mass-media altogether. Personally, I don’t blame them.

On the surface, it’s easy to understand. An underrepresented and underappreciated public feel as though their singular vote either doesn’t or hasn’t made much difference in the outcome of recent elections. When they do turn-out, they see little real change, certainly not for the better. We’ve had three Prime Ministers in 10 years and for millions of people their lives have increasingly worsened. Every year the decline becomes more noticeable. Walk through the desolate highstreets of your town, the decaying docklands of the North, the deluge of rubbish amassing in empty city centres, and tell me you feel like the system is working properly. Even when they turn to the opposition, they are greeted with out-of-touch elitism from a party that offers up little more than political noise, and the public don’t like what they are hearing. Infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters churn out miserable horror stories for the unavoidable 24-hour news cycle, whilst social media micro-doses us with enough anger, fear and ‘wholesome’ cat videos to energise us for the day. As we bounce from one ‘once in a generation’ crisis to the next, it seems strikingly obvious why so many of us are choosing to disregard the whole system. Ignorance is bliss.

Though this isn’t anything new. The discourse around voter apathy and its causes has been commonplace since ancient Greece, with Western governments making attempts to tackle misinformation and disillusioned extremism in the 13^th and 17^th centuries. What differs today is the sheer scale and intention. Never in our lives have powerful individuals with complex, vested interests been given such unprecedented access directly into our minds. The internet, particularly social media, is a whole new ballgame, and too few of us understand the rules. Because of this, we have seen rapid societal disintegration and massive party political dealignment, leading to some of mankind’s most divisive debates. We live in the most polarised time in our history, and continually the internet is at the epicentre of these political hurricanes.

‘I’m Right you’re wrong’, will explore modern and online voter apathy hoping to understand why greater numbers of individuals are abandoning the mainstream political formats in favour of alternative or, what many would consider, extreme views. Out of respect for the groups or individuals involved this is not about debating their opinions, we have seen that doing this only pushes them further away. This series aims to peer behind the curtain on some of our most polarised debates to hopefully track these changing dynamics to their source. Venturing into their world, the periodical will examine personal testimony from those losing trust in the system and analyse where much of this sentiment spawns from. From ‘Fake News’ and right-wing radicalisation to (hopefully) ‘incels’, climate revolutionaries and the ‘Red-Wall’ the series will head into British society’s heart of darkness and hopefully come out with more understanding about these changing dynamics, and who is driving them. Let’s start with the anti-vax movement.

For decades the prevailing orthodoxy has been that the anti-vax movement is isolated and disparate, largely taking place in the United States and wholly obsessed with discredited research that linked vaccines to autism. It seemed logical that this would be another uniquely American problem, especially considering the sheer volume of anti-government sentiment already rooted in the country. However, the arrival of Coronavirus in 2020 brought UK anti-vaxxers out of the woodwork. During the early stages of the pandemic much of this anti-vax sentiment was brushed off as harmless dissidence caused by a lack of information and was mostly directed toward the rejection of Government restrictions. However, across social media I saw growing numbers of previously apathetic people, whom I had ‘followed’ from school, and not bothered to remove, arguing for the first time about politics online. For the most part this consisted of regurgitating extracts or headlines from dubious news sources, and displaying them as fact, but since when did Lola, who failed Year 9 science, know anything about how vaccines are made? Why did Allan from under 16’s rugby suddenly care so much about ‘Civil Liberties’? And where were they getting their information from?

Mulling this over, I stumbled across a litany of anti-vax content shared on the Instagram of someone I had spoken to in several classes throughout school. Although I hadn’t given much thought to whether she was particularly political, Jane didn’t present as a person with unorthodox views. The last I had heard of Jane, close family members of hers had been admitted to hospital with Coronavirus, and thankfully they had recovered. Thus, it came as a surprise when plastered across her Instagram was an American choir burning facemasks in a barrel fire all the while singing a moderately unsettling rendition of Michael Jackson’s We Are the World.

The difference with Jane was that she invited discussion on the topic. She bluntly told anyone that wanted to argue to unfollow her, but anyone that claimed to be “awake”, or looking to learn more, could message her and have a conversation. Led by curiosity, we began a constructive dialogue the very next day. As mistrust in the system was deep rooted, it was vital that I did not go into the exchange under false pretences, thereby tricking Jane into answers. Arguing vehemently with her, would only prove her point and engender further ill will. She agreed to a neutral conversation for the sake of understanding. To be clear, I do not share these views. Simply, you cannot examine what, without first knowing why.

Do you believe COVID-19 is real?

“Covid is real, but it is a flu manipulated into a bigger virus. There is a recorded document that shows COVID-19 being planned in the early 2000s.”

I asked if this document could be related to the SARS outbreak over the same period, but the conversation had already moved on. The idea that Coronavirus has been planned for decades crops up regularly across unmoderated, often right-wing websites that frequently use this as a basis to claim that COVID-19 was made in a lab. The assertion is widely disputed by groups such as the McGill Office for Science and Society. McGill labelled it “patently false” suggesting that there is confusion surrounding the SARS-CoV designation, stating: “When a patent application from the early 2000s refers to ‘SARS-CoV’, it is a different virus than the one we are dealing with now” (1).

Then how do you feel about the vaccine?

“It is very convenient that they created a ‘vaccine’ so quickly. When you think about it, the timeline doesn’t quite add up. If all the ‘clotshot’ manufacturers combined were able to make this at a rate of one dose per second, it would take almost 32 years. Where are the new facilities? Where is the staff recruitment? The vaccine doesn’t stop anyone getting Covid or spreading it. This has been proven by Ireland who published the statistics of all their vaccinated deaths last week. Why get the vaccine when your body produces anti-bodies naturally? Fighting off diseases and viruses naturally.”

Although I didn’t want to argue, I felt compelled to challenge her on the accuracy of those statistics. It categorically was not the case. The first thing that came to mind was the number of flu vaccines produced every year to protect mostly older individuals over winter. Logically we would require vast amounts of those across the globe for annual use. Inspired to ‘do my own research’ the first article that came up on Google was an academic journal from ScienceDirect. Published in 2021 the paper examines the “global production capacity of seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines in 2019”, the data having been gathered pre-pandemic. The journal estimates that yearly, 1.48 billion doses of the influenza vaccine are produced to deal with seasonal outbreaks and the potential maximum doses, in the case of a global pandemic, are 8.31 billion (2). I put this to her, though purely to see if this made her reconsider her view to any degree.

“You definitely won’t be able to change my views, I know way too much. Also are you getting these statistics from the mainstream media because those figures are extremely corrupted and false? If there was a true vaccine you wouldn’t have to have four vaccines now as well as the booster. The vaccine is an experiment that has not been fully tested so there is no evidence of its future effects. If in five years’ time it’s okay, then fair enough. Plus, if you are fully vaccinated then why is wearing a mask mandatory, clearly you should be protected by it?

I don’t mean to assume but will you not be following the new restrictions then?

“No, I won’t be following the new restrictions, especially the masks that is insanely dangerous, and everyone can easily be exempt. It also says on the box that it doesn’t prevent viruses and there’s no scientific evidence that masks actually help you.”

‘Insanely dangerous’, what do you mean by that?

“Wearing a mask can cause many different illnesses and diseases and there are tonnes of evidence that they can be fatal. Because you are breathing in your own carbon dioxide, as well as mould and the fumes from the plastic, you can contract hypercapnia. Just Google illnesses caused by breathing in carbon dioxide. Construction workers die every year from illnesses caused by facemasks. The maximum time you should be wearing a mask is 20 minutes in a wet environment, 60 minutes in a dry environment. I have a power-point written by two scientists and a health and safety expert about the dangers of masks.”

Since 2020 I think I’ve learnt more about how facemasks work than I had ever known before, although truthfully, this was exclusively from mainstream media sources, and I hadn’t particularly ‘done my own research’. The NIH National Library of Medicine conducted a study evaluating “concentrations of CO2 under various PPE” and concluded that, whilst routine facemask use does cause a significant increase, levels “remain within the limits for short-term use” with further study on long-term usage required (3). This didn’t prove Jane right, but it certainly didn’t prove her wrong. Though, it felt necessary to highlight the fact that there are medical professionals who have been wearing masks for up to 60 hours a day, every week, and surely we would have heard if doctors, nurses or care staff were flagging masks as a health concern? There is no way the media would ignore doctors dying from mask-related illnesses, right?

“The news and mainstream media don’t show you what’s really going on. Today’s news talked about the new COVID variant and not the women who’ve been sex trafficked recently in Hull. If the mainstream media didn’t tell everyone about COVID no one would know or care, they panic because the news tells them to. They use untrue statistics, and any adverse reactions are hidden from public view- the Royal College of GPs said the risk of healthy people catching the virus could be increased by wearing masks! Its about distracting us from other issues, it’s all negative and corrupt, working with government to achieve greater control. It’s all over Bitchute and Rumble.”  

To clarify, Bitchute and Rumble are unmoderated, online video sharing platforms similar to YouTube or Vimeo. Running the tagline ‘Help us defend free speech’, Bitchute describes itself as an “independent platform making a stand against excessive internet censorship” (4). The platform provides a space for ‘free-speech’ advocates, primarily on the Right of the political spectrum, who have been removed or demonetised for their views on YouTube. Content creators found to have been sharing fake news, white nationalist or conspiracy videos were banned from the site or had ad revenue streams pulled from their videos and sought refuge on Bitchute in an event known as the 2018 #YouTubePurge (5). Whilst much of the content has always railed against government control, the COVID pandemic and vaccination programme have only added petrol to this fire, with videos comparing mask use to dog muzzles.

Rumble is effectively the same thing. Chris Pavlovski, Rumble’s Canadian founder and CEO, states that “Rumble is creating the rails to a new infrastructure that will not be bullied by cancel culture. We are a movement that does not stifle, censor, or punish creativity and freedom of expression. We believe everyone benefits when they have access to more ideas and diverse opinions” (6).

In terms of politics how would you describe yourself?

“I used to call myself left-wing but that was before I learnt everything, now I don’t really care or label myself because that would be putting myself into their world and I refuse to do that. I wouldn’t vote because it’s already been chosen, it’ll be someone who can be easily manipulated and spread lies fairly easily, they won’t let us actually choose. Also, tax is voluntary, you don’t have to pay for it or mortgages, electricity, gas etc., they’re all basic rights. I know people who have claimed it all back as fraud!”

How did you first get involved in all this and how have people reacted to it?

“I did my own research. My friends understand that it’s my choice and my family are starting to understand it a lot more once I started using common sense and logic. But I know people who have been disowned for their beliefs. I know over 200 people in Yorkshire against COVID ‘vaccines’. We call ourselves ‘awake’, and we meet up every other week to learn from each other.”

How would I get into an ‘awake’ group and what are they like?

“There’s loads of groups all over the country. The one I’m a part of was actually set up by my parents and their friend who set up the initial Facebook page. You get into them by being invited by someone in the group, but we have had tonnes of infiltrations that spread negativity and try to break us up. The people are truly amazing, so happy, positive and insanely intelligent. We start with a meditation session and then go over two alternating subjects each week with someone in the group doing a talk. We have musicians and amazing cooks, so we all bring home cooked food and have live music and just hang out. They are truly my soul family; I love them to death.”

By the end of our discussion it became clear that much of the hysteria around vaccines was stemming from a handful of unmonitored, unsubstantiated online sources, with dubious real-world intentions. The whole process was emblematic of right-wing radicalisation, which, largely through fear, had turned a left-wing supporter completely on their head. Through mirroring the language of the liberal left, right-wing actors manipulate individuals into advocating for smaller government, individual liberties and reduced taxation, directly into the welcoming arms of conservative policy that would largely benefit the people Jane claimed to be against. Whilst individually the consequences of Jane’s realignment are negligible, we are seeing this on a mass scale, with Jane herself knowing “200 people in Yorkshire” alone who have departed from mainstream politics. The ‘awake group’ sounded reassuringly warm and welcoming and echoed much of the sentiment found in neo-evangelist organisations. Much like religion it is abundantly clear that these groups operate on the basis of faith, belief and worship. But to really understand it, I knew I had to go to this meeting. Procuring my invite from Jane, I was to attend the following Monday.

Commons Sense (subject to change) is a British political media project, co-written by post-graduate students Eamonn West and Patrick Heywood, which aims to educate, investigate and commentate on some of what we believe to be the most pressing issues facing the UK today. We hope this undertaking can shine a light on this tumultuous time for our political system and maybe, if we’re lucky, entertain along the way. For more information about us and what we stand for at CS, visit our introductory page here:

Hello World!

Sources:

1. Jarry, J., 2021. Patently False: The Disinformation Over Coronavirus Patents. [online] McGill: Office for Science and Society. Available at: <https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-pseudoscience/patently-false-disinformation-over-coronavirus-patents&gt; [Accessed 9 December 2021].
2. Sparrow, E., Wood, J., Chadwick, C., Newall, A., Torvaldsen, S., Moen, A. and Torelli, G., 2021. Global production capacity of seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines in 2019. ScienceDirect. Vaccine, 39(3), pp.512-520.
3. Rhee, M., Lindquist, C. D., Silvestrini, M. T., Chan, A. C., Ong, J., & Sharma, V. K. (2021). Carbon dioxide increases with face masks but remains below short-term NIOSH limits. BMC infectious diseases, 21(1), 354. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-021-06056-0
4. BitChute. 2021. Help Us Grow. [online] BitChute. Available at: <https://www.bitchute.com/help-us-grow/&gt; [Accessed 9 December 2021].
5. Schroeder, A., 2021. Far-right conspiracy vloggers have a new home. [online] The Daily Dot. Available at: <https://www.dailydot.com/upstream/bitchute/&gt; [Accessed 9 December 2021].
6. Pavlovski, C., 2021. A Personal Note from the CEO of Rumble, Chris Pavlovski – Rumble. [online] Rumble. Available at: <https://story.rumble.com/a-personal-note-from-the-ceo-of-rumble-chris-pavlovski/&gt; [Accessed 9 December 2021].