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Aimee's avatar

CVS is sending my DAUGHTER e-mails about participating in an mRNA flu vaccine trial. I’m livid! That company is evil personified.

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Steve's avatar

It was interesting following the link to GAVI.

As a professional writer, I do a lot of advocacy, informational, and promotional pieces for clients. The GAVI articles - including older ones on masking - have all the hallmarks of messaging trying to (unsuccessfully) compensate for extremely weak basis in fact. They are embarrassingly light on hard data and rely on an appeal to authority or experts while simultaneously quoting only a single expert - or none. Reading closer, the “evidence” is models. They have no sources to cite. It’s actually laughable at how weak their material is.

Here’s a little test: imagine you are a writer hired by GAVI and your assignment is to generate a piece titled “Making the Case for _____________” where the blank becomes masking, lockdowns, vaccine efficacy, vaccine safety, etc. Now, read a few GAVI articles and ask yourself whether anything they contain could be considered compelling and capable of turning a skeptic into a believer. Ask further if a reader that approached the topic at hand with a neutral point of view and no prior knowledge would find the evidence overwhelming or merely “meh”.

As a writer, this strongly suggests they had very little to work with. Indeed, if you consider that this reflected the very best they could serve up, just how pathetic was everything else they might have had in the kitchen?

We live in a time where, unfortunately, it is more important than ever to spot propaganda. The best propaganda is when those subjected to it will vigorously insist that they aren't being manipulated and will insist that all other points of view are not just misguided - they are hateful and harmful. To paraphrase Nazi Hermann Göring, "It's very easy to manipulate people - you simply must convince them they are in danger and they will then gladly comply" (where "comply" = "surrender their freedoms).

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