Introduction – March 3, 2019

The Guardian has developed a reputation for being something of a neo-liberal mouthpiece. Publicising stories about minorities, LGBT issues and woman rights with a subtext that often implies that white males are the “oppressors”.

Strangely however, it didn’t really oppose the West’s military interventions in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan or anywhere else for that matter. Instead it has focused on issues like the oppression of women and homosexuals under Saddam, or Gaddafi or the Taliban.

These articles targeted the Guardian’s largely white, middle-class readers and made much of inducing a misappropriated sense of guilt. Thereby justifying Western military intervention in those countries.

However, in the following article the Guardian shifts its focus. Rather than highlight some brutal foreign tyrant who oppresses his people and needs to be dealt with, out of humanitarian concerns obviously, the Guardian looks at an entirely new breed of villain: the “anti-vaxxers”. Ed.

‘God knows how I’m alive’: how a teen defied his parents to get vaccinated

Anna Almendrala in Los Angeles – The Guardian March 3, 2019

One teen’s story of breaking with his anti-vaxxer parents went viral. Now he wants to be a voice for the importance of vaccines.

Last November, Ohio teen Ethan Lindenberger entered a subcommunity on Reddit called “No Stupid Questions” and wrote:

“Now that I’m 18, where do I go to get vaccinated?”

While a teen getting routine shots is an unremarkable event for most families, Lindenberger was raised to believe that vaccines cause brain damage, autism and other developmental issues. But nearing the end of high school, he had come to think differently. And he needed advice:

“As the title explains, my parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme. It’s stupid and I’ve had countless arguments over the topic. But, because of their beliefs I’ve never been vaccinated for anything, god knows how I’m still alive. But, i’m a senior in high school now with a car, a license, and money of my own I’d assume that I can get them on my own but I’ve just never had a conversation with anyone about the subject.”

Lindenberger’s Reddit post made headlines across the United States as a measles outbreak in Washington state refueled debates around the small, but energetic anti-vaccination movement in the country. The social media post gave people hope that those raised to believe unfounded claims about vaccines could change their minds and make a different decision than their parents.

Close to two dozen teens and young adults have reached out to him on Reddit and Instagram since journalists began writing about him, Lindenberger told the Guardian. But there’s no evidence indicating a wave of children are defying their parents to get vaccinated.

Continues …

Comment – March 3, 2019

“Close to two dozen teens and young adults have reached to him” since the corporate media began publicising his story.

Clearly, the Guardian wants to create the impression that this is an issue, which gullible teens and young adults will support, in defiance of their “anti-vaxxer” parents.

Actually, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that psyop specialists weren’t advising the Guardian in this matter. One only has to look at how the article seems aimed at eliciting the sympathies for or from “teens and young adults” to see some calculating intelligence at work. No doubt with the aim of exploiting a youthful sense of rebellious independence against their parents, or stirring a residual sense of the same in older readers. Ed.