In yet another instance of nauseating intrigue defying the barbed wire border maintaining the order between palatable protocol and the surreal, the tech realm finds itself at the wrong end of the unenviable and a tedious Cartesian intersection quantifiable only by the observations contained within String Theory. As unvaccinated children needlessly contract the vile symptoms of the measles virus, an alarming outbreak made possible by the prevarications emanating from Hollywood via internet communities influencing suburban soccer moms, the unsavory synergy between a movement founded by junk science clashing with the ambiguous moderating protocol of the social networks equates to a mucky environment of pure confusion. And to top it all off, the made for TV communicable epidemic continues to spread, while policy makers and legal minds wrestle with the reality of Constitutional freedoms in deliberating over a complex mess.
Executives at the People’s Republic of the largest online community on the planet are now rigorously scouring on-site digital marketing campaigns in an expansive search and destroy campaign for deliberate misinformation regarding vaccinations, most notably the MMR, reports Fox News, while the unscrupulous pair of Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy cement their legacy as radical activists at least partly responsible for the rebirth of Third World diseases in the fifty states, and not as forgettable entertainers. The reckless and ubiquitous claim that booster shots increased the risk for Autism was a conjured tall tale teeming with incredulity, and as baseless as McCarthy’s alleged talents. Salk is eagerly awaiting encountering these intolerable chunderheads in the afterlife, but they are probably destined for an entirely different fate.
Apparently, the anti-vaccine lobby and pharmaceutical industry protesters have flooded the automated advertising mechanism on F***book with misleading and blatantly false content, and a high number of complaints from concerned users has led the company to increase moderation efforts in removing offending ads. However, as the scatterbrained approach to implement strict standards for political campaigns has been a template for epic failure with corporate bias overriding equal opportunity, the jury is still out as to the overall effectiveness in staunching unhindered propaganda. Overall, the techoprisy is sympathetic to alternatives to vaccines, in completely overlooking the dire result of ignorance. The interactive experiment launched by Mr. Zuckerberg continues to struggle in existing as a corporate entity that attempts to define itself as a deregulated innovative space for the free exchange of ideas, an unresolved conflict that is responsible for privacy violations and stagnation.
In the real world, the dubious efforts of J & J debunked fiasco has morphed into what health officials predicted could be a serious after effect of the anti-vaccine movement, as the measles outbreak in Washington state continues to proliferate, nearing 100 confirmed cases, and jeopardizing the academic year for over 800 students. Governor Jay Inslee and presidential long shot has declared a state of a emergency.
Nearly four years ago, the Seattle Times profiled a heated conflict among parents on Vashon Island near Seattle, where families on both sides of the issue sparred in public and via social networking. As dangerous and irresponsible as throwing “chicken pox parties” to give their children what they conceived as a natural approach to immunity, health officials broadcast a stern warning in response that the choice to abstain from vaccinations would lead to serious consequences. Ironically, F***book was at the forefront of sparring parents, as message threads were overrun with heightened emotions, hysteria, and became battle zones for both reason and indoctrination.
Low and behold the cat is officially out of the bag, and society faces the brunt of punishment furnished by a wave of and selfish parents completely lacking empathy and siding with shimmering unicorn myth, rather than fact. Extremists tend to embrace scientific dogma only when it forwards their agenda, and within the vaccination debate, this reprehensible and tawdry approach to understanding the world far transcends a mere ideology.
As the social network dynamic is masterfully adroit in dealing with cause, and not effect, the gossipy coffee shop adult playground of digital streams of consciousness, remains a fervid zone for superficial content streamlined for the lazy mind, a plight of the digital age that will continue to inflict destruction and casualties upon the real world. It is within this volatile space that serious issues are debated inanely, and the rules of sensibility unceremoniously recalibrated. The believable should never be an excuse for viable evidence, but unfortunately under the online pretense, if it is posted it must be true. A shared belief and founding principle of the social networks in remaining infuriatingly relevant to a society building up a tolerance to truth.
Read the Fox News story here.