"Exploring Science Literacy and the Literacy Communities of the Anti-Vaccination Movement"
Wyn RichardsWyn Andrews-Richards is a rhetoric scholar with specific research interests in literacy studies (particularly science literacy/aliteracy), writing center studies, political rhetoric, and feminist rhetoric. She will begin her masters program in August 2016 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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Frustration Among ScientistsOne article addressing the widespread pseudo research utilized by the anti-vaccination movement is “Anti-vaccine activists, Web 2.0, and the postmodern paradigm – An overview of tactics and tropes used online by the anti-vaccination movement.” The author Anna Kata writes, “Research has shifted to social media. An analysis of YouTube immunization videos found that 32% opposed vaccination, and that these had higher ratings and more views than pro-vaccine videos" (Kata, 2012). Additionally, Kata analyzes the rhetorical tactics used by the anti-vaccination movement. One such tactic is, “Skewing the Science – Denigrating and rejecting science that fails to support anti-vaccine positions; endorsing poorly-conducted studies that promote anti-vaccine agendas" (Kata, 2012). In the one Facebook conversation I have described in this essay, a clear skew of science is seen, particularly in the outside sources linked by other commenters. As humans, we want to be right. Yet, in a traditionally “literate” society, it is critically important to ask how it is that science literacy has become shunned. In fact, one of the commenters on the original post spoke of receiving no prenatal care, a fact that she was quite proud of, even mentioning the doctor present at her birth was very upset because of her lack of prenatal care. The Facebook poster’s description of her laughing at her obstetrician, in addition to the other mother proudly rejecting prenatal care, is extremely problematic. Ostensibly, these women trust the birth of their children to board certified physicians. It is implied through what the original poster does not say about her own educational background that she is not a physician herself. Her obstetrician most likely has an MD, and is not only generally educated in medicine, but specializes in the medicine of birth and babies. His credentials clearly make him far more qualified to make important medical decisions than this woman. An article from Time magazine, “Nothing, Not Even Hard Facts, Can Make Anti-Vaxxers Change Their Minds," discusses how researchers found a backlash against the presentation of vaccine facts to “anti-vaxxers”: “A new study shows that when presented with four different scientifically proven arguments that vaccinations are safe, some anti-vaccination parents seemed even less inclined to inoculate their kids against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) once they saw the evidence" (Alter, 2014). This leads to the overriding question in this entire discussion about science literacy, and the literacy practices of the anti-vaccination movement: Why? Why do some parents reject those with greater literacies than they, in favor of flawed, uncritical thinking regarding vaccines? |