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Related: About this forumAstroturf and manipulation of media messages | Sharyl Attkisson | TEDx University of Nevada
Published on Feb 6, 2015
In this eye-opening talk, veteran journalist Sharyl Attkisson shows how astroturf, or fake grassroots movements funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.
Heres my TEDx talk on the increasingly artificial paid-for reality we get and how to recognize the truth.
Astrotuf seeks to manipulate you into changing your opinion by making it seem as if youre an outlierwhen youre not.
Hallmarks of astroturf and propaganda include use of inflammatory language such as quack, crank, nutty, pseudo, paranoid and conspiracy.
Beware when an interest addresses an issue by controversializing or attacking the people, personalities and organizations surrounding the issue rather than the facts. That could be astroturf.
Watch the TEDx Talk at the University of Nevada, Reno.
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)personalities and organizations surrounding the issue rather than the facts. That could be astroturf. <
Could be DU, too.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)That's still the best example of astroturf ever.
salin
(48,955 posts)couldn't help but note the irony
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)She's also the same dipshit that claimed a stuck backspace key was Obama hacking her computer and wiping out a document she was typing.
So yeah, her giving a speech on manufactured "news" is more than just a bit ironic.
Geronimoe
(1,539 posts)What is an anti-vax loon? A concerned parent? Possibly truth to the powerful? How safe is it when the pharma industry refused to supply vaccinations unless the government assumes all liability for any harm done by vaccinations.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Or are you just wanting to carry water for an anti-vax loon?
Geronimoe
(1,539 posts)As long as pharma refuses to accept liability and puts this burden on the public, I'll assume it just isn't as safe as they want everyone to believe.
If you add causes of death due to medical error, hospital infections, bad reactions to medication, healthcare becomes the leading cause of death, greater than either heart disease or cancer.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Seems to make as much sense as blaming a flat tire on Toyota because they waited too long to issue recalls.
Geronimoe
(1,539 posts)However there is no trust when pharma refuses to produce the product unless government assumes liability. Also when those who stand to profit, sit on the regulatory boards.
Perhaps medical experts will find what is causing an epidemic of autism. So far they seem not to know.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)That's not the same as promoting debunked bullshit and excusing it by saying we don't know so loons can just fill in the blanks.
ellennelle
(614 posts)no vaccine is 100% effective; NOTHING is. i'm happy as a taxpayer to cover to costs of those who fall into the <5% or even less with bad reactions, in order for the vaccination to be mandated for the sake of the population at large.
what part of that is hard to understand?
i get that pharma is not a benevolent player, as a corporate entity, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
which, i suppose, would be part of the anti-vax loon definition; really try to avoid knee-jerk reactions to anything. it's the very definition of lunacy.
and, by the by, sharyl atkisson fits that bill to a T. sheez, who would post her talk here? why would TED give her the venue? she's certifiably nuts.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)One might say someone who likes promoting vaccine/autism anti-vax loons.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6167108
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)CBS VIDEO: Healy On Vaccine-Autism Link
JULY 28, 2008, 12:09 AM|"Only On The Web": In an exclusive interview, former NIH Director Dr. Bernadine Healy tells CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson that the question of a link between vaccines and autism is still open for debate.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)...written months before Wakefield's fraud was revealed.
Just sayin'
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)And to call parents who vaccinated derogatory names after the fact isn't well reasoned either, is it, just because they personally experienced/observed/reported adverse effects, intensively studied/critically examined the existing science, and organized to urgently lobby for more/better research? Let's listen.
In particular, let's note the distinction between the findings of independent scientists and others as these direct stakeholders have meticulously detailed.
http://www.safeminds.org/blog/2015/01/21/evidence-harm-thimerosal-found-disrupt-mitochondrial-function-cells-people-autism/
More Evidence of Harm: Thimerosal Found to Disrupt Mitochondrial Function in Cells From People With Autism
Date: 21 Jan 2015
By: SafeMinds
By Lyn Redwood, R.N., M.S.N., co-founder of SafeMinds
...Buried in the IOM report was the acknowledgment that the hypothesis that vaccines and components might result in harm in a genetically sensitive population:This hypothesis [that a genetic predisposition may make some children susceptible to vaccine damage] cannot be excluded by epidemiological data from large populations groups that do not show an association between a vaccine and an adverse outcome.
In other words, the IOM report from 2004 recognized that a subset of the population may be at risk of being damaged from vaccines.
Yet the report failed to call for further investigation.
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Because this is such a widely used medical intervention, it is imperative to have the safest possible national vaccine program.
It is for these reasons that SafeMinds feels strongly that vaccine safety issues, even if theoretical in nature, deserve to be investigated to the fullest extent possible.
That is why SafeMinds has continued to fund research into thimerosal and has funded over 1.5 million dollars in environmental research into autism over the past 15 years.
This past month another study supported by SafeMinds was published in the Journal of Toxicology. This study evaluated how children with autism (actually their cells) responded to exposure to thimerosal. Link: http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jt/2015/573701/
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Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)...and you're still at it.
Very telling that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=222x109488
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Ginger Taylor said...
Well since Quackwatch is on the treating autism community's list of questionable organizations, I am not sure why you think that would hold any sway here...
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Please see additional posts on cited thread.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)...and the first two never claimed vaccines caused autism.
Someone like Attkisson who continues to repeat well debunked nonsense certainly qualifies, which doesn't say much for her parrots.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)Well debunked nonsense? No, that's exactly the point.
Please see thread you cited. Excellent OP, btw, focusing on ramping up MMR for adults "to protect those who cannot get the vaccine. " That's the question now, isn't it? Definitions.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)If I was wrong about Polling then prove me wrong. Just because you don't agree, doesn't mean I'm wrong.
Healy never claimed vaccinations cause autism. Is this really so hard for you to admit? As I said, her article on the subject was published months before it was revealed Wakefield was a complete fraud. Is this really so hard to understand?
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)It refers to the retraction of Dr. Hooker's paper, still available, however. Please see: http://www.autisminvestigated.com/brian-hooker-confirmed-by-cdc/
More later on Dr. Poling, Dr. Healy, and even Dr. Wakefield (maybe). Or maybe not, busy.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)MUST READ IN FULL: Letter sent to Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist at Yale University, from Dr. Jon Poling. (We've printed the letter with permission.) Dr. Novella is the founder of The New England Skeptical Society (meetings, 1st Tuesday of the month, on the lawn of the House of the Seven Gables, Salem, MA. BYOB (bring your own blinders.) and is a contributing editor to Quackwatch. Dr. Poling is a neurologist/PhD and the father of Miss Hannah Poling.
...With regard to the science of Autism, I have no argument with the assertion that a single case does not prove causation of a generalized autism-vaccine link. What the case does illustrate though is a more subtle point that many physicians cannot or do not want to comprehend (ostensibly because vaccines are too important to even question). Autism is a heterogeneous disorder defined by behavioral criteria and having multiple causes. Epidemiological studies which have not found a link between autism and aspects of vaccination do not consider the concept of autism subgroups. Indeed, in a heterogeneous disorder like Autism, subgroups may indeed be vaccine-injured but the effect is diluted out in the larger population (improperly powered study due to inability to calculate effect size with unknown susceptible subpopulation). I think former NIH Director, Dr. Bernadine Healey explained it best in that population epidemiology studies are not granular enough to rule-out a susceptible subgroup.
Furthermore, science has not systematically studied the children who fell ill following vaccination to determine what the cause(s) for their adverse reaction was. It would follow that if you never tried to understand why a single child developed encephalopathy following vaccinationyou wouldnt have the first clue as to what aspects of vaccination you could alter which could increase the relative risk of that adverse event (whether it be thimerosal, live virus, or too many). Could the susceptibility be a mitochondrial genetic haplogroup similar to Chloramphenicol toxicitysure it could! Why did a few Alzheimers patients die of fatal encephalitis following administration of the failed AN-1792 vaccine, but the majority had no ill effects (vaccine didnt work though)?
Definition: Autism is a heterogeneous systemic disorder with primary neuropsychiatric manifestations due to complex genetic and gene-environmental interactions likely affecting synaptic plasticity early in childhood development. This new theory of Autism is rapidly replacing the old guard dictum that Autism is a genetically predetermined developmental brain disorder of synaptic formation/pruning that is set in motion prenatally. By the 10 year rule of science, your time is about up!
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Dad in Autism-Vaccine Case Speaks Out
Jon Poling, Father of Hannah, Explains He's Not 'Anti-Vaccine'
By Kathleen Doheny
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
WebMD News Archive
March 6, 2008 -- Neurologist Jon Poling, MD, PhD, is not surprised that the federal government decided to grant compensation from a federal vaccine injury fund because his daughter Hannah, now 9, had developed autism-like symptoms after receiving childhood vaccines.
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Poling Not Anti-Vaccine
The experience with Hannah, Poling says, has not turned him against vaccines. "I want to make it clear I am not anti-vaccine," he says. "Vaccines are one of the most important, if not the most important advance, in medicine in at least the past 100 years. But I don't think that vaccines should enjoy a sacred cow status, where if you attack them you are out of mainline medicine."
"Every treatment has a risk and a benefit. To say there are no risks to any treatment is not true.''
"Sometimes people are injured by a vaccine, but they are safe for the majority of people. I could say that with a clean conscience. But I couldn't say that vaccines are absolutely safe, that they are not linked to brain injury and they are not linked to autism."
Poling is hopeful that the decision will trigger government action. "I hope it will force government agencies to look further into what susceptibility factors are out there for children to develop brain injury after vaccination, to look into the susceptibility factors of people at risk."
[center][/center]
There are two theories about what happened to Hannah, said her mother, Terry Poling. The first is that she had an underlying mitochondrial disorder that vaccinations aggravated. The second is that vaccinations caused this disorder.
...The government chose to believe the first theory, Ms. Poling said, but added, We dont know that she had an underlying disorder.
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This 2008 NYT article cites Lyn Redwood of SafeMinds, incidentally.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)That is exactly how it is done.
Yep, we are living in a manufactured reality.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)If someone is going to be billed as a "veteran journalist", then it's pretty fair to explain what that really means.
She's been making a career out of claiming "media bias" destroyed her journalism career when the far simpler explanation is 'incompetency bias'.
http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/04/22/sharyl-attkisson-cries-media-bias-but-her-shodd/198971
zeemike
(18,998 posts)That is why the attack on the messenger...change the focus.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Sharyl Attkisson complaining about being called a nut speaks volumes to some. YMMV.
zeemike
(18,998 posts)And defending yourself of being called a nut is proof you are one?
I see how that works.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)zeemike
(18,998 posts)(the Nut Case is your straw man)...and you said that she was a nut case like all the other nut cases that don't believe the official story.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)...attributed to me, and then argued from that basis, which is the epitome of strawman bullshit.
drynberg
(1,648 posts)Prejustice...
TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)I found it very interesting - not her talk, but the fact that she mirrors this other recent video at DU. For me these two "warnings" against manipulation tastes like they them self are served with a common purpose - to spread confusion, and to tell you that there is nothing you can win a fight against.
proverbialwisdom
(4,959 posts)http://www.snopes.com/medical/disease/cdcwhistleblower.asp
http://touch.orlandosentinel.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81317483/
Posey looking at whistleblower's CDC autism documents
Scott Powers, Central Florida Political Pulse
10:40 am, September 9, 2014
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey has been curious for a while about whether there's been enough research into alleged links between childhood immunizations and autism, and now his office has a cache of documents from a CDC scientist who said his research was tainted.
Posey's Congressional office is reviewing somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 documents, including research statistics, it obtained from Dr. William Thompson, who has complained that the CDC withheld some of his data that may have suggested a link.
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