?? The people, shortsighted, must go on untreated! ?? https://t.co/tNdVkH2bUm
— Mig Greengard (@chessninja) February 9, 2019
Unvaccinated teens are fact-checking their parents — and trying to get shots on their own https://t.co/5P8xAvHSuP
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 10, 2019
Anything originating on Reddit must be closely inspected for “intent”, but if this is true, it seems like the most counter-intuitive method of trolling one’s parents since the early days of Straight edge:
Ethan Lindenberger, frustrated by years of arguments about his mother’s anti-vaccination stance, staged a quiet defection on Reddit.
The Norwalk, Ohio, teenager needed advice, he said, on how to inoculate himself against both infectious disease and his family’s dogma. At 18, he was old enough, Lindenberger explained. He wanted to get vaccinated. But he didn’t know how…
As anti-vaccination movements metastasize amid outbreaks of dangerous diseases, Internet-savvy teenagers are fact-checking their parents’ decisions in a digital health reawakening — and seeking their own treatments in bouts of family defiance.
At least three self-described teenagers from different states told Reddit they have a common problem: Their parents are staunchly opposed to vaccination, and they fear for their health if they do not take action. Different state laws affect how old minors need to be to make their own medical decisions…
For Lindenberger, the tension over vaccines started years ago after he began to notice his mother posting anti-vaccination videos on social media, he told The Washington Post on Sunday. His friends were getting vaccinated. So what was happening in his house?
Lindenberger read scientific papers and journals. He pulled up Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies on his phone at the dinner table, hoping his mother would relent and get him and his four younger siblings — now ages 16, 14, 5 and 2 — vaccinated.
“I looked into it; it was clear there was way more evidence in defense of vaccines,” he said.
His mother, Jill Wheeler, resisted; she claimed there were autism risks from vaccines, a common argument used by anti-vaccination groups that has been widely debunked.
Wheeler was angered by his pursuit, she told Undark, an online science magazine. “It was like him spitting on me, saying ‘You don’t know anything, I don’t trust you with anything. You don’t know what you’re talking about. You did make a bad decision and I’m gonna go fix it,’ ” she told the site.
Wheeler did not respond to a request for comment from The Post…
Second major media siting:
A teen rebelling against his parents by getting vaccinated is the most 2019 headline I can think of. https://t.co/b04d2jZwel
— Heather D (@becomingcliche) February 9, 2019
Kids These Days Open Thread: Anti-Anti-Vaxxer EditionPost + Comments (116)