While doing research for our project over the past couple of weeks I had a hard time understanding why people would listen to people like McCarthy over Dr. Offit. This was very confusing and made absolutely no sense to me. Why would educated parents listen to a celebrity over a doctor? Then I watched one of the interviews and had an understanding of why the parents might have sided with McCarthy. When she is talking about this anti vaccination movement, she is someone that the parents can relate to because they share similar stories with their children being affected by the vaccines. The use of pathos is very strong here and McCarthy knows her audience very well and through her personal knowledge of this, she can get through many parents. In addition with this strong pathos, she seems to have some knowledge of the vaccines and she is fighting against the vaccination schedule which props her ethos. I find it almost frightening to see how a person that is not a professional of a certain field receive so much credibility and support when there is so much opposition and facts going against this case. This needs to be stopped so that the lives of children and the people around them will not get hurt.
So original San... Haha but I do think we learned a lot in terms of how the media presents ideas.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the course of our research, I had similar feelings. It is frustrating and scary to see parents listening to celebrities rather than professionals. However, like you said, it is sort of understandable why they would do so. McCarthy has a similar story and is appealing to helpless parents. The anti-vaccination movement in general also functions as something for parents to blame for their child's suffering.
ReplyDeleteAs we bring up in our presentation, listening to people who don't really know what they're talking about is extremely harmful to society. I agree with you that many people follow McCarthy's viewpoints because she is a relatable person, and nonetheless a public figure. She is a parent, and the anti-vaccination movement's prime audience is parents. Therefore, parents will look to other parents (Jenny McCarthy) to follow on issues such as vaccinations, because she is easier to listen to and "knows" the parent perspective. However, it is extremely necessary that people listen to experts on the issue, rather than breeding ignorance by listening to people that have no expertise in the area whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteI think people are easily swayed by emotions and powerful words, and that is part of the reason why this Jenny McCarthy person is so freaking successful. She is good at putting a lot of emotion, passion, and determination in her speeches, and people are attracted to that. I also feel that most people don't check up on the facts that speakers say. If someone is good at expressing themselves, they just take in everything they say, even if there's not much to back it up.
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