While social media and the information age have had the wonderful effect of making information freely available, they have, seemingly, also caused the demise of people’s trust in experts, authorities, specialists and researchers.
Dr Yolandi Coetzer, lecturer in Philosophy at the School of Philosophy at the North-West University (NWU), wrote in an opinion piece that this worrying trend is demonstrated by a variety of movements – most notably the anti-vaxxer movement.
“Reading the comments on any social media post about the Covid-19 vaccine sadly demonstrates that South Africans are not immune to the villainisation of vaccinations, which was once confined to America,” she says.
“It has made me think about the work of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900 - 2002). Gadamer argued that we all have vorurteil – prejudices or prejudgements. Unlike contemporary understandings of prejudice, Gadamer thought that prejudices were neutral.”
Dr Coetzer wrote that the point of philosophical enquiry is consequently to establish which of these prejudices are legitimate.
“To illustrate: we have a prejudice that an apple is an edible fruit, or that we should stop at a stop street. These seem to be legitimate prejudices. There are other prejudices that are illegitimate, such as that women should earn less than men for the same work, or racial supremacy.
“Now, it would take an awfully long time to consider every single prejudice we have, so Gadamer proposed that we ‘rehabilitate’ authority. This means that we should acquire ‘the knowledge, namely, that the other is superior to oneself in judgement and insight and that for this reason his judgment takes precedence – i.e., it takes priority over one’s own’ (Truth and Method, 280–281).”
Dr Coetzer says this brings her back to the anti-vaxxers – those who say “you don’t know what is in the vaccine”, while scoffing down their third McDonalds burger of the week. Those who say that “it’s big pharma trying to make money”, while they are expecting financial remuneration for their own daily labour.
“Those who mistrust science but trust every piece of technology they own to do as was promised – their car, their phone, their laptop. Those who bemoan the Covid-19 vaccine, but who themselves have never suffered from smallpox or polio, and who survived their childhood bout of measles or chickenpox, thanks to the vaccines they had received as infants. The cognitive dissonance is palpable.”
She says it might be that people have forgotten – or just do not know – how bad these diseases really are – how many millions died from smallpox, how terrible chickenpox and measles can be if you are not vaccinated. “We forget how bad polio was, and how many children were left dead or permanently disabled from the poliovirus.
“While it may be fashionable to deny science, and to ‘do your own research’, please understand that, unless you have a PhD in virology, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology or another related field, you do not understand how vaccines work. Understand that, unless you work in a laboratory, you do the experiments and you write up your findings, and those findings are double-blind reviewed by your scholarly peers, you have revised your work based on their review, and that it has finally been published in a recognised journal with an academic publisher, you have not actually ‘done research’.”
She says that reading a few blogs, watching a few videos and listening to your cousin are not the same as doing scholarly research. There is a reason to listen to the experts – they spend years getting the highest possible qualification, years studying things that you do not know about and probably cannot even pronounce.
“You trust the mechanic when he tells you that your gasket has blown, while you do not trust the scientist who tells you that the vaccine is safe. Of course, some people experience side effects, but any substance can cause a severe reaction – some people take a Disprin and end up in hospital with a severe allergic reaction. Does this mean we ought to take Disprin off the market?”
Dr Coetzer says it is time that we rehabilitate authority – that we understand that scientists are trying to save lives. “They are trying to help you see your children graduate and play with your grandchildren.
“While it is good to question the status quo, reject abuses of power, and not just accept what you are told, this is not one of those cases. Please, listen to the scientists. Vaccinate.”
Listen to a podcast of Dr Coetzer: https://echocast.fabrik.fm/r5Lwy096Z38MxL
Dr Yolandi Coetzer
