#that was long whoops had a real autism moment there

[good-night-space-kid]

I don’t talk about it much but one of my biggest interests is nuclear energy and disasters and I see that Netflix has recently added a new dramatized series on Fukushima daiichi so 👀

I’ve actually been really hoping for a docu series on the event and aftermath for a while, and even though I’m not big on the dramatized series I’m still super excited that this is happening because it might open the door for a proper documentary series in the near future

[hanjoonhwi]

any kdrama recs luna?

HI BELLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, so this might get long so it’s under a cut and it’s kinda vaguely ranked + a very informal short description!!!!!!! ALSO all k dramas are suuuuuuper long, like 1.5 hour long episodes and like ~16 episodes, but you can just watch it in half hour intervals, it doesn’t really affect anything!!!!!!!!!!!

Also I watched all of these on Netflix but here’s a site my friend rec’d, and here’s a post with more links of where you can watch!!! (I haven’t checked either of them out, but my friend is an avid watcher, so hers should work!!!)

You can also check for better worded plots here because I did a pretty terrible job of describing them whoops

Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo: It’s just about college life, but it’s so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A very cute couple, very cute friends, kinda slow moving, but SO SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Girlboss-malewife dynamic 😌. There’s no real plot, but the character dynamic makes it super fun and cute!!! It’s just about everyday hurdles and life as a woman in sports and stuff!!! It’s also very AsianTM (you’ll know what I mean when you watch it!!!)

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay: SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The characters are so so cool, it’s about a guy who’s resentful of having to take care of his brother (who I believe has Autism? From what I remember?) and he meets a girl who changes his life forever!!! The 3 of them soon become a family it’s so 🥺🥺🥺. Also hashtag girlboss-malewife dynamic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also there’s an element of mystery in finding the girl’s mom, etc etc, just overall really fun vibes!!! It also dicusses some super heavy topics (especially considering how Asians are around those topics, like mental health) The first episode is a bit crazy but the show is almost NOTHING like the first episode, you should give it a chance!!! Tw for mental health, obviously, death and a bit of blood, but you can just skip those parts, it’s only for a few seconds!!!

Navillera: It’s about a grandad who’s like 70 and his life-long dream was to learn ballet and so he does despite the stigma (AsianTM). His instructor is a young boy, probably 20 something, who has no family and soon they become best friends. The boy also finds his place in the grandad’s family it’s so so so 🥺🥺

Start Up: Okay I mainly only watched this for the actor, but it has a super developed plot, about 5 people who come together to start a company, they also soon become almost family and also there’s slight romance but I’m not a big fan of that, but I love the plot!!! Super not-focussed-on-romance, it has a good standalone plot + SUPER funny + very AsianTM. It shows the ups and downs of starting a new business + difficulty with your family accepting you + difficulty in your relationships.

Law School: Okay so this show is gooooooooooooood. It has a super nice, solid plot. Based in a law school, a professor is murdered and the show revolves around trying to figure out who the murderer is, and fast. It’s designed in such a way that each episode is zoomed in on one particular character, telling you their backstory, a grudge they had with the victim, a shaky alibi and usually other instances when they’ve lied to the point where you start suspecting every single character. It really keeps you on your toes!!! Bonus: SUPER CUTE COUPLE, again hashtag girlboss-malewife dynamic!!! BUT, at about 3 episodes left it becomes a bit mehhh, but it definitely is worth watching till then!!! It’s really interesting, up until a certain point!!!

Strong Girl Bong-Soon: This is I think the same producer or something like that of Kim Bok-Joo, it’s about a girl who, for generations, has super strength running in her family, but only on the maternal side. But if they misuse the power, it’ll be gone forever. The main plot revolves around finding a murderer in the neighbourhood and the couple is super cute!!! Tw for gore, murder, blood, etc, but I just skipped the scenes. (Also there’s scenes revolving around these random men and also ones about the main character’s mom and her friends, but I skipped those, they were super boring, it didn’t really affect the plot!!).

Moment at Eighteen: So this is basically about a high school, and it takes 3 stereotypical characters (the quiet, new transfer, the topper, and the happy-go-lucky responsible girl) and basically shows their backstories and how they are not how they seem to be. The characters start out as enemies, but by the end they’re all best friends, but it shows the whole difficult path in getting there, all the ups and downs, it’s actually very realistically portrayed!!! Super super cute!!! (but a bit weird, tw for murder and death). Also the ending had me in tears...

Suspicious Partner: So this was about a girl who was falsely convicted of the murder of her ex-boyfriend and she’s trying to prove her innocence, etc etc. The character dynamic is super cute and funny!!! I didn’t ever finish it because I didn’t like the actors that much :/ But the character dynamic is super cute!!!

Hospital Playlist: Okay so my sister’s watching this right now, so I’m not a hundred percent sure how good this is, but it’s about a bunch of like young doctors who are best friends who form a band on the side, and again, the character dynamic seems super cute!!!

Vincenzo: Okay so tw for quite a bit of blood and gore, but it’s about an Italian mafia guy who’s a lawyer fighting crime with his partner, apparently it’s super cute, I haven’t watched it personally but my sister loved it and there’s quite a community on tumblr, so it ought to be good!!!

[sign-from-god-complex]

(fake fic title) Four Seven Hate

Four Seven Hate

Summary: There were very few people on Logan’s shit list. He was pretty forgiving, as long as people went the proper lengths to apologise for any missteps, and he was much more likely to declare someone not worth his time than he was to take an active role in disliking them.

One person who was on that list, however, was Remy Wake.

Pairing: Losleep

A/N: Whoops! Looks like it’s not a fake fic title anymore. I’m so, so glad I’ve finally managed to write another fic cause I’ve been trying for like a week and all it’s gotten me was a lot more WIPs and a lot more frustration. But I did it! So here you go!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan was not sure why he showed up to this party. He barely knew anybody, he wasn’t interested in drinking and, despite his tendency to get work done weeks before the deadline, he did have actual studying to be doing.

He also wasn’t sure why, when pulled by the hand to join a small circle on the floor by Roman—the only person at the party he actually knew and the driving force that had landed him here in the first place—he didn’t immediately get up and leave. Circles at a party were never a good thing, not if you didn’t want to get roped into some party game you most certainly weren’t interested in, like truth or dare or never have I ever or-

Seven minutes in heaven. Apparently.

And, of course, it was just Logan’s luck that he was selected to go first.

After Roman had lifted him clean off the ground and shoved him into the closet—much to his loud protests—he had nothing to do but wait for his partner in this party hell to arrive. He had already tried the knob the moment the door had been closed behind him but it seemed as if this group must have located the host and obtained a key because it wouldn’t budge.

The wait seemed to take much longer than he had expected it to—if Logan was prone to paranoia, he would say that the selection of his partner hadn’t been quite so random but he wasn’t, so he didn’t—but soon enough the door of the closet opened again and a body was being shoved in beside him.

There was very little light in the closet but, thankfully, Logan’s eyes had already had time to adjust to the darkness and he got the chance to see his partner before they had a chance to see him. And he wasn’t pleased with what he saw.

Remy Wake.

The biggest slacker and most irreverent asshole Logan had ever had the displeasure of knowing.

Based on the scowl on Remy’s face upon recognising his cellmate, Logan would assume Remy had a similar dislike of his person, but as opposed to Logan, he thinks it’s unlikely that Remy’s opinions of him have any basis in fact. (He ignores the niggling thought in the back of his mind that, given their incredibly limited encounters, he’s not entirely sure that his opinions actually have much of a basis in fact either.)

Logan had already been certain that nothing was going to happen in this closet tonight but setting his sights on Remy had only made him doubly as certain.

“What a surprise,” he muttered, his face set firmly in disapproval—not that Remy could probably see it all that well with those sunglasses on in the dark closet, “There’s a party and Remy Wake is present. Surely, it’s unprecedented.”

Remy looked away for a moment, heaving out a sigh. “How the fuck would you know how many parties I’ve attended? It’s not like you ever come. And it seems even when you do you look like a fucking tax accountant.”

Something similar had actually been said by Roman when Logan had left the dorms earlier this evening but Logan hadn’t let it get to him then and he certainly wouldn’t let it get to him now. He simply smoothed out the material of his coat—strange to keep it on even in the house, yes, but he was always particularly susceptible to the cold—and resigned himself to seven minutes of tense, frustrated silence.

Against all odds, they did manage to survive the seven minutes—the time spent glowering at each other, rolling their eyes and making snide comments.

At one point, Remy actually removed his sunglasses. He was muttering something about trying to find a way out of here, blinking around the room with eyes much bluer than Logan had expected by any means. Logan couldn’t even figure out why Remy would even wear sunglasses with eyes that blue. When Remy caught Logan staring, though, he quickly shoved his glasses back on, seemingly trying to look like it hadn’t bothered him by throwing out some comment about Logan’s loss at his debate meeting last week. Logan wasn’t even sure how Remy knew he’d lost debate last week.

It didn’t matter though because they were back to arguing and by the time the closet door was opened, Logan could not be gladder to finally be rid of Remy Wake.

Of course, it didn’t stop there.

No, suddenly, Logan was encountering Remy all over campus. He was lounging about at Logan’s favourite coffee place, he was the new member of Logan’s study group, he was hanging off Roman’s arm, giggling in a way that was just so incredibly irritating.

Logan had tried to ask Roman why Remy had suddenly seemed to become his new best friend (in a way that he thought totally didn’t make him sound jealous or needy, thank you very much) but, in response, Roman just gave him that smile. That stupid smile that usually indicated that Roman thought he was incredibly socially inept—which, true, but why say it—and Logan had stormed off to fume.

Stupid Remy. Stupid Remy with his stupid smirk and his stupid flirting and his stupid laugh and his stupid hair and his stupid eyes behind his stupid sunglasses and the stupid way he hated him even though Logan wasn’t sure why.

Logan wasn’t really sure why he hated Remy either.

Sure, maybe he wasn’t the most invested in his studies but then, neither was Roman with certain classes, and that didn’t stop them from being—sometimes reluctant—best friends. There was just something about Remy that made him feel and, worse, made him feel things he didn’t understand. And Logan hated not understanding.

When he came out of his room, looking vaguely like he’d just gone through something of an emotional hurricane, Roman just gave him a pat on the back and one of the Crofter’s cookies he’d stashed away. Clearly, Logan’s revelation was only a revelation to him. And, hopefully, to Remy.

He tried to catch Remy at the end of the next study meeting, looming over his shoulder as he packed his bag.

“Uh, sorry, hon, but I got nothing to say to you, ‘kay?” Remy snarked, throwing his satchel over his shoulder and raising his eyebrows at Logan, “So why don’t you just get out of my way.”

Logan stood his ground despite Remy’s comment, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. Remy looked as if he was just about to push past Logan when he finally spoke up

“I’m sorry.”

At that, Remy looked… genuinely caught off guard and for just a moment his persona seemed to drop, leaving him confused and… something else Logan couldn’t quite identify.

He took a breath, his brow furrowed.

“I wasn’t… exactly sure why it was that I found you so frustrating. I had convinced myself that it was your lack of study habits and generally—” Logan waved his hand around for a moment—“flippant attitude towards school in general. Though, of course, that excuse fell apart as soon as you joined the study group and I realised that Roman is just as bad, if not worse, in engaging in his classes.”

Remy gave no reply, simply watching him as he took another moment to think.

He cleared his throat. “That is all to say, that I apologise for my behaviour towards you over the time we’ve known each other and I would appreciate the chance to metaphorically… start over, as it were?”

There was another moment of silence as Remy regarded him, lips twisted slightly but in a way that Logan hoped was more considering than it was cruel.

“Yeah, alright,” Remy finally conceded, a slight grin pulling at his features, “Starting over it is.”

Logan stuck out his hand for Remy to shake and at Remy’s equal-parts confused and amused expression, he elaborated.

“I… uh, I never got the chance to properly introduce myself, I don’t think. I’m Logan McKenzie, I like debates, books, astronomy and anybody who’ll give me the opportunity to ramble for hours about things they probably don’t care about.”

A grin spread across Remy’s face as he took Logan’s hand in his. “Remy Wake. I like coffee, cute boys, puzzles and anybody who’ll let me wake them up at three in the morning for a trip to get slushies.”

“Wanna go for coffee?”

Remy grinned, big and bright and real. “Yeah. Sounds good, nerd.”

—————

“So… uh, did you ever figure out why you did seem to hate me so much?” Remy asked, bumping his shoulder against Logan’s as they made their way out of the library.

Logan startled slightly. “Oh! Yes. I find you extremely physically attractive.”

Remy didn’t think he could be blamed for walking directly into the doorframe at that but with the sound of Logan’s laughter echoing in his ears, so pretty and joyful, he wasn’t really hurrying to explain himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tag list: @mutechild @super-magical-wizard @shadowsfromthesun @teadays @sandersships @camcam774 @autism-goblin @deadlyhuggles6 @romanthestarstruckqueer @whispers-stuff-in-your-ear @rainboots-are-for-snobs @sanders-and-sides @spirits-in-my-thoughts @hold-my-hat @goodandbadisallmadeupnonsense @stop-it-anxiety @figurative-falsehood @jadedfantasies231 @idosanderssidespromptssometimes @poisonedapples @sanders-screams @another-sandersidesblog @do-not-just-see-observe @mychemicalpanicattheemo @primaryyblogg @localtransgrape @fandomsofrandom @gattonero17 @airiervessel @ollyollyoxinfree 

and, of course, for the losleep, @sleepless-in-starbucks and @emo-disaster

[vincent-g-writer]

The Silver Screen Savant, pt 2- the Meh, the Bad and The yikes.

Hello Writers!

Last time here on Starry Starry Write, I talked a little about Autism in the media and my personal experiences therein. Today, I’d like to go a little broader, and tackle the topic from a macro perspective.

In recent times, you’ve probably heard “Representation Matters” oft repeated. Especially in prominent talking spaces like social media. But what does that mean, exactly?

Why “Representation Matters,” and how.

The short answer:

Diverse representation in media tells us that everyone has a place in the world. That everyone’s story matters.

The long answer:

It’s no secret that we begin engaging with media at a young age. When I was growing up in the 90’s and 00’s, TV and video games were often the babysitters of my peers. I was one of the few kids in my neighborhood whose parents weren’t divorced. The kids I knew? Not so much. Most of them were raised by single parents, grandparents and of course-the boob tube. I personally prefered books, when my mom wasn’t yelling “it’s too nice out to be holed up in that dark bedroom!”

Now, don’t mistake my preference for some kind of intellectual superiority. I watched plenty of TV too. Besides, books aren’t magically out of the equation. Printed material is our oldest form of media. And- often just as problematic. Though I will say- I saw a much broader range of people on covers adoring library shelves than I ever did titles on a TV roster. But, I digress. The point is: for many of us, consuming media begins at an early time of our life. And that’s where the problem starts. Even in my childhood, where The Magic School Bus, Hey Arnold, and Sesame Street showed people of all kinds, I can point to many that did not. Especially not people like me. Which did me a grave disservice. I didn’t know I was on the spectrum for a long time, and when I finally found out, I was horrified, thanks to what I had seen on TV.

Because media is not only a wonderful way to learn about people that don’t look, act or sound like us. It also informs our ideas of who we are, and what we can be. Whether we like it or not: it shapes how we understand the world. And it doesn’t stop with Childhood.

Time Changes Much, but not all.

Things are better now. Well, a little bit, anyway.

As an adult, I see more people like me on the screen nowadays. Which is nice.

Ish.

Why “ish?” Well…

Frequently, these “noticeably different” characters (read: Autistically coded) are branded “NOT AUTISTIC!” You heard it here first, folks! That one character (insert your favorite) is Totally Not Autistic. Despite being written in a way that gives every indication otherwise.

*Facepalm*

Now for some examples, which we’ll call the “Meh,” “The Bad” and the “Yikes.” For “fun,” we’ll also go into the off-air perceptions of the characters.

The “Meh.”

First on the list is Dr. Spencer Reid, from CBS’s “Criminal Minds.”

Dr. Reid is the youngest member of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, having joined at the age of 22. He holds three B.A degrees in Sociology, Psychology and Philosophy, as well as three Ph.D’s in Engineering, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

He also has the social skills of a limp dishrag. Wait, what’s that? High Intelligence + Low Social Awareness? Hmmm…Then there’s his restrictive behavioral patterns, obsessive interests, and general “quirkiness!” that we could talk about. But let’s hear a quote from the actor who plays him, Matthew Gray Gubler:

“..an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger’s Syndrome. Reid is 24, 25 years old with three PH.D.s and one can’t usually achieve that without some form of autism.”

Hoooo-boy. I could go into all the things wrong with this, including why the term “Asperger’s” is both horrific (TW: Eugenics,Ableism, N*zis) and harmful. However, today we’ll simply leave it with the fact that this term is no longer applicable, having been reclassified in 2013 as part of Autism Spectrum disorder.

The “Bad.”

Next up, we have Will Graham, from NBC’s Hannibal.

Like our first example, Will works for the FBI. He’s a gifted criminal profiler with “special” abilities, namely hyper empathy, which allows him to reconstruct the actions and fantasies of the killers he hunts. He’s intellectually gifted, hates eye contact, socializing, and prefers to spend…most of his time…alone.

Oh dear. Haven’t we been here before? But, I mean, he doesn’t have Autism! The show runner says so!

For Will Graham, there’s a line in the pilot about him being on the spectrum of autism or Asperger’s, and he’s neither of those things. He actually has an empathy disorder where he feels way too much and that’s relatable in some way. There’s something about people who connect more to animals than they do to other people because it’s too intense for whatever reason.

You can’t see me right now, but I’m cringing. A lot. This is just…ugh. I mean, for starters, I know a handful of autistic people who struggle with hyper empathy, which can make social situations overwhelming and hard to navigate. In fact, I happen to be one of them. Plus, there’s a cool little thing about how, frequently, people on the spectrum more readily identify with animals. But, y’know. Who am I to say? I’m just someone, one of many, who’s dealt with this my whole life.

Now, onto the “Yikes.”

*sigh*

And finally, we have BBC’s Sherlock, a modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned “consulting” detective, and probably the most famous fictional character of all time.

Now, I’ll start by saying that the BBC incarnation is not the first to be Spectrum labeled. In fact, Sherlock was my childhood hero, and the first “person” I saw referred to this way. My aunt, an avid reader herself, casually remarked to a friend “I’ve always wondered if Holmes is Autistic,” after I came yammering on about how fantastic the books were. Had I not been champing at the bit to get back to my reading, I might have asked her what that meant.

I also believe this fandom driven speculation is why many detective type characters (see above) are often coded as Autistic, intentionally or otherwise.

In this New York Times article, Lisa Sanders, M.D. describes Holmes traits:

He appears oblivious to the rhythms and courtesies of normal social intercourse — he doesn’t converse so much as lecture. His interests and knowledge are deep but narrow. He is strangely “coldblooded,” and perhaps as a consequence, he is also alone in the world.

Now, before we go any father, let me take a moment to defend his creator. During the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first created his most famous work, Autism was not known. That isn’t to say it didn’t exist. We’ve always existed. In fact, it’s now believed that the Changeling Myth, a common European folk story, was a way to explain Autism. In one telling (there are a few) children displaying “intelligence beyond their years” and “uncanny knowledge” were imposters, traded out by Fae creatures for offspring of their own. Children believed to be “Changlings,” regretfully, often came to a bad end. A chilling reminder that the stories we tell impact our real lives.

So while Autism was at least somewhat recognized, it did not become its own official diagnosis until 1943.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes was first published in 1892. Now, as a writer who often draws from my personal reality, I imagine Doyle probably “wrote what he knew,” which is to say, acquainted with one or more Autistic people, he used them as inspiration.

On the other hand…

BBC’s Sherlock first aired in 2010. And while one might argue that the writers simply capitalized on the Autistic fan-theory, or took already available traits and exaggerated them for their version… they left a lot to be desired. Autism aside, this new Sherlock is…well…an asshole. Narcissistic, abusive and egocentric (to name a few) he sweeps his caustic behavior under the rug of “high functioning sociopath,” and blytly ignores the consequences.

Which is a major problem. Because while doing this, he’s still “obviously” (at least in the Hollywood sense) Autistic. In my previous post, where I said some characters are “too smart™, and logical© to ever have feelings, friends or empathy,” this is what I meant.

This is bad. We’re looping right back to Representation Matters. Bad representation, and the navigating of such, is just as important for writers to think about as good representation. Maybe even moreso. Because bad representation paints real people into cardboard, stereotyped people-shaped things. It otherizes. And it’s harmful. You would not believe the people I’ve met assume I’m not Autistic because I’m not an egotistical jerk. Why? Because they watched, you guessed it, BBC Sherlock.

Confession time:

Now here’s my little secret:

I love all of these characters. They are some of my favorite on tv. Why? Because for good or ill, I recognize myself in them. Finally, I can turn on the TV, and see myself. Or, somewhat, anyway.

My favorite character out of this list? Loath though I am to admit it… Is Sherlock. See, what those well meaning folks didn’t know (the ones who say I’m I’m “too nice,” to be Autistic) is… well, if we’re being honest, I wasn’t always nice. A few years ago, I was that guy. I was a jerk because I thought I was the smartest person in the room. Which is really not a good look. In fact, sitting down and watching the first season of sherlock, (around three or four years after it came out) made me realize how much of a jerk I actually was.

There are other things there too. Things that tie me to all these characters, that I didn’t list. But that’s for another today.

For now, I’d like to add a caveat or two:

1) I’ve watched all the shows listed above, and adore them. As I mentioned, Sherlock is my favorite. He’s also the one I’ve watched the most (Repeatedly, in fact. Whoops.) and I recognize it’s not all bad. In the end, he learned to treat people better (somewhat) and certainly became more human over time. And, there are other deeply problematic elements of the show I’d like to tackle, eventually.

*cough* Queerbating! *cough*

2) I’m well aware that the above cases are all thin, white, able bodied, “straight” males. But I chose these characters for a couple of reasons. One, they’re the most prominent type on TV. Again, we loop back around to representation, and why we need more positive, diverse examples of it.

And finally-

3) In my last post, I mentioned I’d give some “good” instances of Hollywood Autism trope. But I didn’t exactly do that. Partially, because half way through, I thought…perhaps…I’m not the best to judge what might be a good Autistic character. I mean, I’m sure someone will read this and think my current aforementioned characters are fine. Heck! They might even argue my perception here, and say the characters are just fine. I accept that. In my life, both on and off the page, I recognize that I cannot, should not (and don’t want to) speak for an entire community.

Because of this, I cannot tell you how to write a “good” Autistic character, or what media is “acceptable.” I can’t even really tell you what a bad character is. Sure, I have a lot of opinions about it. But- if you’re on the spectrum and like and identify with the above? That’s fine. I mean, even with all the problems I noted (and some I didn’t) I certainly do.

On the other hand, if you’re a writer, and you want to write a character from this (or any, for that matter) community you aren’t part of, I caution you.

Do your research. Preferably from multiple credible sources.

Talk to people on the spectrum about what it’s really like. (Though try to steer clear of asking for emotional labor.You could, say, hop on reddit and ask the community there, for instance, which is a no pressure way to obtain potentially decent info.)

Finally, whatever you do, remember this-

Autistic people can look like anyone. We can act, and think and be different, like anyone. We are real, living, breathing people. Not robots, not sob stories, not tropes. People. So if you write about us, write us like people. And your work will be all the better for it.

-Your Loving Vincent

[nianderful]

nia’s 30 days of witchaversary (days 1-17)

um, oops?

i meant to do this sooner, i swear, but i’ve been very busy with work and other real life stuff this month

i actually wasn’t intending to do this at all, but since my initial plans to celebrate WITCH have kind of fallen off, i may as well jump on the bandwagon! i hope i’m not too late 😅

day 1: favorite guardian

orube! i absolutely adore this girl. she’s such a great character--appearing to be a hardened warrior but in reality is the biggest softie...while also kicking a lot of ass. i love her interactions with the guardians, i love the depth she has, and while i could gush about cedrube all day, they deserve its own space. 

honorable mentions go to....well, the rest of w.i.t.c.h., will and taranee in particular. i relate to both of them a lot (mostly with being pretty shy and socially awkward)

day 2-favorite villain

(will smith poses) THIS GUY. i know everyone and their mother loves phobos, but i am not Everyone And Their Mother.  i honestly think phobos is kind of lame

cedric on the other hand, is a different story. this guy’s a CHAD. he was the one Actually Doing Stuff in the first arc. HE was the one pulling weight during phobos’ scheme in the fourth arc, AND ludmoore’s in the fifth.

also he’s just a great villain in general; a consistent threat through and through, powerful as heck (unlike his tv counterpart who got his tail whooped by everyone) and do i even NEED to bring up him and orube? (i’m gonna get to them, i promise) 

day 3- favorite love interests

i honestly think all the WITCH bois are good but if i could pick a favorite....

peter! he’s just so good. a sweetheart, a looker, a great big brother.....he’s perfect. (like tadashi, ‘cept he doesn’t die)

look at him and corny being goofy. love is real and it’s in the picture above me.

 day 4: favorite pairing/ship

aww man this is a long time comin’ so let’s get it DONE

cedrube. always cedrube. forever cedrube. 

these two are just....so good. a twosome on opposite sides, brought together by their shared experience of being Fish Out of Water. orube brought out the best in cedric (his semi-redemption, anybody?) and cedric allowed orube to experienced something she longed for.

if only their ending was as happy as they are in this picture...

day 5-favorite friendship

picking all of w.i.t.c.h. would be too predictable, so i choose...

these two! i love how irma and hay lin are Those Two Gals, joking around when the others are being serious. these two are perfect together, and i love the scenes when they’re messing around.

day 6: favorite cover/promo/pin up art

the cover for issue 56!

ugh i love this. it’s gorgeous; the movement’s fluid, the expressions are on point, and it’s a tribute/celebration of the tv series! (particularly with the girls curled up in element colored balls; a reference to the toon transformation)

day 7: favorite issue 

had to go with the one that started it all, issue 1. this series has been with me for a long time, and i remember being so captivated with the first issue. i may sing the praises of precure, but w.i.t.c.h. was actually my very first magical girl series, and this issue was my very first experience with the genre. i will always hold it close to me. 

day 8-favorite special

the orube special! orube sadly isn’t a character that gets much play outside of her role as w.i.t.c.h’s ally/honorary guardian, but this issue gives us just that! we get to see her get a job, make friends, and learn a little more about how to be an earthling. 

day 9-favorite guardian uniform

i’ll pick taranee’s! 

it looks the most....practical to me. like, if i was a guardian, i’d wear something like this. also i ADORE the fact that tara keeps her glasses in guardian form. any other show would have them get magicked away, but not here. as a Black Girl With Glasses, it’s a detail i really appreciate.

day 10-favorite world/planet

um. kandrakar, i guess?

it’s pretty. 

day 11-something awesome

speaking of tara....

this moment from issue 4. another moment i remember vividly from my childhood, and one of the first scenes that shows us that taranee is not to be messed with. don’t play with fire INDEED. 

day 12-something that made me cry

i have yet to cry when reading this comic, but a moment that really made me sad was when will’s dormouse died

this really hurt, not just because it came after the hope spot of will’s dad going away, as well as nerissa’s defeat, but because ol’ dormouse had been a staple of the series to this point, and it was clear that he formed a bond with will. just a really cruel moment to end the second arc on. (but not in a bad way, of course)

day 13-something heartwarming

the last page of issue 20! 

issue 20 is a bit of a roller coaster for poor will; she’s slowly being manipulated by nerissa, to the point where she shuts herself off from the girls. on the side, we have yan lin beginning to worry about history repeating itself with the current guardians.

but then this happens, a moment that shows us that WITCH will not suffer the same fate as the team that came before them.

will just spent the scenes before this pushing away from her teammates, even attacking them; for them to say that they trust her irrevocably says a LOT about their faith in will, and the friendship of WITCH itself.

day 14-something that irked me 

everything about the arkhanta arc that doesn’t involve orube or the astral drops!

(reader beware, it’s about to get personal Up In Here. mentions of ableism to follow.)

we may as well start with the backstory of ari, because his relationship with his son and how it’s handled is going to be the epicenter of everything i’m discussing.

‘yeah once upon a time there was a happy farmer who had a kid, but oh no he’s nonverbal and can’t communicate! happy farmer is sad now” (also he may have told kandrakar to Fix It but Oracle Said No)

see the problem here? it’s okay if you don’t, because i’m here to explain!

basically the villain of this arc is an Autism Dad who thinks his son needs to be Fixed. he constantly angsts about the fact that his son doesn’t talk, smile, or say I Love You....basic whiny Autism Parent stuff. 

except we’re supposed to sympathize with him. we’re supposed to see him as a poor innocent man instead of, you know, someone who may be unintentionally hurtful with his woe-is-me-isms (also will insisting that he’s in the right...)

and as if that’s not irksome enough....

maqi gets cured in the end. he’s speaking, he’s emoting, he’s not The Broken Kid anymore!

yeah, uh, no. i have autism, and have exhibited some of maqi’s traits on a regular basis. (and it’s not just me, my little sister imani was nonverbal for a lot of her childhood. we didn’t even think she was going to be able to talk.) and as someone who’s felt like i was a Broken Kid, that some thing was wrong with me, and has wondered Why Can’t She Just Be Normal....this ending does NOT fly with me, and neither does ari as a character.

ari’s not a Sympathetic Sad Dad, he’s an ableist douchecanoe. there’s a REASON i compared him to autism moms. maqi’s “problem” isn’t that he’s sick or anything (the comic even SAYS he’s perfectly healthy!!) he just isn’t emotive or talkative....and for the comic to paint as something that has to be fixed is more than a little gross. i know the comic wasn’t intending to offend with this, but that’s exactly what it did.

thank goodness for orube and the astral drops, or this would’ve been my least favorite arc.  

day 15-something that needs a quick fix

um. i got nothing for this one. 

day 16-something that needs an overhaul

the arkhanta arc. either cut out the ‘must cure my son of his autistic-coded traits’ or create a new conflict all together. (like the whole maqi thing could’ve been fixed with simply giving him and illness or putting him into a coma!)

and like everyone else, i’d like a overhaul of new power and beyond.

day 17-something that needs to be resisted

sweet mother of monkey milk, the astral drops. i wanna see how they’re doing. i wanna see what their lives are. do they remember anything, even secretly?

also visit orube while we’re at it, see how she’s doing post 5th arc.

[sending-the-message]

Why I stopped hacking. For good. Part 2. by Menmaro

Allow me to preface this second part by thanking those who read my first part and enjoyed it. I would like to apologise for any poor grammar/spelling or formatting as I am writing this on my on my phone so formatting is extremely difficult. My laptop is in another country at the moment so when I return home I will format these stories and future ones properly. Please bear with me and enjoy part 2.

I would also like to add that this tale is of an encounter of a friend of mine. I did not experience this first hand and thus I have to make up what his thoughts were (some are his exact thoughts) to what I would have expected him to feel from knowing him. This story is how he told me so as far as I know it is true. He has stopped hacking and spends most of his time gaming and working.

Continued.

I stood frozen in horror. Panic swept over my body and thoughts flooded my mind. What happened to my mother? Is she OK? What is this son of a bitch doing with her phone? I knew I had to calm down, something didn't seem right. I picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. It just said mum, no number. Fuck, how could I be so stupid, he was just masking his caller ID, must be to throw me off balance. I'll play along, there must be something I'm missing.

"Wh.. What are you doing with my mum's phone? Where is she? Is she OK?"

A laugh came from the other end, a deep, disgusting laugh. I decided to record the call, maybe I can play around with the recording and find this caller’s real voice. It may not be much, but this asshole knows where I live and probably who my parents are. He starts talking.

"Danni, Danni, Danni. The safety of your mother depends on the outcome of our little game. I told you one's life is on the line but, I should have elaborated and said it shouldn't necessarily be the player's life. So, are you ready to play?"

At this point I had a thought; How can James see me? I have no cameras connected to the WiFi, my desktop camera is disconnected and I ripped out my laptop camera when I got the damn thing. Another option would be he broke into my apartment and installed cameras when I was out. But why would he risk getting caught like that. I may have cameras at home and catch him doing it. No he must be using one of my devices.

“Doesn't seem like I have a choice James. Let's fucking play.”

I braced myself for what he would say. We’ve all watched those horror movies, these games weren’t exactly Mario Kart sort of level. Suddenly I knew, I wanted to throw myself from my apartment for how stupid I'd been. In my hand I held the single device that had a camera and was connected to my WiFi. My fucking phone. I didn't want to jump to the conclusion that that was the only camera that was being used, so I decided to test it. Before I do anything though, he begins to speak.

“Well well Danni, I must say, you’ve got balls. Most guys would have started to cry or beg me to stop. This will most certainly be fun.”

I've had enough of this shit. I start to test my theory. I started googling shit like “how to track a phone call”, and “how to find cameras in a house”. I wanted to see if he could see my screen and sure enough the confirmation came through.

“Oh Danni, it’s cute you’re still trying to fight back. But I can assure you, you will not be able to track this call and you will not find out how I can see you.”

Challenge accepted dickhead. I angle my phone away from my bag and take out a USB dongle. If this asshole is on my WiFi I'm gonna make him think he's controlling all of my devices. I look for my laptop whilst trying to make as little noise as possible and again, angling the phone away from what I am doing. I find my laptop, boot it up and plug my dongle into it.

“Yeah well, I'm one tough son of a bitch… so when we playing James? And do go over the rules properly yeah? I'd like to whoop your ass playing by your rules dipshit.”

My strategy was to show no fear. In truth, I was terrified. But I knew the instant he smelled fear, he would have total control over me, and I'd fuck up and forget basic stuff like I had when this shit show first started. My laptop finished booting up. Excellent. I knew this fucker was using my network somehow. So I decided to hack my own network and see how he got in. Maybe he left something behind.

“The rules are simple Danni. You wanted to play judge, jury and executioner. We are going to go through your history of white knight justice, and see just how much of a hero you really are.”

Hero… huh… there was a time when I thought I was a hero… maybe it was when I made that child molestor end his own life. I told myself I was a hero because he wouldn't hurt another child. In truth, was I a murderer? Was this my past coming to haunt me? No time to think about this. It isn't just my life on the line here, everyone I care about is in danger and there's no time to be selfish.

“Ha… hero… that’s cute James, but I’ve always known I was the devil. A necessary evil. But sure, let's take a walk down memory lane. Maybe that will remind you who the fuck you’re dealing with.”

My attempts were bringing up nothing. I managed to break into my own network many times but I couldn't find a trace of another device, not a trace of information transfer. Wait… information transfer. Outgoing and incoming traffic. Fuck I'm stupid. He can see a stream of my screen which means I have outgoing traffic somewhere right? I start monitoring my outgoing traffic. Encrypted of course but there was still an address. A server that this information was going through. I find the address of the server and decide to do something extremely stupid and might sentence myself to prison or worse, no access to a computer. But I decide that is a small price to pay for the safety of my family.

“Well well Danni, watch your screen as the images pop up. Leeeeets roll the tape ladies and gentlemen.”

What a fucking psycho, I don't pay much attention to the tone of his voice as I set up my botnet for a distributed denial of service attack. My hope is that if I bring down the server for a bit, I'll be able to see where the requests are coming from and track it from there. It is a long shot but it might work. As I'm doing this I also stop recording the call and send the recording over to my laptop. All the while I’m angling my phone away from my laptop, and since he hasn't spoken of it, my theory that the only camera being my phone turns out to be correct. I finally feel like I'm making the right moves in this twisted game of chess, I'm just hoping I'll be the one to say checkmate at the end though.

“Victim number one; Brock. 16 years old. You destroyed his relationship and got him kicked out of his home. He spent 3 years on the streets before overdosing on heroine. That wasn’t a nice thing to do Danni.”

A picture of 16 year old Brock pops up. He died? Fuck, he was an asshole but didn't deserve to die. I went to far… I went to far… but I couldn't admit it. Not to this psycho. I had to show him that I had no heart.

“Well life sucks, survival of the fittest and all that shit. Maybe he should have been careful with whom he messed with.”

Another disgusting laugh. James is enjoying himself… should I be? No time for that right now. I put the phone on loudspeaker and placed it on my desk, weary that the front camera may be used I kept it well out of my sight and put an earphone into my left ear. Time to tweak around with this recording and “unmodulate” this voice.

“Danni, this isn't gonna end up well if you show no remorse. Now the fun begins. Remember his girlfriend? It’s confession time Danniiiii.”

As if it were alive, my PC opened up Skype and auto signed in. Fuck I'm so stupid, was I really that lazy? A number is entered into it and it starts dialling. Ring ring…

“What do you want me to do James? Tell her the online babe was me and Brock wasn't a cheating dickhead? What's that going to change?”

My botnet was ready and I started my attack on the server address instantly. I then watched my incoming and outgoing traffic closely. All I needed was a hiccup, something that will lead me to James. In that moment it was like the entire world grinded to a halt. In that moment, it wouldn't matter to me if the moon was crashing down onto the Earth to end all life as we knew it. All that mattered was this stream of information. Tick tock tick tock tick tock. I could hear the second hand on my watch ticking…

There! A clue… phew, was starting to lose hope. I start work on it, did James notice? I'd imagine his connection to my network might have dropped since I saw a request ping but nothing going back. Was he too busy trying to guilt trip me that he got too cocky and didn't notice? My Skype was still ringing was she going to pick up?

“Hello?” A girl's voice. She sounds kinda cute actually, is James hooking us up? Wrong time for jokes there.

James speaks to me “Go on Danni, answer her. Tell her your name and what you did to Brock.”

I decide to play along, true he didn't call me from my mum’s number, but that doesn't mean he still can't hurt her.

“Liz? It’s Daniel Kurt. We went to school together with Brock.”

There was a pause, I can't imagine how awkward this must be for her. I didn't have time to care though, I ran a search on the address and whilst that was going on, I continued tweaking with the recording.

“Danni? That loony kid that used to get beaten up all the time?”

Ahhh what a bitch. Hooking us up my ass. I had to fight back the urge to shout and educate her ignorant ass on what autism was. Whatever though, not my concern. At least breaking this news to here won't be as painful to me as I thought.

“Yeah that's me, the loony kid.” I laughed and I could swear I heard James laughing too. Asshole. “So listen, don't suppose you remember Brock Leland? You kinda slept with him at that time.” Maybe not the best choice of words.

“Yeah I remember him, I heard he died from drug overdose, makes me feel horrible breaking up with him…” another pause, “why?”

Fuck. How do I say this? This is a confession, if she takes this to the police I'm fucking screwed. Fuck any chance I have of getting away with this. I was 16 though, does it matter? I read somewhere that crimes committed before 18 aren't dealt with anymore. I was just a kid? Damn it. To hell with this, I need to stop this madness before he makes me call a victim of an attack I committed after 18.

“Yeah well, it’s my fault he did this. He made my life shit for when I was at school. So I decided to fight back. He never cheated on you, I made it look like he was.”

A really long pause. Gives me time to work on this recording. Nothing remotely human yet. Still searching that address, why is it taking forever?

“Danni.” Her voice was extremely soft. I was expecting something else. An angrier tone would have made more sense.

“Yeah...?”

“I know.”

[princeleyjeans]

When you don’t want insta to delete some possibly helpful future shit, sometimes you just gotta throw up on tumblr, so lemme start this off:

In 2014 thanks to Tumblr, I met my first girlfriend, after missing out on the whole teenage on/off dramatic romances due to my youth being taken up by undiagnosed autism, depression, the death of my dad and various issues with overall emotions i went into it without a clear head, I went in, inexperienced and as you can already imagine, my selfish ass got cocky from the attention of my blog and it’s slight fame, confused, even more anxious about stupid shit and round up putting myself into a hole that was hard to climb out of. Again, as you can assume, the relationship didn’t last long, mostly because I couldn’t handle being the not only one of us to have problems, because more things were coming out that I wasn’t ready to deal with, along with the newfound bravado of “hey somebody likes me”.

Cruelly, my main fear out of our parting was my rep, they were a well known blog in our shared community and so I was afraid of sides being taken, drama being caused, issues in between and basically anything that affected me, made me out to be the bad guy. I was incredibly selfish and put them through a lot of hurt and mixed feelings and so much bull crap that I’m still shocked they didn’t just fly over here to put a knife through my thick skull. I was that much of an asshole, not really mean but you know when someone lets fame go to their head and that’s the main focus, they don’t learn to manage, the idiot just soaks it up and leaves everyone else in the background? That’s what it was, I went from this struggling IRL 18 year old to Mr hotshot, the big contributor to a small fandom, nice dude who made everyone happy and did their all to provide decent content...it was like a really pathetic television show, main character gets to drown in their glory while neglecting everything and everyone else close to them, anything good becomes expected and inclines become mountains because they’re too busy enjoying themselves to realise “oh shit this is going on”

I was a piece of trash and on and off kept them on the hook, were we gonna get back together, weren’t we, if we’re single I’m so many years then who knows! That crap,, as my mental world started to crumble around me, my trust of people went with it and I became really possessive and paranoid and downright fucking weird like looking back even I wanna smack myself cus dude, not chill, take your MCR Goth phase elsewhere. thankfully they wound up meeting someone who made them happy and despite running away from them due to my paranoia, I still wish them all the best, still hope they’re in a better place because god knows they deserve it.

After that, interests came and went, ironically my ass received a karmic kicking when someone I had become close to and mutually expressed genuine affection toward turned around and literally threw the “I thought you understood” excuse at me, and this time I got multiple feedbacks as to what the overall interpretation was! (My friends are thankfully sane enough to explain shit to me and read stuff I might not be able to fully get), basically we’d come from another fandom, we’d been in a group and when that bunch fell apart, we stayed together as friends, talking, hanging on skype, playing games online, that shit, it felt right and we had both vocally expressed the desire to be a thing, to the point where love was mentioned, we both wanted to take it slow because of X, Y and Z but it was said, it was confirmed, this wasn’t just me, they wanted to be a couple too...and then...karma. It was New Years, they were going to see a movie with a friend of a friend because they never left the house or talked to anyone so I just assumed this was what my sister tried to suggest I do sometimes, go and meet people, go and interact with the world....noooooooooooo. The morning after we Skype called and they talked about the movie, about the other person and suddenly the tone went from “we hung out” to “we groped each other during the movie and they want to hang out again sometime”.

Yeah, like that scene in gta where you have to smash into the van with the tow truck, I literally stood in my living room with tears streaming down my face while putting on a happy voice, acting like “omg you hoe! Details, are they hot? Can we share?” It went from “I’m falling in love with you, can’t wait to see you, Babe” to “Thought you understood what we said” real quick. After that, I became second fiddle, our mutual taking it slow was no longer even existence and it was painfully obvious that my presence was one of “youre such a sweetheart, if nobody wants me, you get dibs” like I know that sounds like the worst way to put things but that was it, I am not even joking, for six months they loved me and then the second someone better appeared, whoop bye bye. Karma clapped me good. Understandably after that, I didn’t stick around, and trying to get closure was like trying to mash cured ham through a strainer.

The reason for talking about this stems from the insta posts I do at like 1AM, LOL NEED A GF HOUR. because genuinely I do want someone, eventually, and after the bullshit, I’m more than happy to wait however long to find them, to learn how to not fuck up or be fucked up, how to not bottle up every feeling to exploding point, how to just be a better me, for myself and them. After the hurt I caused and received, it’s become really really obvious that this shit takes time, effort, growth, if you want it you better be willing to fight for it, and I wanna be, I do, and this post is to talk about it, those feelings, that LOL moment where I feel alone, like that someone for me isn’t here yet and I need them to be, but then again, why rush? If waiting means the right person comes along, why hurry?

Maybe it’s sort of an underline sad feeling, like I’m sad and lonely, hurry up future spouse. Or maybe my heart just aches, in a fucking cheesy way of saying things.

I dunno, but just read this when you need to learn something or if you’re just feeling like you need a pep talk and wanna feel like not a complete fail. I’m trash, but if you open the bag and root round, you’ll find a penny, something kinda worth the stench of year old milk

[theconservativebrief]

The vast majority of American parents vaccinate their kids. But the latest national data shows that the minority of kids under the age of 2 who aren’t protected by any vaccines has quadrupled over the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Of the babies born in 2015, 1.3 percent had received none of the recommended vaccinations by age 2 — up from 0.3 percent in 2001.

If that wasn’t concerning enough, in some regions of the country, up to 40 percent of kids now aren’t being protected against preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough, says Peter Hotez, director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development at Baylor College of Medicine.

“There are pockets across the US where you have a 20-fold increase, like we’ve seen in parts of Texas. Although, nationally, immunization rates may not have changed that much, we have pockets where 20 to 40 percent of kids aren’t vaccinated, and that gets you into trouble with measles and other [vaccine-preventable] infections.”

So how did we get here?

In a new book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism, Hotez traces the roots of the problem back to 1998, when an esteemed medical journal published a small study that has become one of the most notorious and damaging research papers in medicine. The study, led by the discredited physician-researcher Andrew Wakefield, suggested there’s a link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine — which is administered to millions of children around the world each year.

Hotez’s book about vaccines and autism. Johns Hopkins University Press

Just before that time, Hotez’s daughter, Rachel, born in 1992, was diagnosed with autism. As he and his wife struggled to understand Rachel’s needs, Hotez was gathering up the data showing how spurious the vaccine-autism link was, and learning that most researchers were looking elsewhere to understand the condition. But these messages were often crowded out by vaccine doubts, Hotez says.

“It’s still a source of tremendous frustration, and I’m trying to turn it into something positive by writing this book.”

The book blends the history of vaccination and the anti-vaccine movement with Hotez’s personal history as an autism dad and vaccine scientist. Together, the narratives make a compelling argument for why vaccines are one of the most important tools humans have in our battle against disease — and why the turn against these life-saving shots by some requires our urgent attention.

But is Hotez just preaching to the converted, or will he be able to quell vaccine doubts? I asked him about that, his experience with cyberbullying, why the public health community has failed to defend vaccines, and what’s at stake if vaccine skepticism isn’t addressed head-on. Here’s our conversation, edited for length and clarity.

Julia Belluz

You’re brutally honest in the book about the mental and financial cost of having a child with autism as well as severe intellectual disabilities. What do you want people to understand — that you think they currently don’t — about that experience?

Peter Hotez

With Rachel, my wife and I found that it’s not so much the autism, but her intellectual disabilities, which are so devastating.

The problem in the US is that we have a terrible safety net for people with intellectual disabilities. As parents we’re on our own much of the time.

This is why I sometimes criticize the anti-vaccine lobby — they suck out all the oxygen when it comes to autism with their phony arguments about vaccines, so that at the end of the day there’s little left to address what autism parents and those on the autism spectrum really need — specially tailored services for the co-morbidities [co-occurring diseases or illnesses], like good job coaching and help with housing.

Julia Belluz

You’ve long worked on vaccines but have never been very public about your experience as an autism dad. Why did you feel the need to come out with your personal story now?

Peter Hotez

Peter Hotez. Brian Goldman

I felt I was losing the battle to the anti-vaccine lobby. I felt it was a public service or duty to do everything I can to slow down the anti-vaccine movement. Like what we’ve had happen in the US — a terrible measles outbreak all of last year in Minnesota. We have had measles outbreaks in Kansas, Missouri this year.

We’ve had a horrific 2018 flu season, where of the 200 children who died from flu, the vast majority were not vaccinated despite the recommendation that all children over 6 months get their flu vaccine. Then we’ve got this situation in Europe: 40,000 measles cases in the first half of 2017.

I became alarmed at what I saw as the absence of a counter voice to the anti-vaccine lobby. And I felt I was in a unique position as a vaccine scientist and pediatrician, and as an autism dad, to stand up to this and say this has got to stop.

The science in itself may not [always] be adequately persuasive. People need a personal story to go with it.

Julia Belluz

Changing people’s minds is difficult — and part of the problem is the mistrust of experts and the medical establishment. You’re part of that establishment. Why do you think people will listen to and trust you?

I’m well-positioned to do so because I have unusual expertise in both vaccines and autism, and without an agenda or conflict of interests

Peter Hotez

Well, I’m part of the establishment, and then again, I’m really not. Although I’m a vaccine scientist heading the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, we’re a nonprofit that does not take vaccine industry funding. We’re developing vaccines for the poorest of the poor with no real prospect of significant financial return. I will never make a dime on our neglected tropical disease vaccines.

At the same time, I’m also an autism dad, who has looked carefully into the latest autism research, which is a unique combination. That’s why I chose to speak out and defend vaccines. I’m well-positioned to do so because I have unusual expertise in both vaccines and autism, and without an agenda or conflict of interests.

From my experience, a majority of vaccine-hesitant parents are not deeply dug in. They’ve gotten misinformation from anti-vaccine websites and social media, or they’ve heard something unsavory about vaccines from friends and relatives. I believe my book might reach those individuals. Then there’s another group, maybe 10 to 20 percent who are deeply dug in and believe all of the fake conspiracy theories. Those individuals are really difficult to reach.

Julia Belluz

You and others have noted that our leaders and public health officials — such as the folks at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — have failed to adequately defend vaccines. Why do you think that is?

There’s the obvious reason: Who wants to get cyber-bullied like I get cyber-bullied, and who wants to put up with the harassment?

And when this anti-vaccine movement began in 1998, they probably felt it was a cult or fringe movement and one they did not want to draw attention to — feeling they’d give it oxygen. So I think they thought by ignoring it, it’d go away on its own. But it hasn’t.

I think the other thing I’ve seen with the CDC: They say look nationally at the immunization rates, which haven’t changed that much. I counter that by saying [national rates are] a blunt instrument. They ignore all these terrible pockets where we have large numbers of school-age children not being vaccinated. Then there’s the HPV: There are terrible uptake rates in south and central US.

Julia Belluz

Cyber-bullied? Can you tell me a little more about what you’ve been up against?

Peter Hotez

I don’t like to emphasize this too much. But because I’m a vaccine scientist that does not take vaccine industry funds and an autism dad, I felt compelled to speak out and defend vaccines. Presumably this is threatening to the anti-vaccine lobby, which is well-organized, well-funded, and aggressive and relies heavily on combining pseudoscience, messaging that uses phony terms like “medical freedom,” and bullying tactics.

They’ve been doing this for 20 years, beginning with the Lancet paper in 1998, but it really stepped up a year or so ago when they learned I was writing [this] book. It’s often hurtful and sometimes I get scared for myself and my family, but I felt it was important to have a pro-vaccine voice out there defending vaccines. I also think it’s important that academics like me use our knowledge for the public good.

Julia Belluz

We’re also living in a moment when populism is rising, and figures like conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Russian trolls are spreading vaccine disinformation. That certainly hasn’t helped.

Peter Hotez

I’ve tried to think what would be motivation [behind Russian trolls]. I think it’s to create distrust of the government, and that’s what we are seeing now here in Texas. The phrases and terms being used are things like “medical freedom” and “choice.” But it’s happening at the expense of the rights of children.

If you’re a parent, it’s not a choice whether or not you put your child in a car seat when you drive them in the car. If you own a firearm and you have children, you have to keep the firearm locked. It [should not be] a choice whether you vaccinate your children. They have a fundamental human right to be protected against deadly infections.

In the 2018 flu outbreak, the vast majority of children who died in the US from influenza were not vaccinated

Julia Belluz

And right now, vaccination is a choice in many states — parents can opt out on behalf of their kids on religious or philosophical grounds. Do you think more states should go the way of California and make it harder to opt out?

Peter Hotez

I think we need a few things to happen. Yes we need to close non-medical exemptions for personal or philosophical beliefs in the 18 US states that still allow this, as was done in California. But as I, as well some colleagues, point out, this alone will not be sufficient. We need to do better at pro-vaccine messaging.

We saw this in the 2018 flu outbreak in which the vast majority of children who died in the US from influenza were not vaccinated. This was a failure in vaccine advocacy, which made little to no effort to try and counter the misinformation from strong and well-funded and organized anti-vaccine forces. My book is a first step, I hope.

Julia Belluz

What’s at stake if vaccine denialism deepens?

Peter Hotez

We’ll continue to see outbreaks of serious infectious diseases. Measles is the first we see because it’s highly transmissible. So measles is a good marker for drops in vaccine coverage overall.

Second, we’ll continue to see resistance for the introduction of new vaccines. We’re seeing this with the HPV vaccine. Australia is talking about eliminating cervical cancer by 2028. We in the US are struggling to get 50 percent of teenagers vaccinated against cervical cancer. That’s a terrible tragedy.

The third issue I see looming is this will not stop in the US and Europe. The US is good about exporting its culture — Hollywood, music, commercial products. Now we’re exporting this anti-vaccine garbage. I’m quite worried we’re going to start to see drops in vaccine coverage in some of the big middle-income countries like India, Brazil, and China. That’ll have catastrophic consequences to the point where we could reverse global goals and the progress we’ve made. I’m worried that ultimately this could unravel.

Julia Belluz

What do scientists now believe causes autism? Was there ever a strong scientific case for vaccines as the culprit?

Peter Hotez

No. As I point out in the book we’ve now learned so much about autism science and the developmental progression leading to autism, which begins prenatally well before kids are ever vaccinated. We have at least 65 genes identified, and with Rachel through whole exome sequencing, we believe that an additional one is forthcoming.

Also there’s an important role for epigenetics and potential environmental exposures early on in pregnancy — the book reports on studies that identify four or five known chemical exposures in pregnancy that can also lead to [autism].

The technology is so powerful now … the question is how this information is used appropriately and ethically. Many on the autism spectrum are worried about this. We need to have a national dialogue that brings together experts in neuroscience, genetics, and it must also include bioethicists and strong representation by individuals on the autism spectrum.

Original Source -> This autism dad has a warning for anti-vaxxers

via The Conservative Brief