Jonah Lehrer of Wired Magazine has called Alex Jones of Infowars.com, a "liar" over Jones' interpretation of Lehrer's recent story involving a potential treatment for stress; a treatment that Jones has labeled a "brain eating vaccine".
Earlier this week, the term, "brain eating vaccines" was one of the most searched phrases on the internet. Generally, one would not think of vaccines as being 'brain eating', but something was clearly going on as Google trends named it the top search for several hours on Tuesday evening.
This all started when Lehrer published an article last week on the Wired Magazine website that profiled Stanford professor Robert Sapolsky. The title of the article was "Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine". Based largely on Sapolsky's work and findings, Lehrer detailed the effects that stress has on the human body, what causes it, and what the long term health effects can be.
A relatively small part of the article discussed the potential that Sapolsky believes exists for a treatment that would contain or eliminate the damage done by stress.
Alex Jones is a well known figure in the conspiracy world. Much of what he discusses, and the 'brain eating vaccine' story is no exception, is that there are forces conspiring behind the scenes intent on world domination. His biography on his website describes him as "a dedicated and aggressive Constitutionalist"....who avoids the bogus political labels of "left and right" and instead focuses on what really matters — what's right and wrong."
Sections on his website include "Police State" and "Big Brother", with articles and points of view discussing current events and how they fit into several theories and beliefs that not all is what it seems with the United States and world governments.
Jones has also actively reported on the dangers he believes are presented by vaccinations.
In response to Lehrer's article, on Tuesday, Jones released a series of videos on Youtube referencing Lehrer's story and labeling the proposed treatment as a 'brain eating vaccine'. Jones believes that there the vaccine is part of a plot by a government, or governments, to control people by keeping them content and calm.
There have now been over one hundred thousand views of Jones' video and the popularity of the search term is evidence that many were interested in his message.
Ironically, Jones' reaction to Lehrer's story has brought it far more publicity and readers than it otherwise would have received. But Lehrer seems clearly angry that the story was, as he put it, "horribly twisted into a dangerous nugget of right-wing paranoia.
On Jones' Youtube video, Lehrer described it as "a greatest hits of idiotic conspiracy theories, from the government putting lithium in the water to drug addiction vaccines that destroy brain tissue".
Regardless of what side of the story one takes on this, it is a prime example of how highly charged the worlds of medicines and vaccines are. While many see scientists and researchers working to find cures and treatments for ailments and disease while simultaneously questioning and grappling with some of the ethical dilemmas inherent to medical breakthroughs, others see the possibility of a larger conspiracy by elite establishments looking to suppress the masses.
Jonah Leher's labeling of Alex Jones as a 'liar' is merely the latest, and surely not the last, salvo in the ongoing struggle between the medical and scientific establishment and conspiracy theorists.
Source: Jonah Lehrer, "The Brain Eating Vaccine Conspiracy", wired.com
Source: Jonah Lehrer, "Under Pressure: The Search for a Stress Vaccine", wired.com
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