The other day I took a flight from the US to Canada and noticed that not everyone was wearing a mask. And I thought, how cool is that? Scientists worked so hard to get us a vaccine so our lives could return to normal. For the first time, I didn’t have to think about whether or not I needed a vaccine, mask or a negative Covid test. I just…flew.
Scientists and farmers have much in common: they’re both very underappreciated. The anti-GMO and anti-vaccine crowd have many similarities but are both very misunderstood sectors. But god bless the scientists; where would our lives be without these scientific advancements?
The anti-vax and anti-GMO crowds usually have something in common: they don’t like/trust big corporations or the government. And in a sense, they bring a good point. Often people fear or don’t trust what they don’t understand, and big corporations and government are not always at the forefront of people we meet on the street every day. How many people know a scientist? The first time I met someone who worked for the FDA, I looked at them like they were a foreign alien, like… these people EXIST?? Ha. Vaccine and GMO scientists are not people you usually meet every day. Many people don’t know that being a plant breeder is a career. They’re like the “Wizard of Oz: ‘Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”
So, if they believe corporations are untrustworthy or are “out to get us,” how can we trust anything? The “organic” food label is still overseen by the big government they rail against and is usually owned by the same giant corporations they don’t like.
This is when I put the communication back on them.
When people say things like… “I don’t trust GMOs. I only buy organic and non-GMO,” I reply, “Well, that’s what they want! The big corporations want you to pay more for non-GMO and Organic; they want you to pay three times more for your groceries!” Let us not forget that “natural and organic” is a $350 billion business. The Non-GMO project is also a multi-billion dollar brand. Think about it. It’s what “they” want you to believe.
The people making money off the anti-vaccine and anti-GMO movements are doing just that: selling products and making a profit off of fear-based marketing disinformation campaigns. Don’t get me wrong- I respect people’s right to choose regarding food and medicine. When it comes to medicine, there is no shortage of side effects that can often mess with people’s bodies worse than their original problem; that’s well documented. But we should be thankful for the amazing scientists that have made it possible for us to move past the COVID-19 pandemic, mask and fear-free nowadays for a majority. It’s far too well documented to know that vaccines work, and our lives have leveled back out to a decent sense of normalcy.
Conspiracy theorists don’t trust the government and likely think they’re lying and lazy. But if COVID-19 was just a conspiracy, do we believe the government would go through the trouble to stop the entire global economy, pay billions of dollars to people with unemployment programs, and send out billions of vaccines FOR FREE to the general public? Of course not! They didn’t roll out this program and put the world at a standstill for fun. “The government is lazy,” according to the conspiracy theorists, right? The scientific community wouldn’t just do this to do it. Deaths and illnesses have decreased tenfold since the vaccine was introduced.
Have you ever put fifteen people in a room together and tried to have them all keep a secret? That is not going to happen. So no, the government is not in a big “Illuminati lizard people” and “what they want you to think” conspiracy. Who are “they?”
“They” are real people. “They” are scientists. They are people who care. They’re parents, friends, experts, doctors, brothers and sisters, researchers and more. They are agronomists, plant pathologists, immunologists, epidemiologists, and toxicologists; the list goes on. And as with everything in life, we must go to the source.
We go to our dentists for our teeth, our car manufacturers for our cars, we go to Apple for our iPhones. So doesn’t it make sense to ask real GMO and vaccine scientists about GMOs and vaccines, etc? At least keep an open mind and hear what they have to say. The experts are real, and they can usually be found on LinkedIn or Twitter, ready to answer your questions to set the record straight and help you feel more comfortable in this crazy world.
The next time someone says, “Do your research,” remember that a Google search isn’t research. Researchers do research. And it’s time to give them the respect they deserve.
