Jon Del Arroz is a science fiction writer (“the leading Hispanic voice in science fiction”) and moron with ties to Vox Day. He is also – you guessed it – an antivaxxer, as well as a general rightwing fundie conspiracy theorist, groyper wannabe and asshole, who believes that vaccines are not only dangerous but a means for active population control. So when Rockland county declared a state of emergency after a measles outbreak in 2019 and banned infected children from public spaces, Del Arroz described it as Rockland County having “in effect declared Martial Law on its citizens” in a move “very similar to government overreach in New Zealand based on one shooting – they’re grabbing all of the populace’s guns”. Yeah, distinctions … how do they work? But there are also conspiracies afoot (“Something smells fishy here”). Why? Well, “First, if vaccines worked so well and they made us all immune, why should we be panicked about someone having it?” asks Del Arroz, rather oblivious to the fact that not everybody is vaccinated and no one has claimed the vaccine provides 100% immunity so that the efforts to prevent of outbreaks would really benefit from herd immunity. “The truth is [Del Arroz is really following an anti-vaccine script here], most outbreaks of measles and mumps happen to VACCINATED people,” claims Del Arroz, which is flatly false. But his utterly false premises and general paranoia lead Del Arroz to conclude “all the shutting down discussion on any vaccine topic by shaming anyone trying to discuss it seems to have a deeper purpose.” Oh yeah: “are these used for something else, like creating a populace who ARE chronically diseased all the time and further dependent on the government healthcare?” asks del Arroz, though he is quick to pivot to “the discussions need to be had” if anyone were to correctly identify him as a deranged conspiracy loon on the basis of his nonsense. Well, the discussions about vaccines and vacciny policy have been had. There are tons of scientific literature and discussion. Del Arroz is of course not interested in those discussions since those are based on facts, and facts, like distinctions, sit poorly with Jon Del Arroz.
“Our own president (http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2020/07/2356-donald-trump.html) said it: ‘Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!’ I’ve yet to see him be wrong,” says Del Arroz, which tells you a lot of his ability to and interest in even trying to look. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Del Arroz served as a consistent purveyor of antivaccine conspiracy nonsense throughout the COVID pandemic and was ultimately banned from Twitter. Before being banned, he posted a slew of conspiracy nonsense, including blaming a mythical increase in cancer rates among young people on injection of an “experimental mRNA editor”. He has also asserted that hat American Muslims should be “forcibly converted to Christianity” and complained that social media “suppress stories involved in QAnon” (no links provided).
Diagnosis: Blathering moron. But although it is not surprising that ignorance, paranoia and general bigotry would quickly lead you to conspiracy theories, the sheer number of people who have been led to conspiracy theories through ignorance, paranoia and general bigotry is a serious cause for concern.
Hat-tip: Pharyngula
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