Based on the meme “Why would my un-vaccinated kids be a threat to your vaccinated kids, if you’re so sure that vaccines work?” (Green).
Defense
Today, people start to forget about the importance of our rights and personal choice. I am addressing all parents, teachers, doctors, and just everybody concerned about the health safety of their loved ones. I understand that for all of us, the health of our families is one of the most important things, and we need to think about the possible threats. However, it is not wise to judge people by the number of injections, especially when the effectiveness of vaccination is not clear yet. Recently, I faced complaints from a couple of parents because they found out that my child is unvaccinated. Doctors keep talking about herd immunity; however, they forget about the harm that vaccination may bring to the vulnerable body of a child. They forget that their vaccinated kids sometimes suffer diseases they were supposed to be protected from. Medicine is virgin territory, and I do not want my child to be considered a threat because of some ungrounded concerns. Let our children study and play together, regardless of how many vaccinations they went through!
Explanation
Character
- The meme-posting character is a mother with a degree in law, whose child attends primary school. Being a social activist, she values interpersonal relationships and the power of unity. This is why she was insulted when she learned that other parents consider her child a threat to their vaccinated children. As a lawyer, she understands the significance of personal choice in terms of vaccination; she expresses doubts about the effectiveness of the latter. She posts the meme to prove that her child can live in the same social group as vaccinated classmates.
- The meme-hating character is also a parent whose child belongs to the same class at school. Being an immunologist, she is aware of the advantages and disadvantages of vaccination and is sure that there is still more use in herd immunity. She refers to medical findings and emphasizes that the common goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible to eliminate any threat. She does not have any personal issues with the meme-posting character; however, the health of her own child and the overall health of citizens is more important for her.
- The characters are not very close; they usually keep their distance when interacting. At the same time, both parties are interested in maintaining a healthy social environment in the class. As they do not know much about each other, they address conflicting ideas by speaking on behalf of their supporters and do not use personal names or insult each other.
Perspective
- Facebook is a more common social network for the characters since they follow the school public page and are members of the class group chat. On Facebook, it is possible to write longer posts, than on Twitter, and not to use pictures, like on Instagram. The defense does not contain images, as the meme-posting character wants to draw public attention to the text.
- The lawyer talks on behalf of all people whose loved ones are mistreated because of their anti-vaccination views. The doctor is concerned about the overall health condition of her child and all people in general. While defending her point of view, the meme-poster spoke on behalf of all people who are afraid that unvaccinated members of society may infect others.
- On Facebook, users receive notifications if somebody else commented on the post they reacted to; they can also share interesting posts. As the lawyer wanted to address the problem to everybody concerned, she chose this social network, where her post could receive maximum attention. Understanding this, the author of the post refers to the idea of human rights and emphasizes that the problem can affect everybody.
Plot
The author targets a wide audience and mentions it at the beginning of the message. She creates a positive tone of defense by emphasizing that all people are united by the common goal of ensuring the health security of their loved ones. She mentions the idea of individual rights, which is connected to her profession. As the meme-hater is a doctor, the lawyer states that the effectiveness of vaccination is not proven yet, which is another way of persuasion (Simons and Jones 30). She ends by calling for maintaining peace and friendship among children, regardless of the vaccination views of their parents, which proves that she addresses many people, and not only the meme-hater.
Language
The defense author is an educated person, and the language of the post is persuasive and half formal. She renders the idea of the common goal by the use of “we” pronoun. Her emphasis is on the arguments, so she does not use much expressive language, except the metaphor “virgin territory” to emphasize the uncertainty of vaccination, repetition (“they forget”), and an exclamatory sentence. She appeals to the parents’ concerns about the social environment of their children, making this exclamation a strong ending for the post.
Works Cited
Green, Alex. “Going Viral in the Online Anti-Vaccine Wars.”Welcome Collectio, 2017. Web.
Simons, Herbert W., and Jean G. Jones. Persuasion in Society. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2017.