It’s been a while since I’ve written a newsletter. Lengthy summer travel, letting myself settle in back home slowly, and downright ennui got the best of me, I suppose. It’s also been hard to face what’s going on these days, especially when it comes to vaccine legislation.

As many of you know, I’m a big believer in the fact that our thoughts and beliefs create our reality. So I’m well aware that the fear and anger so many of us have about forced vaccination and other intrusions on personal health freedom affect not only us, but also affect the world around us. Yes, most of us know that living with anger and fear isn’t very good for our physical and emotional well-being. But do we truly acknowledge that these emotions also serve to perpetuate the very obstacles we face?

Leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King understood this well. They knew that violence only breeds push back and more violence. Anger only breeds more push back and anger.

When I attended the 2015 protests in Sacramento, California against the passage of SB277 (the legislation that truly set the forced vaccination movement into motion), I was thrilled by the huge crowds, but I was also a bit worried about the chosen uniform of red shirts and the palpable anger among the protesters. Yes, we were all filled with self-righteous indignation! I was able to sit in the main hearing room because my husband Steve was one of the people chosen to testify about VAERS (the US government’s vaccine injury database), which he maintains. Just before the hearing began, one father in the crowd was removed by guards because of his threatening demeanor and anger over his child’s injury. Understandable, but in the end, unproductive.

So once again, is our anger and fear really helpful?

Think about it. How do you react when someone, especially a stranger, gets angry at you? You get defensive. You write them off as “nut cases.” You don’t believe a word they say. It also becomes much easier to scapegoat them, blame them, and dehumanize them.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “But how can we fight the power of Big Pharma? They control the media. They control the politicians.” That’s true. But didn’t Gandhi and Martin Luther King face just as huge obstacles?

Gandhi figured out the secret sauce, so to speak. By taking a nonviolent approach, with as much love in your heart as you can muster, you maximize the chance that the “other side” will instinctively feel your inherent benevolence. This makes it easier for them to believe you and sympathize with you. It also becomes harder for them to write you off. For instance, it’s much harder for a soldier to shoot at a young person who is holding out a flower in their hand than it is for them to fire into an angry, fear-instilling mob.

And let’s face it, the vaccine debate, though it may be fueled by the money interests of Big Pharma, is really all about fear. Fear of contagion and disease. And what are the instinctual human reactions to fear? First, denial. Convince yourself that nothing is wrong, that there is no such thing as a vaccine injury. If you hear about the existence of government databases and payouts to victims, ignore it; blank it out. Or convince yourself that such injuries are incredibly rare. Convince yourself that vaccines are perfectly harmless, like taking a sugar pill.

The second defense mechanism, especially when the media stokes fear of contagion (a common tactic now used by Big Pharma), is to circle the wagons. Project your fears onto others outside the circle and blame them. Scapegoat the already beleaguered parents of autistic children or other vaccine-injured children — the so-called “anti-vaxxers.”

Finally, if you happen to feel the least bit guilty about your scapegoating, rationalize your guilt by shouting “the greater good!” It’s not your kid after all.

So what can we do?

First of all, as much as possible, try to check your anger or at least any outward manifestation of it. Approach legislators and authorities in a spirit of harmlessness. Evoke their sympathy and connection to you. Be kind. Be human. Be conscious of their understandable fears and defenses.

Second, consider deeply: Why are people so fearful that they have to deny, project, and rationalize? The answer is that the following thought is going through their head, whether they realize it or not:

If vaccines aren’t the panacea that I’ve been told they are, then what am I going to do to protect myself and my family??

Because so many people are thinking this, any insinuation that vaccines aren’t a panacea tends to evoke a defensive reaction. Such an insinuation makes people feel backed into a corner. It’s too hard for them to face and, in fact, they’ll do anything not to face it — even take away your civil rights.

But what is the one vaccine that people are willing and even wanting to forego? The flu vaccine. Why? Because people have now grown to believe two things about it (from their own experience): 1) It doesn’t really work that well; 2) It makes a lot of people sick or even gives them the flu. In other words, to an increasing number of people, getting the flu vaccine is just not worth it, despite all the media hype and indoctrination.

So how can we use this information to help us penetrate through the vaccine impasse? Here are some ideas.

1) Convince people that vaccines don’t really work as well as people think they do. There is plenty of evidence for this. Talk about outbreaks among fully vaccinated populations that cannot be blamed on the unvaccinated. Let people know that vaccines don’t “take” for many people. Let them know that fairly stable illnesses like measles are beginning to mutate and become a moving target like the flu — because of the overuse of vaccines. This is an important point, especially when it comes to diseases that are generally benign, especially for children, in the developed world. (After all, nearly everyone in the US over the age of 60 experienced measles, chicken pox, and mumps as children — to no ill effect. And they now have true immunity and a more robust immune system as a result.) The more people begin to question whether vaccines are truly effective and necessary, the less “worth it” they will seem.

2) Convince people there are other approaches that can help them, both to prevent disease and treat it. This is true for the flu; most people know about various home remedies, vitamins, and alternative therapies (like homeopathy) that do work. (Just check out some of my Impossible Cure newsletters to learn more.) In other words, try to convince people that they do have some kind of recourse or safety net besides vaccines.

3) Gently educate people about the side effects. Emphasize that vaccines actually spread disease because of shedding. (I’ve even read reports that the flu is spread more each year by the vaccinated than by the unvaccinated!) And let’s face it. As more and more people are injured by vaccines, convincing them about the inherent risks will become easier.

Well, those are my thoughts. What do you think?