Del Bigtree

[[File:Del Bigtree.jpg|thumb|165px|Del Bigtree in defiance of the genocide of measles. It would be unprofitable for him, after all, if we were able to actually genocide measles.]]
{{vax}}
'''Del Matthew Bigtree''' is a fairly popular [[American]] [[Anti-vaccination movement|anti-vaxxer]], perhaps best known for using "fear mongering based on misinformation" contradicting consensus and vaccine safety for profit earned from supplements and advertising revenue. He first rose to prominence by teaming up with his colleague [[Andrew Wakefield]] who helped him produce the infamous anti-vaccine [[propaganda]] film '''''Vaxxed''''', which touches on the [[CDC whistleblower controversy]], but mostly promotes anti-vaccine [[FUD|fearmongering]]. He is also proud of being the producer of ''The Doctors'',<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132615/?ref_=nmbio_mbio The Doctors] ''IMDb''.</ref> which he thinks is the "best medical talk show in the world." It is the best, you see, because it featured people that agree with him on his "[[Pseudoskepticism|vaccine skepticism]]" like Jay Gordon<ref>Tracy, B. (January 27, 2015). [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/doctor-explains-why-he-lets-kids-avoid-the-measles-vaccine/ Doctor explains why he lets kids avoid the measles vaccine].''CBS News''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref><ref name="RunDon'tWalk">oracknows (December 23, 2008). [https://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/12/23/run-dont-walk-from-these-doctors Run, don't walk, away from these Doctors]. ''ScienceBlogs''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> and Jim Sears.<ref name="RunDon'tWalk"/>

Though he flaunts his show credentials to pretend that he has a qualified expert opinion and describes himself as a medical [[journalist]], Bigtree is not a [[scientist]],<ref>vaccinesworkblog. (March 16, 2018). [https://vaccinesworkblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/del-bigtree-is-not-a-scientist/ Del Bigtree is not a scientist]. ''WordPress''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> nor does he have any [[credentials]] in any field of science. 

For instance, he sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services detailing his [[just asking questions|"concerns"]] over [[Dog whistle politics#Anti-vaccination|"vaccine safety"]]. Some of the tropes include complaining about the vaccine schedule being "overloaded" (the [[Anti-vaccination movement#.22Overwhelming_the_immune_system.22|"too many too soon" gambit]]),<ref group=note>[https://academicearth.org/electives/too-many-too-soon/ "Too many, too soon" is a common anti-vaccine refrain and is not based on any science]. See [[Anti-vaccination movement#Overwhelming the immune system]] for refutations to this massively flawed argument.</ref> the lack of [[Double blind|double-blind]] [[placebo]] studies<ref group=note>[https://vaccinesworkblog.wordpress.com/2018/08/06/there-are-no-vaccine-studies-with-saline-placebo/ There have been]. See [https://vaccinesworkblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/27/del-bigtree-is-stubborn/ this] from the VaccinesWork blog. The very first argument of them debunks this claim that has been often used by Del, which just showcases his [[denialism]] tactics in full display.</ref> (without assessing the ethics of exposing subjects to a preventable disease; [[meta-analyses]] of epidemiological studies are also perfectly fine, but Bigtree doesn't like them), using {{wpl|Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System|VAERS}} [[Cherry picking|dumpster diving]]<ref group=note>See [https://skepticalinquirer.org/2018/11/diving_into_the_vaers_dumpster_fake_news_about_vaccine_injuries/ here] on why you should not rely on VAERS to accurately quantify vaccine-averse events. Basically, VAERS is not curated, and there have been reports of people turning into the Incredible Hulk after a vaccine.</ref> to bolster the view that vaccine injury is more serious and common than it really is, and demanding that the vaccine committees be replaced with "vaccine safety advocates". Bigtree then threatened the HHS with a civil suit if they didn't comply with his ridiculous demands. Fortunately, Dr. Melinda Wharton, the director of the National Vaccine Program Office, responded to his demands, dunked on his claims, and denied action.<ref>[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Or65lanlqmZ94C_z8v36dGcRAONVyfls/view Her letter to Bigtree can be found here.]</ref>

Bigtree at least pretends not to believe he is an anti-vaxxer.<ref name="DailyBeast">Kucinich, J. (April 12, 2019). [https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-vaxxer-del-bigtree-got-his-start-on-the-tv-show-the-doctors Top Anti-Vaxxer Says He Learned All He Needs to Know From Being a Producer on ‘Dr. Phil’ and ‘The Doctors’]. ''The Daily Beast''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> Instead, he claims to be "[[euphemism|pro-safe-vaccine]]." [[Point refuted a thousand times|This is not an original argument]].<ref>Orac (November 16, 2017). [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2017/11/16/the-annals-of-im-not-antivaccine-26/ The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 26: “No, I’m not an ‘vaccine safety’ advocate”]. ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved May 10, 2019.</ref> The media frequently and inexplicably falls prey to this tactic and gives him undue weight, applying the labels "vaccine skeptic" or "controversial", as opposed to the more accurate "vaccine denier" or "batshit crazy." Noteworthy examples of this include interviews<ref>Orac. (April 15, 2019). "[https://respectfulinsolence.com/2019/04/15/kucinich-perils-reporting-antivaxers/ Daily Beast reporter Jackie Kucinich falls prey to the perils of reporting on antivaxer Del Bigtree]". ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved June 25, 2020.</ref> by The Daily Beast and [[NPR]].<ref>https://www.npr.org/podcasts/609228454/inland-journal</ref>

==He is being repressed!==
As tends to be common among anti-vaxxers, Del Bigtree suffers from a massive [[persecution complex]]. ''Vaxxed'' gained notoriety after actor Robert De Niro promoted it at the Tribeca Film Festival (although De Niro backtracked and dropped it following public outrage). Bigtree also complained about being "99% censored" by ABC World News Tonight because they didn't show the entirety of their interview with him.<ref>oracknows. (March 29, 2016). [https://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2016/03/29/tribeca-film-festival-wrap-up-andrew-wakefields-brilliance-and-spies-and-nazis-oh-my Tribeca Film Festival wrap-up: Andrew Wakefield's "brilliance" and spies and Nazis, oh my!]. ''ScienceBlogs''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> In March 2019, after giving a speech on the supposed perils of government mandated vaccines, he had the tastelessness to brandish the Star of [[David]] (because preventing unvaccinated kids from going to [[public school]] [[Moral equivalence#It's Godwin time!|is exactly like being herded to your death because of your ethnicity]]). He and his anti-vaxxer friends shortly received swift condemnation from the [[Anti-Defamation League]] and Poland’s Auschwitz Memorial and Museum,<ref>''ADL'' (April 5, 2019). [https://www.adl.org/blog/anti-vaccine-protesters-misappropriate-holocaust-era-symbol-to-promote-their-cause Anti-Vaccine Protesters Misappropriate Holocaust-Era Symbol to Promote Their Cause]. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> but refused to apologize.<ref name="DailyBeast"/> Classy.

Unfortunately, invoking [[Nazi analogies]] also seems to be a trend among anti-vaxxers.<ref>Orac (April 9, 2015). [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/04/09/the-annals-of-im-not-antivaccine-part-15-robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-the-vaccine-associated-holocaust/ The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 15: California SB 277, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the vaccine “holocaust”]. ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved May 10, 2019.</ref> Other instances of this can be seen in Dr. Jim Sears<ref>Haelle, T. (June 18, 2015). [https://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/06/18/california-doctor-invokes-holocaust-analogy-compares-non-vaccinating-parents-to-jews/#55b848a57897 California Doctor Invokes Holocaust Analogy, Compares Non-Vaccinating Parents To Persecuted Jews]. ''Forbes''. Retrieved May 8, 2019.</ref> (who is featured in Bigtree's favorite show), [[Robert Kennedy, Jr.]],<ref>White, J. (April 7, 2015). [https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article17814440.html  Robert Kennedy Jr. warns of vaccine-linked ‘holoc.aust’]. ''Sacramento Bee''. Retrieved May 10, 2019.</ref> [[Age of Autism]], and the [[Facebook]] group "Californians against SB 277"<ref>Reuben. (February 23, 2015) [https://thepoxesblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/to-the-vermont-coalition-for-vaccine-choice-vaccine-requirements-are-exactly-like-the-holocaust/ To the “Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice,” vaccine requirements are exactly like the Holocaust (UPDATED)]. "The Poxes Blog". ''WordPress''. Retrieved May 10, 2019.</ref> Mind you, this is only one of the many [[False analogy|false analogies]] that Bigtree's has used — vaccines have also been compared to [[rape]], [[slavery]], [[Apartheid]], and [[human trafficking]].<ref>Orac (April 9, 2015). [https://respectfulinsolence.com/2015/04/09/the-annals-of-im-not-antivaccine-part-15-robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-the-vaccine-associated-holocaust/ The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 15: California SB 277, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the vaccine “holocaust”]. ''Respectful Insolence''. Retrieved May 10, 2019.</ref>

Del Bigtree has also relied on [[Inflammatory language|inflammatory]], and arguably, violent rhetoric to bolster his [[paranoid]] [[libertarian]] views on the big, [[Demonization|evil]] [[government]] wanting to take away "choice", "[[privacy]]" and "control" over bodies or something.<ref>lbrbSullivan (Jul 18, 2016). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaR81c9bscA&feature=youtu.be Del Bigtree: "Now's the time" for guns]. ''Youtube.'' Retrieved May 10, 2019. Full video: https://www.facebook.com/del.bigtree/videos/10153574221765964/?pnref=story</ref>

{{quotebox|…but now we’re watching the most powerful [[lobby]] in the country and in the world poisoning our children. And our government is helping them. What are we going to do about it? We have the power. But we have got to stop being afraid to talk about it. If you’re afraid to talk about it, your [[Twitter]]s, your [[Facebook]]s, I don’t want to bring it up at my PTA meeting, I don’t want to at lunch or at [[Thanksgiving]] dinner, then [[Nazi analogies|I can imagine those same conversations were happening in Nazi Germany among the Jewish people]]. Let’s not talk about it. I don’t want to bring it into my reality. It’s still 20 miles away. I’m still allowed in this theater, not that one. All I have to get is this little star. All I have to do is to sign this little thing saying that I’m not going to vaccinate because I think they’re dangerous — and they are dangerous. I’m just going to sign this paper. I’m going to let them put me in a log. At some point, they have gone too far.

Do you think it’s a good idea to let the government own your baby’s body and right behind it your body? That is the end for me. Anyone who believes in the right to bear arms. To stand up against your government. I don’t know what you were saving that [[gun]] for then. I don’t know when you planned on using it if they were going to take control of your own body away.

It’s now. Now’s the time.}}

==Informed Consent Action Network==
Bigtree is the founder (and current CEO) of the '''Informed Consent Action Network''' ('''ICAN'''),<ref>[https://icandecide.org/about-us/ Del Bigtree: Founder, ICAN]</ref> which is an anti-vaccination advocacy group that ostensibly supports science-based inquiry (of course, that's an <i>extremely</i> charitable description). It promotes parental choice/non-medical vaccine exemptions<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20190401180947/https://icandecide.org/white-papers/Publications-Regarding-Vaccine-Safety.pdf The Danger Of Eliminating Vaccine Exemptions & Curtailing Vaccine Criticism] ICAN (archived from April 1, 2019).</ref> and vaccine hysteria (e.g. [[Aluminum|"aluminum adjuvants" in vaccines causing autism]]).<ref>[https://icandecide.org/wp-content/uploads/whitepapers/ICAN-AluminumAdjuvant-Autism.pdf Autism & Aluminum Adjuvants in Vaccines: How Aluminum Adjuvants in Vaccines Can Cause Autism] (August 18, 2017) ''ICAN''.</ref> ICAN is largely financially supported by Bernard Selz and Lisa Selz through their Selz Foundation; the Foundation donated more than $3 million to ICAN and other anti-vaxx causes as of 2019. The Selz Foundation also gave $200,000 to [[Andrew Wakefield]]'s legal defense.<ref name=sun>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/meet-the-new-york-couple-donating-millions-to-the-anti-vax-movement/2019/06/18/9d791bcc-8e28-11e9-b08e-cfd89bd36d4e_story.html Meet the New York couple donating millions to the anti-vax movement] by Lena H. Sun & Amy Brittain (June 19, 2019 at 6:00 AM).</ref> The Selz Foundation also funded Bigtree's film ''Vaxxed'', through the AMC Foundation.<ref name=sun/>

ICAN is affiliated with the law firm Siri & Glimstad LLP. Through legal filings and letters, the law firm has been intimidating any organizations that plan to require vaccination for employment.<ref name=stanleybecker>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/05/26/vaccine-mandate-litigation-siri-glimstad-ican/ Resistance to vaccine mandates is building. A powerful network is helping. A New York firm has filed suit against or sent warning letters to employers in several states, part of an effort spearheaded by one of the nation’s largest anti-vaccination groups.] by Isaac Stanley-Becker (May 26, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. PDT) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> ICAN has been advertising Siri & Glimstad's services on [[Robert Kennedy, Jr.]]'s anti-vaxx Children’s Health Defense website by stating, "If you or anyone you know is being required by an employer or school to receive a covid-19 vaccine, ICAN is offering to support legal action on your behalf to challenge the requirement."<ref name=stanleybecker/> Kerry A. Scanlon, a former Department of Justice official who now works in labor and employment law, thought that employers have a strong case for enforcing vaccination among employees.<ref name=stanleybecker/> As of 2024 Del Bigtree has been named as Communications Director for the [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]] 2024 Campaign.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/rfk-jr-hires-del-bigtree-anti-vaccine-activist-communications-director-rcna131859 RFK Jr. hires top anti-vaccine activist as campaign communications director], ''NBC News'', 2 January 2024.</ref>

Informed Consent Action Network and three other antivax and [[COVID-19 denialism|COVID denialist]] group profited and expanded enormously during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref name=weber>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/02/21/covid-misinformation-earnings Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation] by Lauren Weber (February 21, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EST) ''The Washington Post''.</ref> The three other groups were [[Simone Gold]]'s America’s Frontline Doctors, {{wpl|Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance}} and [[Robert F. Kennedy Jr.]]'s Children’s Health Defense.<ref name=weber/>

==On the COVID-19 vaccine==
{{main|COVID-19 pandemic}}
{{cquote| If you want to [[Deceit|know the truth]] on the new Pfizer vaccine said to be 90% effective; watch my show NOW @theHighwire.com|||Bigtree<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20201112190327/https://twitter.com/delbigtree/status/1326963765678665729 If you want to know the truth on the new Pfizer vaccine said to be 90% effective; watch my show NOW @theHighwire.com] by Del Bigtree (11:03 - 12. Nov. 2020) ''Twitter'' (archived from November 12, 2020).</ref>}}
{{cquote|So CV VAXX admittedly CAN’T STOP TRANSMISSION only REDUCES SYMPTOMS. But SYMPTOMS after 1st SHOT are SO SEVERE doctors fear people won’t get 2nd SHOT. While 80% TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID don’t know they have it cause SYMPTOMS ARE SO MILD. #CantMakeThisUp|||Bigtree<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210526174230/https://twitter.com/delbigtree/status/1331293923092918277?lang=en So CV VAXX admittedly CAN’T STOP TRANSMISSION only REDUCES SYMPTOMS. But SYMPTOMS after 1st SHOT are SO SEVERE doctors fear people won’t get 2nd SHOT. While 80% TESTING POSITIVE FOR COVID don’t know they have it cause SYMPTOMS ARE SO MILD. #CantMakeThisUp] by Del Bigtree (9:49 AM - 24 Nov 2020) ''Twitter'' (archived from May 26, 2021).</ref>}}

Bigtree has repeatedly spread [[Fear, uncertainty, and doubt|fear-mongering]] about the coronavirus vaccine. After all, [[War on Science|his entire life depends on unscientific concerns about established scientific topics]].<ref>[https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/06/just-50-americans-plan-get-covid-19-vaccine-here-s-how-win-over-rest Just 50% of Americans plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s how to win over the rest]</ref><ref> Smith TC, Reiss DR. Digging the rabbit hole, COVID-19 edition: anti-vaccine themes and the discourse around COVID-19. Microbes Infect. 2020;22(10):608-610. doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2020.11.001</ref><ref> https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/antivaccine-leader-del-bigtree-on-covid-19-lets-catch-this-cold-why-antivaxxers-and-coronavirus-conspiracy-theorists-are-often-one-in-the-same/</ref> Note that he fills out the denialist bingo card here by pointing out that the virus minimizes the effects of COVID, all while ''breathlessly pretending'' that's somehow a bad thing.

==See also==
*[[Appeal to celebrity]]
*[[Godwin's Law]]

==External links==
*[https://icandecide.org/about-us/ ICAN]
*[http://americanloons.blogspot.com/2022/08/2558-del-bigtree.html Del Bigtree] at the [[Encyclopedia of American Loons]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note|80%}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigtree, Del}}
[[Category:2021 U.S. coup attempt]]
[[Category:Antisemites]]
[[Category:Anti-vaccination movement]]
[[Category:Autism woo]]
[[Category:California]]
[[Category:Chemophobes]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:COVID-19 denialists]]
[[Category:Film-makers]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience promoters]]
[[Category:Shysters]]
[[Category:War on science]]
[[Category:YouTube]]

Categories: 2021 U.S. coup attempt, Antisemites, Anti-vaccination movement, Autism woo, California, Chemophobes, Conspiracy theorists, COVID-19 denialists, Film-makers, Leftists who turned right with age, Living people, Pseudoscience promoters, Shysters, War on science, YouTube