Exposing the ‘Vaccine Hesitancy’ Ploy

Written by Steve Jamnik on April 30, 2026. Posted in Current News

Do you remember when you first heard the phrase ‘vaccine hesitancy’? Whenever you come across a new phrase or expression that seems unusual or tendentious, you can bet your boots that there is some cosmetically challenged behavioural psychologist behind it.

Human language is extremely important. Language paints the landscape of our lives. It is a dynamic response to and reflection of our perceived environment; and psychologists use language both to discern and to influence a client’s state of mind.

The words we use, and what we think — and thinking is largely sub-vocal speech, i.e. we talk to ourselves and imagined others in our heads — these guide, police and commentate on our behaviour. For example, if you have low self-esteem, you will not welcome a challenging situation, and your insecurity will be reflected in the words you use when describing yourself and your circumstances: ‘I’m hopeless . . . it’ll never work . . . I’ll make a mess of it . . . it’s more than I can cope with . . . I’m in over my head . . . It’s a nightmare’ etc.

This isn’t to say that a person doesn’t indeed face difficulties, but the individual’s lexicon is not helping matters. It is undermining him and holding him back. He may not even attempt change or something new. So the psychologist coaches his client in alternative ways of talking and thinking.

‘Don’t say hopeless, Mr Frobisher. Say: I want to try [insert task] but I lack confidence. I am not intrinsically hopeless. Merely inexperienced.’

This approach sometimes elicits a startled look, and your client immediately understands the point you are making. He may then venture to change his mind about being hopeless.

I now invite you to consider some interesting examples of alternative ways of talking.

Take the words ‘drug addiction’. That sounds like a terrible thing doesn’t it? How about ‘experimenting with drugs’? That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Quite inquisitive and intelligent, in fact. Your attitude has been softened; your mind changed.

The same can be said of ‘prostitute’. A sleazy wench, of whom we would well steer clear. But ‘sex worker’? — a fain and plucky lass who’s prepared to get down and dirty, and do those jobs no one else wants to do. Who would object?

Remind yourself of this: ‘Like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.’ That sounds erudite and poetic, if not highfalutin. Maybe we can paraphrase: ‘rivers of blood’ — that’s much clearer, isn’t it? Your attitude has been solidified; your mind changed.

What about ‘homophobia’? That sounds nasty! A phobia is an irrational or exaggerated fear of something. The best known are arachnophobia, acrophobia, agoraphobia and claustrophobia. What is your attitude to claustrophobia? Is it a bad thing? Phobias can severely limit an individual’s functioning in the world. A person suffering from claustrophobia will not use a lift, walk through a subway or travel on the London Underground. Should we have compassion for someone so afflicted? Should we try to help him if we can?

If homophobia really is a phobia, what is someone who suffers from homophobia afraid of? That he may become homosexual? Or be raped by a man? Should we try to help him if we can? Why has the term been coined? What purpose is it designed to serve?

To return to the words with which I began this article, that new epithet, circa 2021: vaccine hesitancy. Why has the term been coined? What purpose is it designed to serve?

There is a proverb in the English language: he who hesitates is lost. It has its uses. If you umm and ahh, golden opportunities may pass you by. However, and this is a big however. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Look before you leap. Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. All that glisters is not gold. There’s many a slip ‘twixt cup and lip. Never buy a pig in a poke. Measure twice and cut once. Marry in haste, repent at leisure. Let your eye be your guide, and your money the last thing you part with.

Vaccine hesitancy conveys a not-so-subtle message. It implies you are a wimp to have doubts; that you lack the courage to jump right in and reap the benefits. The intention behind the phrase is to change your mind, influence your attitude, and thereby your behaviour.

This is the purpose of all this tampering with words. It uncouples our connection to the real world and deprives us of the ability to think clearly; and when you cannot think clearly, you cannot act purposefully. You are then susceptible to ‘nudging’, another word that has been semantically repurposed.

Why are they doing this, I hear you ask? Well ‘they’ are doing this, because ‘they’ are pathologically incapable of being honest with us. If they were trustworthy people, they would be open with us; but that would create a chink in their armour, and we might see right through their dissembling. We could then decide for ourselves what we do, or do not want to do.

Playing with the meaning of words is easy. A geek with acne sitting in his mum’s basement wearing the beanie she knitted him could do it. And there’s money to be made (and other gains) if you can manipulate people’s behaviour easily and inexpensively.

I am reminded of a travelling fair I was taken to when I was a boy. The sign outside the tent declared The Amazing Spider Woman. We paid our shilling (6d for children – must be accompanied by an adult) trooped in, and stood around feeling awkward and embarrassed. A bored lady with her head stuck through a hole in a sheet with a web painted on it, and plastic spider legs clipped round her neck wasn’t my idea of amazing.

And so with vaccine hesitancy. Like Spider Woman, it’s a circus dance; a subterfuge; a sleight — and a very underhand one.

Had I been a behavioural psychologist hired by the government, I would have proposed a different tactic. I would not have been oblique. I would not even have needed the beanie. I would have gone in all guns blazing, declaring all who refused a vaccine to be snivelling, spineless cowards; victims of: aichmophobia, belonephobia, and trypanophobia. People would have been shell-shocked by the barrage of this psychological offensive, and everyone would have just rolled over and rolled up their sleeves.

source www.conservativewoman.co.uk