I think it’s largely because he presents himself as the epitome of compassion and empathy, for them and their children. He’s fighting for them, and it’s costing him everything he has. What’s the phrase - something like ‘It’s cost him his job, his country, and his reputation’? I’m not sure that’s exact, but it was showing up a lot for while, when his book came out. He’s a master of the emotional appeal, convincing people that he truly only has their interests at heart, and that he’s fighting for the injured children, those who can’t fight for themselves.
His book started with a comparison of autistic children to bombing victims, with a touching image of himself not being able to help those who were fatally wounded by the bomb, so now he refuses to give up on those other terribly injured, the vaccine-damaged children.
I’ve seen him start a speech with a story about a mother of an autistic child, who called him to say that when she dies she’s taking the child with her, because no one else will love or care for him. You could almost see him pulling his audience into his grasp.
I think in a lot of ways he really does believe his own story. I also think he’s convinced himself that whatever he has to do to stay afloat or keep his ‘work’ going is justified because it’s not for him, after all, it’s for the children. The poor, damaged, neglected or ignored children. The ones the medical/pharmaceutical companies just couldn’t care less about.
Yeah, and “Mr. Compassion” is infamous for taking blood samples from kids at Birthday parties and giving his trial kids colonoscopes, lumbar punctures and barium meals. :eek:
By the way, Wakefield has gone the lawsuit route on an earlier occasion:
“Wakefield has taken legal action against Deer before. He sued the journalist, along with Channel 4 and 20/20 productions, over a documentary on MMR in 2004, but later dropped the action and agreed to pay legal costs.”
I wonder if he plans this time to show up for court proceedings draped in an American flag (like the one he’s fondling in his “justice fund” website photo).
The ones (more specifically, their parents) whose cash he hopes to keep collecting now that his legitimate research career is in ruins.
I’d consider him more compassionate if he actually WANTED to find out what contributes to autism, instead of continuing to perpetuate the completely-disproven fraud that he created.
Instead, he manipulates parents who are already struggling with a serious situation by playing on their natural fears, and ratcheting them up until the parents feel beset on all sides by evil. Then he plays the white knight, coming in to slay the demons.
I must disagree. What he deserves is to die a wretched death from an easily preventable disease, while his marks “protect” him from a cure available from Big Pharma. Such is not a remedy available to the courts, however.
I don’t. There’s a reason I used the phrase prophet. The level of cognitive dissonance fans of Wakefield manage to keep up can only be compared to hard core religious nuts
I predict it will become another station of the cross for the “prophit” Wakefield. In instance : “See how far is the reach of Big Pharma. They can have lawsuits against them dismissed !”
This would mean admitting to themselves they were wrong to trust him, and that they have been taken for fools. Many fraud victims never report they have been defrauded for this reason. The more they pay and the greater their emotional investment, the more they don’t want to admit what they have done; to anyone else or themselves.
Blaming autism on vaccination gives the parents a reason for why they don’t have a perfect child, too. A reason that allows them to blame The Medical Establishment, and the parents are Martyrs.