Pluralistic: Anti-vax/anti-trust (09 Sep 2026)

Blog · Watch/Read · (gathered 2026-09-10)

• Cory Doctorow argues that both anti-vax sentiment and the dismantling of anti-trust laws arise from the same issue: their respective solutions (vaccines and anti-monopoly enforcement) worked “too well,” causing society to forget the severe harms they prevented and making people susceptible to profitable doubt.
• The difficulty in reasoning about “attenuated, multifactorial causal relationships” allows “death merchants” (like tobacco lobbyists or monopolists) to exploit public ignorance and sow doubt when cause-and-effect is not immediate or simple.
• The rise of monopolies leads to “regulatory capture,” where concentrated industries use their wealth to corrupt government, causing it to fail citizens and further erode public trust in institutions.
• We are urged to “remember” the historical lessons of both devastating diseases and unchecked oligarchic power, as our ancestors successfully tamed robber barons, demonstrating that these seemingly omnipotent problems are fixable.