I’m sorry, but if you know of the Skeptic Zone podcast? You’ll know how both insulting and yet hilarious this is. This is a screenshot from an anti-vaccination group, who are bitter that there’s a parody of the AVN on Facebook.
Many thanks to Dave the Happy Singer, who alerted us with “#StopAVN are the good guys trying to Stop The (woowoo) AVN. ‘Stop the AVN EXPOSED’ is a backfiring counter-offensive by the AVN.”
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
The fact that this keep getting used makes it even more ludicrous. I mean, really. I blogged about it on 20-07-09. http://scepticsbook.com/2009/07/20/i-is-meryl-dorey/. Does someone not know how 2internetz?
I wish I knew what this was about (other than the photo of course) . I hate Twitter
Google doesn’t know anything about “StopAVNExposed”.
Once upon a time in Australia, there was a horrible, horrible group who called themselves the Australian Vaccination Network or the ‘AVN’.
Unlike their rather sensible and science-forward-sounding name, they were actually all about telling parents and communities that vaccinations gave kids autism and poisoned them. With cheerful (and bordering on the demented) dedication, they gave misleading advice in parenting magazines, radio shows and essentially anywhere they could snap up an audience.
Because of their name, many media groups in their country thought they had some kind of authority behind their claims and would often consult them in an effort to create ‘balance’. They even had groups book them to do lectures, as they posed as health advisory experts and sincerely drew upon sciencey-sounding claims that were also touted by people overseas with similar goals to them. Some of those overseas people used terms like ‘mother’s intuition’ on popular daytime programming, and had famous boyfriends who gave them insane amounts of money to keep them shining the smiles that you might have also recognised as featuring in the sealed internal pages of exclusive gentlemen’s publications.
Well, at least you might have recognised them, if you weren’t busy reading said publications for the articles only. Or looking at other parts of their body than their face. We don’t judge.
The head of their group was Meryl Dorey and despite the ease that many Australian skeptics had with making fun of her, there was always the gruesome reality that this was much like the James Randi ‘unsinkable rubber duck’. Worst of all, Dorey and her followers treated with intense cruelty those who tried to question them, especially if they were lone families or individuals.
One such case was the tragic death of a little baby. The AVN claimed that it wasn’t because whooping cough rates rising due to lowered vaccination rates in their region as a result of their intense campaigning – and in fact, shouldn’t the parents of the dead child make the autopsy records available to them on demand so it can be dragged through the mud even further for their ends?
Because of the blogging efforts and podcast of a few, the picture of one of the female skeptics who very much challenged Ms Dorey became more and more popular on search terms, because it was linked to blog posts about Ms Dorey. Over time, the picture of this female skeptic began to supplant more and more official photos – until all you could really find online was the picture of the skeptic.
It then came to pass that a ‘joking’ Facebook page was made, started by a few Sydney Skeptics – which was called ‘AVN’. It continually broadcasted ludicrous messages such as ‘King Kong wasn’t vaccinated, and because that was okay for huge apes, you should save your children from developing a prehensile tail by not giving them H1N1 vaccinations!!’.
Then one day, it was attacked by a brand-new Facebook group.
That brand-new Facebook group was by the REAL AVN, and they dedicated hours to tracking down as many Australian skeptics on Facebook, such as certain female podcasters, her team-mates and and supporters, and posted them on a very special photo-page to be ominously ‘targeted in the future’.
Much hilarity and laughter ensued, as they posted a link to Meryl’s future lecture tour, that featured a large photo of the female skeptic podcaster – because they assumed that the Google Pictures result for ‘Meryl Dorey’ was accurate.
The REAL AVN didn’t last very long, as the ‘report’ button was prominent and featured in a handy bottom-left corner. However, a great many screencaps were captured for prosperity. By the end of the day, a little bit of humor lightened up the Tweetstreams – and at least it didn’t involve any female skeptics getting parts of their bodies out to prove some vague point that wasn’t really well thought out in the first place.
Nobody lived particularly happily ever after, but at least Dave the Happy Singer has a brand-new nickname that he’ll probably incorporate into one of his popular improvisational songs that he does at Sydney Skeptic gatherings.
The End.
“and at least it didn’t involve any female skeptics getting parts of their bodies out to prove some vague point that wasn’t really well thought out in the first place.”
Well no wonder I missed it.
There seems to be absolutely no archival evidence of the existence of StopAVNExposed. In fact, your article here is it. When did it all happen? Where are all these unboobed screenshots? Where’s the ridicule?
On Boobquake, I heard a promo for it on ABC Radio last weekend but missed the item. If nothing else, it had “cut through” as they call it in advertising circles. Sure it had its knockers and cleaved the “sceptic community” some of whom were lifted while others felt separated as the media milked the story – but at least no puppies were hurt in the experiment.
Oh that is TOO wonderful/strange. I love the fairy-tale quality of your story Kylie.
“Stop the AVN Exposed” is a facebook group that was apparently created last Thursday or Friday, started public, then disappeared, then appeared again, then disappeared again, so I’m not surprised that Google hasn’t found it . You can’t really tell when it will be available, but it seems to be made secret by the creator every night, then opened up again in the morning, presumably so that they can actively monitor the page and delete comments from people they don’t like.
SAVNE exposed is apparently dedicated to upholding the free speech that they say is being threatened by skeptics, so to that end they are internet stalking members of “Stop the AVN” (another Facebook Group) and collecting all sorts of publicly available information, comments, facebook profiles, tweets and the like, and, um, making it public, along with unflattering commentary.
Thanks Coran, now I feel like I’m part of the internet again.
Stop AVN Exposed is hilarious, for the most part, but they have displayed a willingness to be genuinely malicious. For instance, they appear to have posted what they think is my mobile phone number with the imprecation “call me”!
It’s not my phone number, needless to say, but they seem to be quite willing to cross the line between harvesting of public information and genuine scary stalker shit.
I’m flattered, though, that they think I’m such a danger to them. It means the message is getting across – We’re not stopping until the organisation known as the AVN is extirpated.
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