The conversation about vaccines is not traditional. Ethan Lindenberger implies several times that he is “just a normal kid” who has “turned into a public narrative.” His journey stems from the fact that he wanted to get vaccinated against conditions such as polio, measles, flu, HPV, hepatitis, and so on. Yet his mother opposed this because “she was misinformed and misled by sources who convinced her that if she were a loving parent, she would not vaccinate.”
Never disrespecting his mother, Ethan Lindenberger shared his desire to be sure of these circumstances on Reddit, where his story quickly gained traction and he found himself in the middle of an extremely important and relevant controversy. During his talk on vaccines, the high school student shares his thoughts on criticism, how “it leads to doubt,” then to questioning, and finally to quitting. He also shares what consequences this can have for young people.
Ethan Lindenberger put the power of social media to the test: he presented at a Senate hearing, influenced companies and was even invited to a TED talk. His post on Reddit motivated Amazon to remove misinformed books about autism and vaccines from its e-commerce website and GoFundMe to cancel anti-vax campaigns on its platform.
Nathan’s message during his speech on vaccines, coming from a very sincere place, is that “people resonate with people” and not with the data – which we can share and grow based on personal stories.
