One of the most powerful forces of persuasion is historic analogy. See both sides on the vaccine debate getting their analogies ready. Enthusiasts say this’ll be like smallpox/typhoid. Sceptics say it’ll be like 1976 Swine flu or the infamous 1955 Cutter polio vaccine...

Analogies are instrumental to people’s perceptions. Remember how in the run up to the Iraq War, those who were pro war depicted Saddam as Hitler, whilst those who were against predicted it would another Vietnam. Both comparisons were flawed, but they quickly dominated debate.

This is why any attempt to ban or censor anti vaccine sites is bound to fail. You can censor fake facts but you can’t censor references to history and it is those stories from history which will really prove decisive in the battle for hearts and minds.