Take the case of a prominent fitness trainer and anti-vax influencer in Toronto who calls herself “Glowing Mama.” The trainer became obsessed with the vaccine shedding theory, claiming she was “bleeding between [her] period” because people around her had been vaccinated. In a video that went viral for all the wrong reasons, Glowing Mama brought herself to tears as she raged about how her daughter’s grandparents, who had been vaccinated, wanted to hold their granddaughter, clearly indifferent to the risks they posed to both the child and to her. “They are sterilizing an entire generation of people,” she said between sobs. She could not believe the selfishness of these older people, who had “one foot in the grave”—selfish for getting vaccinated and still expecting to have a loving relationship with their granddaughter.

XREF: Connects to broader research on misinformation and conspiracy theories fracturing interpersonal relationships. SEED: Material for an essay on how disinformation weaponizes existing identity boundaries like age and family roles.

Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, loc. 104