Having The Talk with vaccine-skeptical loved ones
 THE BIG STORY We asked, you answered: Here's how people are convincing skeptical loved ones to get the vaccine.
We received almost 170 responses from people who opened up about deeply personal and emotional conversations they had with family members and friends. In subsequent interviews, respondents said they tried listening in good faith to people's fears and concerns and responding in kind. They tried debunking the misinformation that was spreading on social media.
But then they got creative — and it worked.
One of the most common tactics was also one of the harshest: withholding grandchildren. Several readers said they would refuse to visit loved ones until they were all vaccinated. For others, potentially missing a big family event like a wedding or funeral was the straw that broke the vaccine-skeptic camel's back.
"He wasn't going to listen to any arguments about anything else," said Paloma, whose sister wouldn't let their unvaccinated 66-year-old father see his twin 5-year-old grandkids. "I think it's just easier to understand: You get to see the kids if you're vaccinated; you don't get to see them if you're not vaccinated. There's no back-and-forth."
In the end, many readers said the most effective way to break through to those dear to them was much simpler: love.
"She caved because we asked her to do it for us, to give her the opportunity to live maybe longer, to do it for love," said 32-year-old Rox, whose mother has long avoided vaccines. "That's what we believed in."  Kiersten Essenpreis for BuzzFeed News STAYING ON TOP OF THIS India's leaders are scrambling to censor the internet as the country is gripped by a deadly second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
As unrest against an increasingly authoritarian government grows, it has cracked down on social media, one of the last free spaces remaining for citizens to express their opinions. New regulations have given the government broad powers to restrict content, forcing US tech platforms, which count India as a key market, to strike a balance between growth and free expression.
Last week, India's IT ministry ordered Twitter to block more than 50 tweets from being seen in the country. Days later, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Times of India reported that Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube had also taken down posts that were critical of the government. Over the last week, ordinary people running WhatsApp and Telegram groups to help people find medical oxygen and hospital beds have complained of threats demanding that they shut them down.
On Wednesday, posts with the hashtag #ResignModi disappeared from Facebook for a few hours. And even though the company restored it and claimed that the Indian government didn't ask for it to be censored, it didn't provide details about why the hashtag had been blocked.
"There is an increase in the frequency and scale of the censorship that is being demanded," Apar Gupta, director of digital rights organization Internet Freedom Foundation, told BuzzFeed News. "India's current internet censorship ties directly into social criticism of the government's policies." SNAPSHOTS These 44 headlines about Kate Middleton show how the UK press backed off after she married Prince William. A review of thousands of articles from the 16 years since Prince William and Kate's relationship became public shows that constant abuse and harassment from the press gave way to praise — once Meghan Markle became a royal.
Reese Witherspoon got real about how the media labeled her "good" in the early 2000s but Britney Spears and Paris Hilton "bad." In the interview with Time, Witherspoon acknowledged that her reputation might look completely different today had the media decided she was "something else" and switched the way they wrote about her.
YOU NEED TO SEE THIS ENORMOUS DUCK Everyone is talking about this absolute unit of a duck called "Long Boi."
The duck has been popular for a few years around his home of York University, but is getting newfound attention after someone posted a photo on Twitter. The duck is so well liked that two biology students run an Instagram page for Long Boi. They told BuzzFeed News they created the account after seeing him around on campus and feeding him for a while.
Long Boi lives free range on the campus, with all the other waterfowl. The students said the university has a dedicated grounds team that makes sure that all the ducks and geese are healthy and well fed.
"Then we also have a big student population that like to feed the birds. ... Our campus shop even stocks birdseed. We really do love our ducks here at York," they said.
Same 😍  "Follow your arrow wherever it points" — Kacey Musgraves
Brandon (filling in for Elamin this week) 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
👉 Your support of BuzzFeed's journalism does not constitute a charitable donation, and your contribution is not eligible for a tax-deduction. This is part of an effort to explore a deeper relationship with our most active supporters. BuzzFeed, Inc. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Post a Comment