Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has committed the unforgivable sin of refusing to coast on family legacy, threatening every institution that benefits from the comfort and prestige that comes with legacy. His work at Children’s Health Defense and his book, The Real Anthony Fauci, have forced many people to revisit their assumptions about these institutions. That’s a problem for the people and institutions that need to keep those assumptions alive to stay comfortably afloat.
When it comes to longstanding reputations that garner influence, questions are bad. Scrutiny is worse.
So RFK Jr. must be stopped before the public starts asking too many questions about Anthony Fauci, the CDC, FDA, our trusted government, our prestigious educational institutions and anyone else we may regularly be deferring to.
According to NY Times senior writer Adam Nagourney, Kennedy’s primary offense is that he “has effectively used his talent and one of the most prominent names in American political history as a platform for fueling resistance to vaccines that could save countless lives.” So, basically, his name and reputation lends credibility to a medical freedom movement that is perceived as a threat.
You can read the NY Times article here. (I couldn’t get past the paywall and had to look up the title to read it somewhere else.)
But as a hit piece something is amiss. Or perhaps, this piece reveals what is increasingly true of hit pieces of late. For whatever reason, Nagourney never gets around to addressing Kennedy’s work or his claims. His real crime always seems to be bumping up against the unassailable “fact” that “vaccines save lives.” Every piece that ultimately winds up as an ad hominem attack on so-called “anti-vaxxers” rests atop the "safe and effective” orthodoxy that never gets challenged.
In some ways, the NY Times article is an admission. Kennedy, the story acknowledges, is a great brother, a brilliant attorney, a dedicated environmentalist and sincere in his activism. He has overcome personal tragedy and addiction. He has listened to mothers of vaccine-injured children. Unfortunately, it’s been “heartbreaking” for family members and others to see him take a position on vaccine safety and mandates that is different from theirs.
The article highlights the dismay of family and friends, but pay attention to another portrait that emerges. From the article:
Mark Green, the former New York public advocate who worked with Kennedy on environmental issues, said that while Kennedy’s interests had changed, “one consistent thing from the ’70s to now is his self-confidence, his intensity, and sincerity.”
From his sister, Kerry Kennedy:
“He was an extraordinary older brother,” she said the other day. “He’s brilliant, he’s well read, he cares deeply, he is extremely charismatic. He has a childlike buoyancy and lightness to him. He’s a beautiful person in a million different ways.
Nagourney notes:
The swerve in Kennedy’s career, from the environment to vaccines, is particularly startling because, for many family members and other Kennedy associates, Robert Kennedy Jr. is the sibling who most recalls the level of charisma and political appeal of his late father.
And the sentiment is echoed here:
Blake Fleetwood, a writer who calls Kennedy “an inspiration” and has been a friend and skiing companion since 1971, said he could not understand why Kennedy was “risking his whole life” of activism by “taking on this crusade.”
“Why is he blowing his whole life’s work?” he asked.
That last question is the question I wish more people would ask in earnest. Because I think the answer lies with some of those he admires most.
Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that yields most painfully to change.
– Robert F. Kennedy
On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right?
There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right."
It's weird how much the NY Times hates moral courage.
Here's an alternative link to Nagourney's article. https://patabook.com/news/2022/02/27/a-kennedys-crusade-against-covid-vaccines-anguishes-family-and-friends/