In 2021, the anti-vax dating site, Unjected, appeared on the scene. Between Unjected's conservative marketing campaigns, which leans conspiratorial and bigoted, and its partnership with supplements company, The Wellness Company, Derek breaks down why this appears to be the emergence of anti-vax lifestyle brands—a trend he believes is only going to grow in the coming years.
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Show Notes
Anti-vax dating site exposed data for 3,500 users through ‘debug mode’ bug
Maui emergency services head, who met criticism for not using sirens during wildfire, resigns
In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged a barricade survived
Exclusive Interview: The founder of Unjected, a dating site for the unvaxxed, talks about why it's still growing after getting kicked off the App Store
MAGA Influencers Are Sold on This Grifty Wellness Company
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Hey everyone, welcome to a Conspiratuality Patreon bonus episode.
I'm Derek Barris, and as always, we appreciate your support to help us stay independent media creators and continue on this interesting journey we've been on for the last three and a half years.
Today I want to look at the emergence of the anti-vax lifestyle brands because they are certainly here.
In 2021, the anti-vax dating website Unjected appeared on the scene.
Now, I noticed it back then, but I filed it under the general category of grifting from anti-vax sentiments.
We've been covering it for a while.
It's been happening for much longer.
So I just kind of put it in the back of my brain.
Now to be clear, unjected does actually serve a function.
I'm pretty sure many anti-vaxxers want to find other anti-vaxxers.
I can say anecdotally we've heard from listeners who have lost spouses because their significant other was MAGA or anti-vax.
It has broken up families.
There are people who no longer talk to family members over this topic so I understand the impetus for starting something like Unjected.
It was inevitable.
But I'm covering it now for three reasons.
First, there's this conspiratorial thinking that's part of Unjected's marketing campaign, and it extends well beyond pharmaceuticals into things like directed energy weapons and, of course, anti-trans bigotry.
Second, Unjected's partnership with Telehealth and Supplements Grifters, the wellness company, is forming what I believe to be an anti-vax lifestyle brand.
So I'll talk about wellness company a little bit toward the end.
And then finally, My wife and I just watched The Insurrectionist Next Door on Thanksgiving.
Interesting Thanksgiving choice, but it was on and we both wanted to see it.
And while watching it, something similar clicked about what happens with Both Unjected's co-founder and about the people who use that website.
So as you're going to hear in a little bit, the co-founder doesn't engage in politics or watch the news.
At one point in this interview that I clipped, she even says that she believes Unjected users don't believe in politics.
Not really sure how that happens, but that is an actual statement.
Now, the movie, the documentary, The Insurrectionist Next Door was made by Alexandra Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi's daughter, and she spent years traveling into the homes and to the jobs and to the courthouses with January 6th insurrectionists as they went through their legal troubles.
Now many of these people wanted to harm her mother.
And it's a very fascinating film.
I'm not going to review it, but I do recommend it.
And what jumped out at me in the context of this bonus was how many of the people that she talked to said that they don't follow politics or they don't pay attention to the news.
Now, it's not like this doesn't affect liberals.
I mean, if you've been with conspirituality since the beginning, we were focused a lot on wellness people who were often liberal or progressive and their journey over into conspiracy theories.
I mean, that's where we started here.
But it's worth tracking how often people who are checked out of American politics inevitably turn right and conspiratorial.
They make political statements, either in their words or actions, but they admit they don't have any understanding of how the system actually works.
And I think all of this is worth tracking because I believe we're going to see more niche lifestyle brands being formed in the coming years around these topics.
So today I want to look at some of the rhetoric and misinformation that's being spread by Unjected, but also try to understand its broader impact in anti-vax communities.
Unjected was founded, as I said in 2021, by a photographer named Shelby Hosanna Thompson, Now, on her handles, she refers to herself sometimes as Shelby Thompson or Shelby Hosanna.
It switches.
I'm going to be referring to her as Thompson moving forward.
The other founder was Heather Pyle, who was a spa manager, and her web presence is rather minimal, so I'm not going to be discussing her.
She doesn't seem to do much press for Unjected.
I don't know if she's still involved or not.
It appears to be, but Shelby Thompson is really the person out in front here.
Both women live on Maui, which plays an important role in this story.
According to Thompson, she claims to have suffered a, quote, myriad of heart conditions for several years after receiving what she calls an experimental Gardasil HPV vaccine, and that's sort of the origin story on Unjected's website.
Now this was launched in 2021, as I said, and Thompson was 27 at the time.
She said she had the shot over a decade ago, so that puts us back to 2010 or earlier.
Gardasil was approved for women aged 9 to 26 in 2006 in America.
By 2011, it had been approved for use in 120 other countries.
I'm going to guess that Thompson wasn't vaccinated before it was federally approved, so I'm not sure where the experimental part comes from, but I'm gonna guess it's to try to make a connection with a common trope about mRNA vaccines, and I'll leave it at that with that speculation.
