ABSTRACT
Over the last twenty years, many countries, including Europe and the US, have witnessed the rise of a populist political discourse discouraging voters from supporting competent—but allegedly corrupted—politicians in favour of a new wave of inexperienced but ‘pure’ newcomers in the political arena. This attitude of distrusting ‘experts’ has since permeated other social debates, facilitating, justifying, and in some cases even generating anti-scientific positions in large sections of the population, who find themselves increasingly exposed to the risks of disinformation. Healthcare-related topics have been particularly affected by this problem, as demonstrated in recent years by the heated controversies on childhood vaccinations. This chapter presents an exploratory analysis of the main themes emerging from anti-vaxxers’ Facebook comments in Italy and of the general tone of language employed by prominent populist political leaders. It concludes that distrust of experts represents common ground in both cases, becoming a dangerous trend in contemporary society, threatening health hazards and tampering with people’s awareness about established scientific facts.
