I joined the panic yesterday and got a mind control flu shot in my left deltoid. The vaccination was followed next morning by a stiff, aching left shoulder and a mildly sore throat — not the flu itself, but the body’s own mild reaction to inactive viruses as it builds up antibodies. The aches and pains swiftly departed as I went about my morning chores.

LaRush’s archived flu shot woes come out near the top of Google’s search results for “flu shot mind control,” attracting comments from conspiracy theorists, ALLCAPS SHOUTERS, and 13 year old posters. Scroll down to the bottom, where I leave a quick response explaining the source of all the “woowoo” comments. Immediately after, I am pejoratively labeled a “woowoo” myself by someone linking to Prophecy and Preparedness.

What’s a “woowoo,” you ask? I first noticed the term on Phil Plait’s “Galileo Will Not Nuke Jupiter” page, and took it as a reference to paranoid conspiracy theorists. The WooWoo Credo lays down guidelines for being an authentic foil-hat internet woowoo. Perhaps the most alarmingly prolific woowoo I’ve seen is Kathaksung, who has obsessively cross-posted an encyclopedic “dark side of USA” list of government conspiracies to dozens of message boards and mailing lists, including PEX.

Beware the Black Helicopters.