You remember that movie The Happening
The one where nature was trying to get us to kill ourselves?
Doesn’t seem as silly today.
If they’re Catholics someone should tell them that Pope Francis says the vaccines are totally OK to use.
Not that American Catholics are known for obeying the Pope…
Anti-vaxxers now threaten people, such as parents who lost children to viral diseases.
Link: https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/19/health/anti-vax-harassment-eprise/index.html
Anti-vaxxers are not very rational.
As I mentioned before, anti-vaxers are not rational. And they simply are not nice people. Given today’s technology, today’s education, today’s access to information, there is only one excuse for their stance: they want to be irrational and dangerous. Actually, I now think it’s the latter part that is their raison d’être. This is the battleground they’ve chosen to make their mark on the world. As the body count increases of those who’ve died from preventable diseases, they will continue to smugly recite their mantras, one of which is “But many more would be at risk from the vaccines; many more would die” and the other is “But we have prevented people from getting autism”.
No, they are not nice people.
The anti-vaxxers described above are absolutely despicable people. But let’s not lose perspective. Most anti-vaxxers would be appalled by that behavior, and I have no doubt there are despicable pro-vaxxers who troll parents whose unvaccinated children die.
There is more than enough things to criticize them for without painting all of them with the “evil” brush.
But now they’re going from ignorant scum who cause kids to die, to aggressive scum who threaten those whose kids died. That is going way beyond the self-righteous “wake up, sheeple” position that we were used to from most, so, what gives? What is radicalizing that fringe?
Show me on their websites where most anti-vaxxers are appalled by this behavior. Show me on their websites where they are condemned and kicked out. Show me on their websites where the majority of them say, without equivocation, “This is not us, and we condemn this behavior.”
Their websites are hardly representative of the typical antivaxxer. I see plenty of them around in day to day life, and they are ignorant, stubborn, horribly misguided, but not generally evil.
Bullshit-Those websites are where they congregate and associate, where they get their information and look for support. If it weren’t for those websites a large number of them wouldn’t exist today. If most of the anti-vaxxers found the actions of those assholes to be deplorable, those websites would reflect that attitude.
I like that article.
Don’t listen to science. Don’t listen to other christians. Don’t even listen to your own pastor.
Listen to me, a random crank on the internet.
That’s not quite true. The article defines religious exemptions as
However, most states don’t restrict religious objections to the tenets of an organized religion. The article says there are churches that rely on faith-healing that do prohibit vaccinations, and that Christian Science forbids vaccinations as well. And, of course, there are subgroups within organized religions that object.
I agree that a lot of people use the religious exemption when their states have no provision for philosophical objection. Personally, I’d like to see all but bona fide medical exemptions eliminated. Just because your kid is Christian Scientist doesn’t make the measles he’s spreading any less dangerous.
This is why it is taking longer than we thought.
I wonder if the author of that article limits her medical treatment to only that known at Biblical times.
Well, evidently all you need to protect yourself is the scripture.
So how far are they willing to take this? No anesthesia (although since they’re not going to have surgery, that should not be a problem), no painkillers, no antibiotics and no condoms. Plus your doctor or “healer” won’t need any soap or hand sanitizer.
Homeopath also, natch. Also apparently censors comments she doesn’t like, probably many with real science.
Hope she gets the measles. A really bad case.
When it comes to social media, The Atlantic points out, there aren’t as many anti-vaxxers as it seems:
And here’s an excellent article that looks at the big money that motivates anti-vaxxer "experts."There’s an incredible amount of gold in them thar hills. For instance, Kelly Brogan, MD charges $4,997 for an appointment. Or, for those who find that a bit steep, a 44-day Internet course for only $997. What a bargain!
Follow the money trail.
They’ve become very efficient at spreading their bile and coordinating attacks on pro-immunization pages and medical practices, as one pediatrics group in Pittsburgh found out when they posted a video on their Facebook page urging parents to have their kids vaccinated against HPV. The rapid response included a flood of vile comments and negative ratings on physician rating sites.
*Instead of enduring the abuse, Kids Plus fought back, tracking comments and turning its Facebook page data to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.
What they found, in a study released Thursday in the journal Vaccine, is that most commenters weren’t from Pittsburgh at all but were from across the United States and around the world. Only five were from Pennsylvania. Within eight days, the page was flooded with 10,000 negative comments from about 800 commenters. Some messages were threatening, such as “You’ll burn in hell for killing babies.” Others were conspiratorial, such as “You have been brainwashed,” the doctors said.*
Antivaxers have also been known to go after grieving parents on social media:
Interesting info on Kelly Brogan. I wonder how much money other antivax docs/practitioners make from consults, speaking appearances, book sales etc.
I don’t know how much money prominent anti-vaxxers make, but Andrew Wakefield’s anti-vaxx stance was motivated by money: he wanted to develop a “replacement vaccine” for MMR He also planned to sell test kits for his fictive condition, autistic enteropy:
Not only that, but
He did not, of course, disclose that last bit when he published his infamous vaccine study in Lancet.
So the anti-vaxx movement was originated by a guy hoping to get rich off it.
Cite.
/Oh, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who owns the anti-science company “goop,” has business ties with Kelly Brogan. Goop makes millions for Paltrow, who’s urged, among other dubious practices, that women insert a jade egg into their vaginas for their “sexual health.” Numerous docs have warned women that the practice can cause infections, etc., but it hasn’t stopped Paltrow from selling the jade eggs for $70 a pop.