One of my Facebook friends who lives in New Jersey shared my link to your article. With any luck, it’ll go viral (hee!).
The cognitive dissonance in some of those comments would be funny if the consequences weren’t so serious. Apparently, a case of shingles after a natural case of chickenpox is OK, but getting the vaccine is too risky because you might get shingles! Of course, you might also not get the chickenpox to begin with, but let’s not let facts and logic get in the way of good old fashioned paranoia.
I have to wonder if some of these people honestly believe that Dr. Strangelove is a documentary about the [del]Red Menace[/del] Big Pharma and how it’s going to sap and impurify our precious bodily fluids.
It’s sad that the small contingent of anti-vaxxers are so loud and aggressive about their irrational beliefs, and our reasonable voices are lost in the noise.
For what it’s worth, I shared it on Facebook and Twitter. I won’t comment on the article itself because the comments section is already terrifying, but please know that I think it’s a great article.
I agree with the others saying it’s a great article. I made a comment in the section but it’s more on the order of, you stupid idiots, stop being so stupid and vaccinate your damn kids already so I doubt I’ll sway any minds.
Great article! And a nice bit of fighting ignorance on the side, getting published, next to you real job fighting ignorance here on the Dope
Seriously, hats off to you for staying cool with all those crazy comments too! I was going to jump in there, but where to start?! I might work up some steam for ignorance fighting later…
I have to agree with the comments about you keeping your cool** Lavender**. Well done. I thought PITA had some nuts for members, but that Anti-vaccination crowd is beats them hands down.
The level of ignorance and delusion in the comments on your article is pretty shocking. I really think that the only thing will knock sense into the anti-vaxxers will be when there is a major outbreak of a deadly disease and many of their children die.
But hopefully this article will motivate some of the reasonable people out there who might not have bothered to vaccinate to go ahead with it.
The only problem with that is that the correction would take the form of killing their mostly unknowing children and the immuno-compromised children of vaccinators. It’s a solution but a more cold-blooded one that takes its vengeance on the offspring, not the criminals.
“How does the Pharmaceutical company make money if their vaccines are so effective?”
Big Pharma profits because their vaccines make everyone chronically ill so they have to buy lots of pharma drugs which make them even more sick, so they buy more pharma drugs, and, well, duh. :eek::(:mad:
I know people who contracted chicken pox in high school, and one person who got it as an adult. Not a good situation for any of them. (This was, I believe, prior to the introduction of the vaccine.) And shingles, which is something people can get years after chicken pox, is a ghastly experience.
I commend you for doing this, and doing it well. I read a few of the comments with the intent of weighing in, but that’s going to have to wait until I calm down a bit. Those folks are crazy.
Right at the beginning I thought of joining in. But when I checked back later I figured it would be like trying to explain advanced calculus to a two year old. There’s nothing anyone can say that’s going to change their very unscientific minds. I’m off to have another peek: just for laughs.
Has anyone linked to the Jenny McCarthy Body Count in the comments yet? I’m probably not going to, since my head would explode from reading them, so anyone who wants to, feel free.
I spent over four hours arguing with them yesterday. In protest my brain handed me a nightmare last night involving Jenny McCarthy and the Giant Botox Needles of Death. I wasn’t writing to convince the loons but to attempt to speak to any potential on-the-fencers. It’s really hard to do that without sliding into snark.
Cat Whisperer,
The Jenny McCarthy Body Count site linked to the article on their Facebook page. I am sooo proud!
Just don’t read the comments, if you value your sanity.
:eek::(:mad:
