An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: 0marTheZealot
The problem with vaccinations is that they were too effective. They've erased an entire generation's memory of the debilitating childhood diseases. Now, parents only see the shot and some random asshole on TV saying that vaccines cause autism. If they could see the ravages that measles, mumps, rubella, and whooping cough can inflict, they'd be running over each other to get their kids vaccinated. The law has to be uncompromising in this regard. The point of vaccinations is that the virus/bacteria has no natural reservoir (eg us) to lie in. This is why vaccinations are important. Below a threshold, you might as well vaccinate no one because the infection will have a foothold and be able to mutate and evade the vaccinations.

And that's the sad part.

"Gee, the model on TV, with nothing more than a lot of Internet reading under her belt, said something that contradicts what scientists and doctors, with years of undergrad and graduate level education, are saying. Oh but she's on TV talking, so she must be right. Down with vaccinations!"



Time for a new ad campaign:
"Men, vaccinations will make your dick longer and thicker. Women, it'll make your breasts larger, and prevent cellulite. (Warning: The previous statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.) As a bonus, they'll also greatly reduce the spread of disease."



The other point is quite relevant in many cases - our short memory, and how a lot is lost with each generation. If grandpa says "don't shoot yourself in the foot," you'll probably forget it, until a bullet you fired is cheerfully tunneling through your foot.
And invariably, yes, some of the past needs to be lost, otherwise we'd spend our entire lives just learning history, and we'd still not get everything. The lessons of the past need to be distilled down to a form which can be learned in a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, it's not always easy to remember the right things at the right time.

And other times, the important stuff is simply overwritten by new information, overshadowed by emotion of the moment, regardless of how valid the information truly is.

There's also the need to feel in control. If autism is genetic, that's nothing you can control. If it's a vaccination, then that's something you can control, and even if the damage is done, I think that it's more comforting for a lot of people if they can say "I did this, it's my fault this happened" than to say "I was never in control."


Ok, enough of this terse-yet-verbose, random rant...

 

[PingSpike]

Every person I've personally met that has been an anti-vaccine idiot was a retarded hippie into alternative medical bullshit and things like breast feeding a kid until they're 17 and building swing sets made out of bamboo. I find the weakly supported attempt in the OP to blame it on the jesus freaks distracting from the main topic.

Some one else said it: We are dealing with a culture of people that have grown up after the crushing effects of common childhood illness were mostly eliminated. Polio was a terror right before Salk developed the vaccine. The man was a god damn national (world?) hero for his efforts. Without having seen the awful other side first hand, many younger people simply do not understand what a good trade off vaccines have been.

 

[DealMonkey]

You guys are completely missing my point. In my OP, I simply pointed out some instances of ignorance in our society. I wasn't necessarily conflating the anti-evolutionists, the anti-sex ed bible thumpers and so on with the anti-vaccination igoramuses, and in fact, during the course of this thread it's been pointed out (by myself as well) that this growing movement crosses all party lines.

And yet, even though this anti-vaccination movement consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, all of these movements are all examples of ignorant decision-making; people making huge illogical leaps of faith, and failing to see what truly works because they're too blinded by their ignorance.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
You guys are completely missing my point. In my OP, I simply pointed out some instances of ignorance in our society. I wasn't necessarily conflating the anti-evolutionists, the anti-sex ed bible thumpers and so on with the anti-vaccination igoramuses, and in fact, during the course of this thread it's been pointed out (by myself as well) that this growing movement crosses all party lines.

And yet, even though this anti-vaccination movement consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, all of these movements are all examples of ignorant decision-making; people making huge illogical leaps of faith, and failing to see what truly works because they're too blinded by their ignorance.

I get it now, people who don't think like you are ignorant. Hmmm ... where have I heard that before.

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: woodie1

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
You guys are completely missing my point. In my OP, I simply pointed out some instances of ignorance in our society. I wasn't necessarily conflating the anti-evolutionists, the anti-sex ed bible thumpers and so on with the anti-vaccination igoramuses, and in fact, during the course of this thread it's been pointed out (by myself as well) that this growing movement crosses all party lines.

And yet, even though this anti-vaccination movement consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, all of these movements are all examples of ignorant decision-making; people making huge illogical leaps of faith, and failing to see what truly works because they're too blinded by their ignorance.

I get it now, people who don't think like you are ignorant. Hmmm ... where have I heard that before.

Please then, enlighten us just how each of the following is not the ignorant position:

1.) I ignore a mountain of evidence supporting evolution, and dozens of break-through discoveries every year that demonstrate evolution, because I believe Jesus poofed us into existence in 7 days, 6000 years ago.

2.) I don't want my kids learning about sex at school. Meanwhile abstinence-only programs are a miserable failure and study after study shows that comprehensive sex ed is the most effective method of keeping kids from getting pregnant and/or getting STD's. But please, let's keep our kids ignorant and hope for the best!

3.) I believe vaccinations are the cause of autism. Meanwhile, a mountain of scientific evidence indicates there is zero connection, and there's never been any evidence of a connection, ever. But I believe it because it seems like it might be true.

These instances are ALL cases of ignorance driving failed ideas. So show us otherwise, oh wise one. Seems to me, you've got your panties in a wad, because these are probably your default positions and you're just pissed that I'm pointing out exactly how stupid they really are.

 

[woodie1]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: woodie1

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
You guys are completely missing my point. In my OP, I simply pointed out some instances of ignorance in our society. I wasn't necessarily conflating the anti-evolutionists, the anti-sex ed bible thumpers and so on with the anti-vaccination igoramuses, and in fact, during the course of this thread it's been pointed out (by myself as well) that this growing movement crosses all party lines.

And yet, even though this anti-vaccination movement consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, all of these movements are all examples of ignorant decision-making; people making huge illogical leaps of faith, and failing to see what truly works because they're too blinded by their ignorance.

I get it now, people who don't think like you are ignorant. Hmmm ... where have I heard that before.

Please then, enlighten us just how each of the following is not the ignorant position:

1.) I ignore a mountain of evidence supporting evolution, and dozens of break-through discoveries every year that demonstrate evolution, because I believe Jesus poofed us into existence in 7 days, 6000 years ago.

2.) I don't want my kids learning about sex at school. Meanwhile abstinence-only programs are a miserable failure and study after study shows that comprehensive sex ed is the most effective method of keeping kids from getting pregnant and/or getting STD's. But please, let's keep our kids ignorant and hope for the best!

3.) I believe vaccinations are the cause of autism. Meanwhile, a mountain of scientific evidence indicates there is zero connection, and there's never been any evidence of a connection, ever. But I believe it because it seems like it might be true.

These instances are ALL cases of ignorance driving failed ideas. So show us otherwise, oh wise one. Seems to me, you've got your panties in a wad, because these are probably your default positions and you're just pissed that I'm pointing out exactly how stupid they really are.

Nice try -

 

[DealMonkey]

Originally posted by: woodie1

Originally posted by: DealMonkey

Originally posted by: woodie1

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
You guys are completely missing my point. In my OP, I simply pointed out some instances of ignorance in our society. I wasn't necessarily conflating the anti-evolutionists, the anti-sex ed bible thumpers and so on with the anti-vaccination igoramuses, and in fact, during the course of this thread it's been pointed out (by myself as well) that this growing movement crosses all party lines.

And yet, even though this anti-vaccination movement consists of Democrats, Independents and Republicans alike, all of these movements are all examples of ignorant decision-making; people making huge illogical leaps of faith, and failing to see what truly works because they're too blinded by their ignorance.

I get it now, people who don't think like you are ignorant. Hmmm ... where have I heard that before.

Please then, enlighten us just how each of the following is not the ignorant position:

1.) I ignore a mountain of evidence supporting evolution, and dozens of break-through discoveries every year that demonstrate evolution, because I believe Jesus poofed us into existence in 7 days, 6000 years ago.

2.) I don't want my kids learning about sex at school. Meanwhile abstinence-only programs are a miserable failure and study after study shows that comprehensive sex ed is the most effective method of keeping kids from getting pregnant and/or getting STD's. But please, let's keep our kids ignorant and hope for the best!

3.) I believe vaccinations are the cause of autism. Meanwhile, a mountain of scientific evidence indicates there is zero connection, and there's never been any evidence of a connection, ever. But I believe it because it seems like it might be true.

These instances are ALL cases of ignorance driving failed ideas. So show us otherwise, oh wise one. Seems to me, you've got your panties in a wad, because these are probably your default positions and you're just pissed that I'm pointing out exactly how stupid they really are.

Nice try -

Lame response. :thumbsdown: Try harder next time.