The Internet isn’t always a good thing.
Shut up, Jenny McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
These people make me so angry I can hardly even write about them; the anti-vaccination people. The ones who believe, with a deep devoutness, that vaccines cause autism, ADHD, and a host of other allegedly modern syndromes and disorders that, in times past, used to simply be diagnosed as “psychosis” or “idiocy” and treated with Thorazine and regular beatings.
I hate these people. Despite the fact that much larger, better-conducted studies have failed to show any link to autism; despite the fact that ten of the original thirteen doctors who participated in the 1989 study that indicated a connection have withdrawn their support from the study; despite the well-founded allegations that the head researcher behind the study falsified data, these people forge on with a mighty religious fervor, and handily dismiss overwhelming scientific data that vaccinations don’t cause autism with the casual allegation that it’s a giant conspiracy by Big Pharmacy. And, apparently, all the medical research institutions in the world.
“I’ve got a book right here,” they’ll tell you, “Written by a Real Doctor.”
The guy who implanted eight embryos in Nadya Suleman was a Real Doctor too. Do I really need to say more?
Yet they’ll cite their quack-of-the-moment again and again, and when you present multiple independent studies that contradict the quack, they’ll cite him AGAIN, or one just like him. I think they all know each other. “All of these questions are addressed in this book!” they say. And of course the book cites studies, funded by an independent foundation that fully endorses the doctor who wrote the book. In fact, they provide him with a lot of data.
I thought to myself, once, that the next time I encountered one of these deluded morons, I would counter their claim with one even stupider… I would claim that vaccinations cause depression! After all, there can’t be as much money in vaccinations as there would be in selling existing medicines to treat these diseases if they were still running rampant, but depression is a multi-billion-dollar industry… at least that way there’s motive, beyond some Machiavellian medical industry plot to give one in every 150 children Autism. It turns out, they’ve already thought about that.
Maybe cancer? That’s a pretty stupid allegation. But oh god, say it ain’t so! Noooooooo!
No matter how completely insane the allegation, no matter how much evidence there is against it, some crackpot with a website and a product to sell already believes it and wants you to believe it, too.
The thing about vaccines and risks is that there are already plenty of real, well-documented side effects that we can all be afraid of, including death. Why make up more? What’s the point? We all know these risks, and we also know that they are far smaller than the risks of actually contracting the diseases themselves. Sometimes they say “Oh I’m not AGAINST vaccines, I just think people should be more cautious with them.”
Is that so? Then why aren’t their kids vaccinated? Thousands of people, “armed” with the certain knowledge they’ve gleaned off the Internet, are choosing not to vaccinate their children, stripping our society of the all-important herd immunity and allowing wretched, painful, crippling, killing diseases like mumps, measles, rubella, and polio to enjoy a resurgence. Yes, POLIO.
These people are putting us all at risk. “I just don’t want to take a chance” they’ll say. Because any self-deluded researcher seeking publication and fame is capable of fabricating a sensationalist story, and any articulate whackjob with a PhD can publish a book full of questionable research, they choose to take a departure from reality and in doing so give us, everyone, a “chance” to experience the wonder of infectious disease.
There is so much more to say about these idiots, but the bottom line is that they are authentically stupid people who cannot think for themselves and therefore believe foolish, facile things, and you, dear reader, presumably are not. Go read the studies and think for yourself, schmuck.
I fail to see how you or anyone else can seriously advocate for pumping infants full of mercury.
My daughter is fully vaccinated both for her health and the health of those around her.
1)Modern vaccines do not pump infants full of mercury.
2)Vaccinations save lives, while not vaccinating not only puts that child at risk of disease, but also any infant who has not yet been vaccinated.
3)If you think mercury is a contributing factor for autism, there are HUGE amounts of mercury and various other toxins in tuna and other deep sea fish, and numerous other sources, yet no one ever brings that up.