I came accross THIS which was linked to by Skeptic Dictionary (my bible.) It's a fantastic write up absolutely skewring the anti-vaccinemovmenet and their blatant intellectual dishonesty. I'm coming to the realization that one of the reason I like MMFA so much is not just that it's liberal - after all, there are TONS of good, well-written liberals sites and blogs out there, and I don't spend half as much time on all of them put together! But, what MMFA essentially focus on is the Right's intellectual dishonesty. THAT'S at the core of thearguments they make, and that kind of argument really appeals to me.
Now... I don't see the Anti-Vaxxer movement or Alternatve Medicine in General to be a partisan or a poltical problem. In fact there are elements of both Conservtaive Anti-Science (Faith Healing, for example) and Liberal Anti-Science (Product liability, anti-corporate/big-Pharma fears) in all areas of 'Alternative Medicine.' So honestly, I don't give a fig about the politics behind this psudeo-scientific nonsense. Liberal or Conservative, right or left, My feelings on this, as with all matters scientific, are very simple:
"Alternative Medicine" is just another way of saying "Stuff that doesn't pass scientific muster or double-blind clinical testing." IWO: Bullshit. And Skepdic has dozens of articles in it that do a better job tearing down this nonsense down than I even want to try. But whatever, as long as you're not denying your children life saving medicine, opting for prayer instead - which is a nice way of saying, "MURDERING YOUR CHILDREN"- then I really don't care what you waste your money on, as long as you don't try to put into some kind of National Health Plan that MY TAX MONEY pays for. Barring that? Buy all the placebos you want.
But the Anti-Vaxxer movement is DANGEROUS. Hundereds of children have DIED in this country alone and infectuous diseases that were once considered extinct in the developed world are now on the rise again in many countries.
1) As far as I'm concerned, Jenny McCarthy, as the public face (Josesh Goebels) of anti-vaxxer propaganda, shares the same proportion of blame for the 505 deaths that occured between June, 2007 and March 2010 as one might attribute to Goebles for the holocaust. She's facing 505 counts of accessory to MURDER as far as I'm concerned.
2) If you, as a parent, have chosen not to vaccinate your child, and do not have a DIAGNOSABLE, SCIENCE-BASED, MEDICAL REASON for doing so: YOU ARE A BAD PARENT. And if your childeren become ill and/or die, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE.
3) As the father of two autistic boys I can say this no more plainly:
- If your autistic child has unvaccinated younger sibilings, YOU ARE A BAD PARENT.
- If you have wasted you money on any number of unproven therapies you are not only a FOOL, you are a BAD PARENT for diverting resources that should have been spent paying for SPEECH THERAPY, and possibly SCIENCE BASED medication.
- If you have exposed your child to RISKY, unproven practices such as Chealation? If I had my druthers I'd take those kids away from you, put you in jail, and put in jail the QUACK and FRAUD of a physician that prescribed and/or carried it out. (And one already has: in PA, for manslaughter. If I had been on that jury, I would have gladly gone as high as 'murder in the first' for anyone carrying out deadly experiments on handicapped children.)
