Comments

1
We are living in crazy times. The silver lining is that it is a great period for satire.
2
Aside from the dig/shaming at Jenny McCarthy's formerly gettin' nekkid, this was so spot on it hurts. & I know where that comes from..rage that somehow celebrity gives a non-medically-trained person's opinion an outsize weight, & does people harm. About time some star on the side of reason spoke up. Thanks, Jimmy!
3
I was all for shot shaming parents until I read this piece by a scientist who makes a slightly better argument:

"Now, I don’t claim to be some sort of sci-comm expert or anything, but I do know that this approach will not work. How do I know that? Because people are constantly going around telling me what to do, and I respond by go around never doing any of it. When I actually do do things, there’s a pattern...."

Hope Jahren's How I Learned to Love the Needle
4
Very nice. I wish there was a way to deny the benefits of modern science and technology to anyone who obstinately refuses to accept agreed upon data. You can oppose sex-ed and birth control, but then you better start chopping some firewood--it's gonna get cold in your hut when the sun goes down.
5
Good god this is satisfying
7
Be careful not to mock a Books Editors from the The Stranger. Editors are too holy to be called fuckwits, and your comment will be deleted. Please respect the Clergy.
8
I'm part of a discussion board that, sadly, has many anti-vaxxers. It's fascinating -- their argument is veering increasingly towards "This won't stop with vaccines, pretty soon there will be mandatory chip implants!" The parallel to anti-gay-marriage arguments is striking. It's as if they know they don't have a real case for the actual issue at hand.
9
Also for all the anti-GMO people, as the scientific consensus is that there is no negative impact on health.
10
Can he do one on climate change? There are plenty of (paleo)climatologists and atmospheric scientists who would be up for verbally slapping the ignorant masses around.
11
@7 your entire existence should be deleted.
12
Yeah the 3 anti-vax arguments to rebut are: "putting something in my kid's blood without my permission is unconstitutional", "science is based on skepticism, that's what we are doing" and "non-mainstream ideas are becoming illegal in this country".
13
@11
good idea! i've tried deleting my profile, but don't know how, I suppose. But for you and because of you, I'll hide my comment history.
14
Ok, this post may be more appropriate for the Morning News thread, but this reminds me of the Elephant Wars at the zoo. Why do the mayor and the public think they know more about what is the best placement for the zoo's elephants, than the people who study, work with, and know the zoo's elephants? I once saw a moving documentary about an elephant that got moved to a sanctuary, so now I'm an expert and KNOW that all captive elephants would be better off at a sanctuary. Similar basic issue to vaccination, global climate change deniers, etc...
15
@8 I've experienced the exact same thing. "Where will it all eeeeeeeeeend? The gub'ment FORCING vaccinations?!" To which the best response is usually, "yeah, that'd work." It's amazing how similar to Christian Science/prayer healing parents these people are, just replace Jesus with yoga and meditation. One of the biggest downsides is that we can no longer accurately describe conservatives as "anti-science" in a way that implies they're the only ones that are anti-science. :-/

And even though videos like this are probably not going to change anyone's mind who's decided to be anti-vax, it very well could keep from converting to anti-vax. Inoculating them against stupid, if you will.
16
All this reminds me of the Romney stance about Americans: there are makers, and there are takers. (Parents of) Kids who don't get vaccinated are definitely the takers - though there are some who legitimately can't get vaccinated and we the common good bear the burden, as well we should in this instance.
18
@17
Thanks for spelling it out with those descriptive examples. Next time, just stick with your quick and easy first sentence.
20
@19 "Telling tale" that has zero to do with this post. Perhaps you have wandered in here by mistake.
22
@15 - my sentiments exactly. And yes the antivaxxers have already freaked out about it: "Jimmy Kimmel should stick to what he knows!! I'll never watch him again!!" Blah blah blah. It's embarrassing just knowing they exist.
23
@21
Ok, did not know the Jobs went the naturopathic route in his treatment for Pancreatic cancer. Whether he had a disbelief in medical science or was just grasping at straws in a last ditch effort for survival, I don't know. Perhaps you can fill us in.

That said, based upon your brief puzzling initial post, I took it out of context. But, your attitude towards me, well, Fuck You Asshole!
25
I believe all the anti-vax people are exactly the annoying idiots who want to be friends with their children, not parents, but pals. It is hard to be chummy with your kid when you take them to be forcibly hurt with needles. Oh, they'll justify not vaccinating them with whatever celebrity/insane bullshit is out there, but in the end they don't do it because they don't want their precious snowflakes to get hurt and be blamed for it. Dear Lord. If I was someone's kid today, I'd be pretty damn pissed to grow up and realize I'm not immunized at all and have to go to the expense, pain and side effects that adult vaccination involves. Not to mention actually GETTING some loathsome disease because my parents were wimpy fools.
27
what's his hair doing?
28
I'm not sure if this paints my home state (Louisiana) as atypically progressive or typically regressive, but I teach in a public school, and if the parents can't provide proof of a certain core group of vaccinations, their kids can't attend the school. The kids can be home schooled or can (possibly) attend private schools, but they can't attend ours. And I can recall needing to get certain vaccinations before attending various public schools, private schools, and public universities when I was growing up. It never occurred to me that the policies should be any different.
29
@17 you might be right but now there's a pile on (not saying it's unwarranted) and it seems that anti-vaxxers are digging in.
30
Dan; in the chance that you read this I have a question for you and anybody else. My friend from college Is fully convinced that her son has autism from having been vaccinated. Thusly she had not vaccinated her younger toddler daughter. What sort of constructive things can I say to someone I want to treat more tenderly than someone raising a differently abled child about vaccinations? I might tough talk friends who simply fear autism but are raising children who do not suffer from it.
31
@30 Here's my two cents.

There's actually scientific studies that show that when people reject science, the more science you show them the more likely they are to NOT believe it. It's a weird human thing I guess but it's good to keep in mind.

That being said, it's worth looking at what's really going on there. She doesn't believe that vaccines caused her son's autism, she believes that SHE caused her son's autism, therefor she's probably coming from a place of extreme guilt.

I'd acknowledge those feelings first and foremost and then keep reinforcing that nothing she did is the cause. But then keep asking her WHY she thinks vaccines caused his autism. There is absolutely no (as in none, zippo, zilch) evidence that vaccines are related to autism. When she gives you a reason or cites an article from HealthyHippy.news or whatever, don't disregard it. "Sure, I'll check it out." Then come back a few days later armed with a response "yeah, that didn't make sense" or "they actually didn't show how the two are connected" etc. Of course everything cited in those articles are pretty easily debunked with a rational thought process. Eventually, she's going to have to (hopefully) come to terms with the fact that no one knows what causes autism. Sometimes bad shit just happens.

Of course you'll have to make sure that you know as much as possible and be prepared for all the arguments that she's likely make but you can prepare for that by perusing anti-vaxxer message boards and whatnot.

I think the key is to not engage in an argument that is going to put her on the defensive. Take a slow approach that eventually introduces the concept of "but isn't it possible that you're wrong" and then start slowly adding the science and numbers. I mean, as recently as 1996 1.5 million people worldwide died from measles, this is not ancient history here.

Anyhoo, those are my thoughts. Good luck!
32
@30
You can also bring up the "Would you rather have a dead daughter or an autistic daughter?" line of emotional questioning, since her fear of vaccinations is based on emotional reasoning rather than scientific reasoning.
33
Thanks 31. Truly appreciate it
34
@30

In regard to calming her guilt, there have actually been two recently published studies that suggest we ARE getting closer to understanding what causes autism. In one, babies 9 months and older who were showing some early behavioural markers were given super-early interventions designed for autism treatment. As I recall, at least 70% of them displayed improvements in their social interactions and functioning by the time they were 3 or 4 and actually diagnosable. This is strongly suggestive of Autism setting in much earlier than we might have guessed. This study is exciting to me because of the hope it holds out of successful treatment for some of the toughest challenges autistic children face.
The second study involved (horrifying, I warn you) detailed studies of the brains of dead children and infants with and without signs of autism. (You might want to tell Mom about the results, while glossing over theethodology.) it found smooth spots on the brains of affected children and infants, and also in some foetuses. This suggests that autism is a) the result of atypical neural development, and b) congenital. Mom did nothing to make her child autistic. The child was born this way.(tm)
36
um - how did the Kimmel video get replaced by the love baby soft ad? was it just me?

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