I usually begin with the belief that people are rational, that they live in the realm of fact and reason and are able to recognize and admit when their beliefs aren’t supported by available evidence.
I know; I can be SO naive sometimes….
Try as I might, I can find no way to understand the delusions and willful ignorance of facts that predominate among the anti-vaccine community. It astonishes me that so many normally lucid, well-meaning, and otherwise intelligent people are willing to accept as Gospel ONE long-since discredited study linking vaccines to autism. Yet even as they believe a false study famous for fabricated results, they steadfastly refuse to accept more than a century of solid, demonstrable, repeatable scientific evidence which shows that vaccines work.
I get it; vaccines aren’t 100% safe…but what in life is? Childhood diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, and others have been virtually eradicated by vaccines…until the anti-vaccine crowd came along with their fear-mongering, propaganda, and disinformation. They cling to the myth that vaccines are dangerous, that they cause autism, and in doing so they imperil public health. The spike in incidences of preventable childhood diseases among those whose parents refuse to vaccinate their children should serve as a warning to those with a functional intellect.
Unfortunately, the anti-vaccine lobby has proven itself immune to conventionally-accepted reality. These are people who cling to rumor, innuendo, propaganda, and disinformation as if their lives depended on it. They categorically reject facts and evidence that don’t mesh with their preconceived notions and immutable conviction.
The closed-minded sorts who believe they know more than scientists and have managed to convince themselves that science is immorally beholden to Big Pharma can, to my consternation, be found in my own family. I hear talk of “managing disease,” “natural cures,” and all manner of delusional theories…and I wonder how it is that normally rational, intelligent people have managed to delude themselves so completely? Most distressingly, they have children, whom they undoubtedly love but whose health they’re willing to imperil because of their delusions and mistaken beliefs. On any other subject, they’d expect to be convinced with facts and evidence. When it comes to vaccines, they immediately play the “VACCINES = AUTISM” card and mentally inoculate themselves from anything that doesn’t support their unshakable (and incorrect) belief.
I don’t dispute that people are free to their own opinions. What they’re not free to are their own facts. You don’t get to cherry-pick “facts” to support your rejection of a century’s worth of science. The evidence is there, and it’s clear: Vaccines work. They DON’T cause autism. Period. End of story.
While I try hard not to belittle those so thoroughly wedded to lies and disinformation, it can be difficult. It might even be funny, except for the fact that such rampant ignorance and cynical denial of scientific fact can endanger the public health and place the long-term health of children in peril.
As much as some parents may have convinced themselves otherwise, refusing to vaccinate your children is about as irresponsible and selfish as it gets. Making decisions on your children’s health based on dangerously incorrect information and total bullshit isn’t sound parenting, nor should rational people countenance it as “protecting children.”
Vaccines work, and there’s a veritable mountain of evidence to prove it. You may not believe it, but that doesn’t negate the truth. Ignoring reality in favor of your pet delusion doesn’t mitigate that reality. If you’re willing to imperil the health and well-being of your children in the service of lies and disinformation, you might ponder giving some serious consideration to your fitness to be a parent.
