jenny mccarthy wants your kid to get measles: autism, vaccines, and stupid idiots

cracking up at the Amazing Randi tbh

This book provides a terrifying insight into what has been happening behind the scenes as efforts redouble to silence Dr. Wakefield . . . It is a wake-up call to those who think (he) is anything other than a modern day hero fighting for all of our children." ----Robert Rodriguez and Elizabeth Avellain, Troublemaker Studios, Austin, Texas

i guess machete is gonna chop up some guy working for the cdc or something, huh

The defense of Wakefield as some kind of savior of the children is particularly obnoxious given that he was sanctioned for, among other things, performing unnecessary colonoscopies on children without consent, causing serious injury to at least one kid - http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/12/an_autistic_child_pays_the_price_of_andr.php.

my friend and i often marvel over how jenny mccarthy's kid could have made it to kindergarten before anyone noticed he was autistic but the other day it hit us she lived with jim carrey so how the hell would you know the diff

Sunny's quite right there.

Something very random that just occurred to me -- are anti-vax folks who have pets like dogs and cats also anti-vax for them too?

my g/f works at a vet clinic - you'd be amazed!

Mistrust of medical doctors goes back a long, long way, as does mistrust of scientists and their motives or judgement. The anti-vaccine movement is just another manifestation of this long standing undercurrent in society.

One difficulty here is that humans are both fallible and delusion-prone. Consequently, there are plenty of true anecdotes that illustrate times when both medecine and science have failed, or fallen prey to delusion. Anyone who chooses to focus on these failures and delusions, instead of the many successes, can justify their cynicism and mistrust. Nor will the critics and cynics have any useful yardstick by which to measure any particular therapy or medical practise, since all the trustworthy yardsticks will be discredited by their association with those "error-prone" scientific methods.

Then it is just a matter of one's emotional reactions taking over.

My vet has told me that, with a few exceptions, if your cats are strictly indoors, then in her opinion vaccinations are pretty much optional. Only if they have a lot of interactions outside with other cats does she recommend a full spectrum of regular vaccinations.

http://tallguywrites.livejournal.com/148012.html

I see, Ned, that you are unfamiliar with the concept of the homeopathic vet.

And for that I am glad.

One the one hand, homeopathic vets make me worry for the pets' health. On the other hand, it is the only place I have seen a custom painting of a horse and its chakras.

http://www.patinkas.co.uk/Chakra_System_of_Animals/a_Horse_Chakras_Pic.jpg

Oh look, now you don't have to go.

Thread connections

the gf told me about this one lady who had her cat on some crazy raw food diet with no vaccinations. it had worms and all sorts of other things going on - and she herself also got salmonella from sampling her cat's food.

lol/smh @ horse chakras

finally I have the information I need to take down my nemesis Das Pferd

I drive past a place on the way to work that I believe is a pet acupuncturist. Um, yeah.

See that's why i want a pet porcupine. Think of all the pet acupuncturist bills I'd be saving on.

Horse chakras!?

"alternate Heart site"

oh Christ, my old neighbour used to go to someone to do reiki on her cats. I'm still not quite sure what that involves but there are some 'interesting' websites about it if you google 'reiki for cats'. Anyway when the cat died this woman apparently was still able to do reiki on it once it was buried, and tell the owner that the cat was ok spiritually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_model

loooooooool

Flashbacks to our cat whisperer discussion there.

Cat Whisperer, his green eyes implored, take me home.

lol

Review of Andrew Wakefield's new book, which will no doubt be given the licence-to-print-money description of "CONTROVERSIAL".

Henry got his 6 month shots today (a month and a half late) and the first thing I said when I saw him was 'aww you're all autistic now!'

holy shit @ the pullquote in the wakefield review -

"Maternal instinct... has been a steady hand upon the tiller of evolution; we would not be here without it."

great New Scientist piece: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627606.100-living-in-denial-why-sensible-people-reject-the-truth.html?full=true

echoes much of what Plasmon wrote upthread.

...Similarly, global warming, evolution and the link between tobacco and cancer must be taken on trust, usually on the word of scientists, doctors and other technical experts who many non-scientists see as arrogant and alien.

Many people see this as a threat to important aspects of their lives. In Texas last year, a member of a state committee who was trying to get creationism added to school science standards almost said as much when he proclaimed "somebody's got to stand up to experts".

It is this sense of loss of control that really matters. In such situations, many people prefer to reject expert evidence in favour of alternative explanations that promise to hand control back to them, even if those explanations are not supported by evidence (see "Giving life to a lie").

All denialisms appear to be attempts like this to regain a sense of agency over uncaring nature: blaming autism on vaccines rather than an unknown natural cause, insisting that humans were made by divine plan, rejecting the idea that actions we thought were okay, such as smoking and burning coal, have turned out to be dangerous...

some Not Really Getting It posts in the comments section.

Martin McKee, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who also studies denial, has identified six tactics that all denialist movements use.

1. Allege that there's a conspiracy. Claim that scientific consensus has arisen through collusion rather than the accumulation of evidence.
2. Use fake experts to support your story. "Denial always starts with a cadre of pseudo-experts with some credentials that create a facade of credibility," says Seth Kalichman of the University of Connecticut.
3. Cherry-pick the evidence: trumpet whatever appears to support your case and ignore or rubbish the rest. Carry on trotting out supportive evidence even after it has been discredited.
4. Create impossible standards for your opponents. Claim that the existing evidence is not good enough and demand more. If your opponent comes up with evidence you have demanded, move the goalposts.
5. Use logical fallacies. Hitler opposed smoking, so anti-smoking measures are Nazi. Deliberately misrepresent the scientific consensus and then knock down your straw man.
6. Manufacture doubt. Falsely portray scientists as so divided that basing policy on their advice would be premature. Insist "both sides" must be heard and cry censorship when "dissenting" arguments or experts are rejected.

think I have seen these tactics used outside of denialist movements tbh

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129198775&ps=cprs

my chiro, suggests that forceps harm the brain and push up against the skull, therefore, toxins get stuck,,, toxins from the vaccines, get stuck and cant get out and harm the brain,...???? sounds accurate to me... not to mention the ultrasounds constantly monitoring... 30 years ago they did not use ultrasound the same ...during pregnancy... comments please!!! just the facts

sounds accurate to me!

it's a, pretty compelling argument... she,..? makes

just the fax ma'am just the fax

Experiencing Teen Drama Overload? Blame Vaccines.

You had me up until 'my chiro.'

my chiro, suggests that forceps harm the brain and push up against the skull, therefore, toxins get stuck,,, toxins from the vaccines, get stuck and cant get out and harm the brain,...???? sounds accurate to me... not to mention the ultrasounds constantly monitoring... 30 years ago they did not use ultrasound the same ...during pregnancy... comments please!!! just the facts

That's strange. Twenty years ago I was told that they didn't use ultrasound the same way thirty years prior to that. One of us (or both of us) must be wrong. And the theory that most diseases are caused by stored toxins was disproven a long time ago. Alternative medicine is where bad science goes to die.

specifically?"

errr

should say:

One of my favorite questions to ask is: "Which toxins are you referring to specifically?"

why don't chiropractors just shut up and crack your back a few times? No one goes to their dentist and listens to a spiel about toxins.

That's because my dentist has seen my teeth, he knows toxins are the least of my problems.

Has anybody read the new book _ Denialism_?

Just wanted to say I got to give one kid the HPV vaccine today and another one an Adacel shot (the Diphtheria/Pertussis/Tetanus booster) today, so I did my part to poison the youth of America today.

The hpv vaccine is kind of weird for me because I'm just old enough that women my age were right above the 25 yr old cutoff when it became more widespread, so for half the people I date it hardly enters their mind while the other half seem to have mostly gotten it. Probably a few vaccines like that historically, but it's interesting to me

I had the bad luck to have become an adult a year or two before the chicken pox vaccine became widespread. I caught the disease a month or two into my first job and spent a nervous week or two hoping that the breathing problems that I were having wouldn't get bad enough that I'd have to be rushed to the emergency room. I still have a lot of scars on my forehead, chest, and arms.

Yeah, that was the other that came to mind. My sister was not quite in middle school and was "too young" because her doc thought it'd be better to just get the illness if it was going to happen. I was 14 and had never had chicken pox so Ingot vaccinated. 15 years later, I'm still happy I was.