Vaccination

[downzy]

Surprised no one has started a thread on this subject considering how much notice it's getting in the news of late.

Or perhaps we have very like-minded and sensible individual at this forum; hence there's no need to talk about it.

Regardless, I think this video best sums up what side of the argument I support:

[bran]

i want penn jillette for president.

[Lio]

I had no idea vaccination was now linked to autism. It's amazing what lengths these idiots go to. Problem is these parents don't hurt themselves by their behaviour, but their children and society as a whole. I think it's irresponsible, borderline criminal behaviour.

[bran]

they should bring back caning for parents that are dumb enough to not vaccinate their kids.

Edited February 10, 2015 by bran

[alfierose]

The reason some parents may the link with autism is because symptoms of the condition often become noticeable around about 18 months which is the time frame for vaccinations in particular the MMR. As humans tend to do they look for a cause and effect then confirmation bias takes over.

[LyndaRose]

well, some kid at my kid;s school turned deaf and had autism after having his vaccination....

[DR DOOM]

I'd say that there wasn't a thread until now because we are so desensitised to crazy people doing idiotic things these days.

I'm not suggesting there haven't always been crazy ass people doing idiotic things, but thanks to the internet we're all much more aware of it these days.

I don't have any kids, but if I did they would be vaccinated- I make sure my dogs are vaccinated, for fuck's sake (they're my kids )

[Dazey]

well, some kid at my kid;s school turned deaf and had autism after having his vaccination....

He's also going to grow pubes and get a deeper voice after his vaccination. He's also one day going to eat a hamburger and take a massive shit afterwards which would also be after his vaccination. Death too. That's gonna happen after his vaccination one day too. Yesterday I had porridge then afterwards my balls started aching. Hey maybe porridge causes painful balls because y'know, the ball pain came after the porridge?

Edited February 10, 2015 by Dazey

[Len Cnut]

[Dazey]

In fact EVERYTHING in my life after my vaccination happened after my vaccination! Fucking spooky eh?

[Len Cnut]

well, some kid at my kid;s school turned deaf and had autism after having his vaccination....

He's also going to grow pubes and get a deeper voice after his vaccination. He's also one day going to eat a hamburger and take a massive shit afterwards which would also be after his vaccination. Death too. That's gonna happen after his vaccination one day too. Yesterday I had porridge then afterwards my balls started aching. Hey maybe porridge causes painful balls because y'know, the ball pain came after the porridge?

Also, i don't think you can actually like, catch autism It's a pre-existing condition isn't it? I mean you don't wake up one morning and like 'itchy scalp, slight discolouration of pupils, ooh shit, i feel a spot of autism coming on', i mean it's in em from birth right so like...that shit makes sense if they have certain vaccinations as babies then grow up autistic but you can't like....have a vaccination when you're 8 years old or whatever and then a week later you're autistic

[AxlsMainMan]

In 2012, a proactive Australian anti-vaxxer named Stephanie Messenger self-published a children’s book called “Melanie’s Marvelous Measles.” With the book, Messenger endeavored to “educate children on the benefits of having measles and how you can heal from them naturally and successfully.” The book’s illustrated cover features a girl frolicking in a meadow with her stomach exposed, revealing a number of measles pocks all over her body. The whole thing is truly grotesque — so much so, that Amazon has put a disclaimer on the book’s description, noting that it is “provided by the publisher/author of this title and presents the subjective opinions of the publisher/author, which may not be substantiated.”

The book is made all the more relevant, now that a massive measles outbreak (due to the steadily growing vaccine “trutherism” movement) has infected more than 100 people in 15 states, including five babies at a Chicago daycare center.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/anti-vaxxer-childrens-book-getting-destroyed-hilariously-amazon-cupcakes

Edited February 10, 2015 by AxlsMainMan

[Lithium]

People who don't believe in vaccinations are idiots. That's all there is to it.

[downzy]

Interesting article on why people believe what they believe regarding vaccination and other contentious issues:

The false vaccine debate shows we’re in a golden age of believing whatever we want

Eric Weiner

http://qz.com/340561/the-false-vaccine-debate-shows-were-in-a-golden-age-of-believing-whatever-we-want/

As Georgia becomes the latest US state to report a case of measles, many across the land are shaking their heads in disbelief. How can otherwise intelligent, well-intentioned parents choose not to have their children vaccinated? It’s tempting to conclude that the problem is simply a lack of information. Give them the facts and they will see the light. Not so fast.

The parents—all of us, in fact—are susceptible to a quirk of human nature variously called “selective exposure” or “confirmation bias.” Simply put, we gravitate to information that bolsters our convictions (about anything) and reject that which undermines them. This not new. In the 16th century, Francis Bacon observed that “The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion… draws all things else to support and agree with it.”

Today, the temptation to engage in confirmation bias is even greater since information confirming your particular bias is only a click away. Put another way: if you’re in the business of cherry picking data, this is a golden age, for the cherries are more plentiful than ever, and far easier to pick.

Sometimes, in fact, they pick themselves. Search engines and online retailers like Amazon discern the type of products and information we supposedly like then see to it we’re exposed to nothing else. If you’ve purchased books with a liberal perspective, then Amazon is going to steer you to similar titles and ensure that a conservative tome never graces yours cart.

Facebook and other social media sites, meanwhile, filter our newsfeeds so that we are only exposed to like-minded views. Let’s say you’re liberal but have a lone conservative friend. His posts may not be displayed as prominently since they represent an outlier, and are therefore “discounted” by the algorithm. The net result, says Paul Resnick, a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Information., is that social media “may intensify not only feelings of loneliness, but also ideological isolation.”

But facts are facts, you say, and in the end truth prevails. Not necessarily. On the Internet, bad information never dies. It’s like one of those Marvel Comics villains that grows in strength every time he’s assaulted by the good guys. Google “vaccines and…” and the first search parameter the algorithm suggests is “vaccines and autism.” There is no evidence of such a link, of course; the single study claiming one has been widely discredited, and its author stripped of his medical license, but for those suspicious of vaccines, that matters little. For them, the connection has been made. Should they need more convincing, they can click on websites like Age of Autism, which maintains there is a connection between vaccines and autism.

Irrational? Perhaps but this is where “motivated reasoning” enters the picture. Motivated reasoning is confirmation bias taken to the next level. We think of reasoning and feeling as occupying wholly separate realms, but they don’t. Rational thinking always contains a strong emotional component, studies show, even if we’re not aware of it. This is especially true when we feel fearful or threatened by new information. Like a cornered animal, we hunker down in our intellectual caves. Psychologist Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Righteous Mind, says our minds act less like scientists, boldly going where the facts lead, and more like press secretaries, stubbornly defending our core positions no matter what.

A case in point is climate change. In one study, researchers asked some 240 people in upstate New York to read a variety of simulated news stories about climate change then asked them whether or not they might support policies that contained climate change. The stories focused on eight fictitious farmers and how they might see their livelihoods affected by rising temperatures. By manipulating the identity of the farmers—making some locals and others foreigners—-the researchers were able to alter people’s resolve to support policy action. Knowledge about climate change, or about science in general, played virtually no role in their decision.

Is there anything we can do about selective exposure, or are we destined to live in intellectual silos? One thing is certain: the approach we’ve tried so far isn’t working. For years, scientists relied on the “deficit model” of communication. People make poor decisions—like not having their children vaccinated—because they simply don’t have the facts. So efforts focused on getting the word out, bombarding people with boatloads of studies and data, confident that this would change minds. It doesn’t, and in fact, can backfire. The more vigorously the scientific community repudiates erroneous information the more fiercely people cling to those beliefs. The truth does not always set us free and, in fact, may tighten our shackles.

The most effective way to correct a falsehood is not with the truth, not that only, but by engaging people as equals, as intellectual partners, even if you find their views Paleolithic. Condescending to someone is a sure way to alienate them, and therefore ensure your message is never heard. Rather than leading with the facts, best to “lead with values so as to give the facts a fighting chance,” says science writer Chris Mooney, writing in Mother Jones.

Another important piece of the puzzle is what psychologists call social distance. The greater the social distance between the messenger and the recipient the less likely the message will stick. Thus, a call to vaccinate your child that comes from the CDC is less effective than one that comes from your local health department—or, better yet, a neighbor or friend.

As for those pesky algorithms, the problem is not that they are too clever but, rather, that they aren’t clever enough. Writing in the journal Daedalus, Paul Resnick argues for more creative code writing. How about an algorithm that “learns” when we are in a curious mood, based on our online behavior, and chooses those times to expose us to more “challenging information.” Or one that highlights stories that attract strange bedfellows, “those that are liked by two clusters of people who do not usually agree with each other.” The possibilities are endless.

“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion,” Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, “but not to his own facts.” If only it were so. Many people do feel entitled to their own facts, and that is proving not only frustrating, but dangerous as well.

[Len Cnut]

I'd say that there wasn't a thread until now because we are so desensitised to crazy people doing idiotic things these days.

I'm not suggesting there haven't always been crazy ass people doing idiotic things, but thanks to the internet we're all much more aware of it these days.

I don't have any kids, but if I did they would be vaccinated- I make sure my dogs are vaccinated, for fuck's sake (they're my kids )

You have dogs? Why does that make me uneasy for some reason? I've always associated you with evil i suppose A pallettable evil though, a nice evil, PG evil. Not proper evil, like Bran

Edited February 10, 2015 by Len B'stard

[Dazey]

Some people are just fucking thick. Do we really care if their kids don't live to pass on the retard gene? This is Darwin 101 people!

[DR DOOM]

They're evil dogs though, slavering brutes that sit at either side of my evil DOOM throne that I post from

On topic, a friend of mine was looking into day care for his daughter and ruled one of them out because they had a kid with Down Syndrome there and he didn't want his daughter to catch it

[Len Cnut]

Some people are just fucking thick. Do we really care if their kids don't live to pass on the retard gene? This is Darwin 101 people!

Oi, careful, you're a father now, you can't talk like that

They're evil dogs though, slavering brutes that sit at either side of my evil DOOM throne that I post from

On topic, a friend of mine was looking into day care for his daughter and ruled one of them out because they had a kid with Down Syndrome there and he didn't want his daughter to catch it

If thats true thats disturbing

[Dazey]

Some people are just fucking thick. Do we really care if their kids don't live to pass on the retard gene? This is Darwin 101 people!

Oi, careful, you're a father now, you can't talk like that

Nah man it's okay. Got her vaccinated already innit.

[Len Cnut]

Good lad Now all you gotta do is stay away from her and she'll be alright

[DR DOOM]

Stop changing your avatar Lenny, it's making it difficult to wank!

That's disturbing.

[Len Cnut]

I'm tryna find a good one but when i get em in the avatar they look shite Must be getting OCD in my old age.

[DR DOOM]

That's much better, job's a good ún

[arnold layne]

I never get the flu shot but I get my tetanus shot updated.

That's about it though. I think I only get what's required by law.

[AxlisOld]

I never get the flu shot but I get my tetanus shot updated.

That's about it though. I think I only get what's required by law.

You're an adult, nothing is required by law.