It absolutely never helps to call somebody stupid or foolish or ignorant. In general people don’t say, “Oh, you know you’re right, I hadn’t thought about that.” People almost always hold opinions for logical reasons – it may not be your logical argument but it is logical to them. To scream and the anti-vaxxers you are STUPID STUPID STUPID ends the conversation not only with the anti-vaxxers but between ourselves about why this is happening now in 2015. Because something very real is going on and we had better try and understand it or we are lost as a society.
The anti-vaccine movement is immediately about health issues, but in the long run it is the canary in the coal mine – and friends the canary is dead. The idea that we are being given the wrong information about vaccines would never have crossed anybody’s mind when I was growing up. Of course the proximate reason for this is the rise in autism – something we do not really understand but is definitely a phenomenon. I have seen autistic children destroy lives in ways I have seen little else. It strikes indiscriminately the poor and rich alike – which is not supposed to happen in our society. So first let us admit that the fears however unfounded are very real. But then why aren’t people listening to the gatekeepers who are telling them that there is no actual empirical tie between vaccines and autism.
And here is where our society is in deep, deep trouble. Because the people in our society no longer trust those who are tasked to tell them this. They don’t believe the doctors because they know their doctors will kick them to the curb the moment they lose their insurance. They don’t believe the pharmaceutical companies because they know the pharmaceutical companies treat them like ATM machine and would easily trade the destruction of their lives for a stronger bottom line. They don’t trust the academics because they know a great deal of academic research is supported by pharmaceutical companies which cannot but help guide their research (sorry, but I have seen this first hand). They don’t trust politicians who seem completely divorced from their reality. The politicians don’t seem to have autistic children (I don’t know this is true in reality, but I have never actually seen it publicly – and anyway it is probably what a lot of people believe).
Most important they don’t trust our “vetted gatekeepers,” the traditional media. These are the same people who were wrong i reporting and opinion and got them into a war, into a brutal recession. I don’t mean the same media, I MEAN THE EXACT SAME PEOPLE. There is absolutely no repercussions for being wrong. They are simply not believable to many people – including when they discuss vaccines. Not only that, but I am certain “gatekeepers” have not read any of the actual research. They are just reporting what they are told like they did with everything else. Why should they be believed this time?
The social contract has broken down. – and its not the fault of the anti-vaxxers no matter how frustrated you might be. I fear things will only get worse. It is a natural outcome of the last twenty years. Nobody trusts anybody. Everybody is grifting, including the vaccine producers. I don’t know what will change the tide. I do know yelling YOU’RE A STUPID IDIOT won’t.
And before I get trolled that I am proposing not vaccinating children, I completely believe vaccinating children should be the law. You want people to believe it. Have the government offer free, easily accessible clinics for all when children can get vaccinations – and where nobody makes a profit off them.