The Anti-vaccination movement!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Anti-vaccination movement!

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

Karia posted:

EDIT: Actually, another thought occurred to me. The incremental cost of destroying smallpox, vs the incremental safety benefit, is probably absurdly small. It's not as simple as tossing a couple vials into an autoclave, there would need to be significant debates, discussion, organization, etc, including both the US and Russia, in order to even get started. Then we have to do a full count, double check it, search everywhere there could possibly be more, triple check it, then finally destroy it. For the amount of money and manhours we'd put into that? We could probably make a serious jump towards eliminating polio. I'll be honest, I think those researchers have better things to be doing.

And sometimes you never know where that might be... http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/smallpox-vials-found-unapproved-laboratory

# ¿ Jul 10, 2014 14:19

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 17:34

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

disheveled posted:

Heard this today, thought it was interesting:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/02/04/383796532/pediatricians-pressured-to-drop-parents-who-wont-vaccinate

Glad more parents are starting to speak up. This is a concern of mine, considering the PNW is one of my most likely landing spots when I start a family. I really don't want to be in a community where exposure is a significant risk.

How long until these actually-smart parents are portrayed as selfish monsters trying to prevent other people's innocent children from receiving medical care?

# ¿ Feb 6, 2015 03:25

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

Isn't intelligence also affected by how much stress you had growing up? I suppose this is mixed in with the stuff about nutrition and how you're raised, but I read that when you grow up with the constant stress of, say, living in poverty, it has a high chance of degrading your intelligence. Therefore, poverty tends to beget poverty.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2015 02:47

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

CommieGIR posted:

"With our method, the ~~need for the~~ liver will be eliminated entirely"

Given their methods this may be more accurate.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2016 05:35

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

Dead Reckoning posted:

Are you in favor of making it illegal to buy your kid a skateboard, or allowing them to swim in the ocean, or walk home from school by themselves?

Who gets to decide what is necessary? You could easily argue that no "reasonable" person would refuse the standard of care for a given condition. Can doctors give a child whatever care they deem necessary in the moment, even if it involves, say, the risky and invasive use of scalpels? If a child is suffering (emphasis on the suffering bit here) from a terminal illness, when does the state deign to grant the parents the right to decline further care? How do you feel about Jewish parents arranging a bris for their male children? (Which is rather different from a clinical circumcision, before we start debating the health benefits of circumcision again.) Is it abuse if a parent feeds their child a diet higher in saturated fats than the FDA recommends? The realistic outcome of your proposal is a removal of parents' decision making about the care of their children on all but the most superficial level, instead substituting the choices of whoever the government deems an "expert." Would you trust an appointee selected by George W. Bush or Donald Trump to make healthcare decisions for your child?

Freedom means that people have the right to make decisions you disagree with based on moral frameworks you disagree with. I'm generally in favor of vaccination, but frankly the only moral way to talk about making it mandatory is as an exigent exception to normal questions of parental consent and bodily integrity. This whole "well, they are savages whose beliefs are based on superstitious nonsense, whereas I am Very Smart and listen to the experts, so gently caress them" tone is some repugnant poo poo.

You do realise that vaccination is not just about the health of an individual, but also about herd immunity, right? When an idiot anti-vaxxer “makes decisions i disagree with based on moral frameworks i disagree with", they aren't just endangering their child, but many people who come into contact with them.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2016 08:26

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

These 'well who gets to decide' slippery slope arguments are so ridiculous. It's like saying that if you are against kidnapping people and holding them against their will, you must also be against all imprisonment of criminals. After all, the only difference there is that the criminals are subjectively guilty of what are subjectively considered crimes by society.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2016 11:15

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# ¿ May 12, 2024 17:34

BreakAtmo: May 16, 2009

Dead Reckoning posted:

It's not though. We don't imprison people for arbitrary reasons, or because they are bad. We imprison them for objectively breaking one or more predefined rules we've spelled out as a society.

Which are arbitrary reasons. What's determined to be a crime is absolutely arbitrary, and often the result of political lobbies and propaganda more than people and society in general.

# ¿ Aug 10, 2016 11:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Anti-vaccination movement!