Dear all,
This is the first new post I have written in a while… Missed me? I hope so.
May I ask you for a favor? I am trying to estimate the number of people who actually read my posts. Would you place a comment (just saying “Hi there, Baldie!” or something like that), so I can get a rough idea of my “fan base”? There are some surprises coming including a new book! I promise it will not be about worms …
Thank you!
Without further ado, here’s my newest post:
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A couple of days ago I was trying to make some progress on my next book, writing at an undisclosed location which name ends in “-bucks“. I got rather distracted / upset because I could not help but overhear a conversation between a gentleman and two young ladies. I did not mean to eavesdrop, but he was rather loud and “assertive”, if that’s the right word.
He was emphatically telling the young ladies that vaccines are BAD, as in “really bad” bad. He blamed them from various worldly evils including autism. He even was with who I assume was his son, a really cute boy about 2 years old, and he (the dad that is) was stating in no uncertain terms that he did not and would not vaccinate his boy, etc. He even boasted that he (the dad, again) did not even finish high school, but that he educated himself “over the internet” (this is a quote), so that he knew what he was talking about.
Arrrrrrgh! (and i am not saying this in a “piraty” way!)
At that point my blood started (figuratively) boiling and I couldn’t help myself. I was behind the guy and I started silently signalling “nooooo!” to the girls (see the pic above). You see, not finishing high school is not a sin; I’ve met people who did not, people who could not finish school because of **real** problems yet who are way smarter than I’ll ever be. So you see, that was not my problem. My problem was that you can self-educate only so much, internet or no internet, and God forbid, because of this dad’s attitude he will end up harming his boy (and I wholeheartedly hope that he does not).
He left shortly after that and I had a nice conversation with the young ladies, who turned out to be very good nursing students, meaning that they did not buy anything of what the guy said. There is hope in this world.
I do understand that the origin of autism is a very sensitive issue. I have an autistic son myself, who I love with all my heart, and while i do not know why he is autistic, I am convinced that vaccines were not the likely cause. All scientific evidence argues against it.
-Please do not be offended.
-Please do not insult me. I will delete any such comment…
I do not doubt for a moment that the gentleman at the coffee shop loves his son in the same way that I love mine, but as I implied, by not vaccinating his precious boy, he is exposing that little guy to a variety of diseases that may take his life, again, God forbid.
Also, as I have said before, “amateur” is not a dirty word, but neither is “expert”. Would you accept medical advice from someone educated “over the internet”? I hope not! I know I would not!
I hope the little guy stays safe and healthy… O_o …
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Pharmacology – Biology – Neuroscience – Science – Research – Planaria – Writing – Education – Autism
Hi there! Although I have stopped blogging (for now), I still read your blog.
I always read and enjoy your blog! And I’m impressed you were able to keep your mouth shut while he was there! When my Mama Bear and Science Nerd meet, well yikes!
You know I’m always lurking in the dark corners of the internet. 😀
There are so many potential causes and I hope people will keep open minds so they can follow the science as the research comes in. My kids get vaccinated and I tell them each time that it’s because I love them. They know how vaccines work and both love science.
This well intentioned young man is a classic example of the study that found people think they are smarter thanks to the internet. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/01/how-the-internet-makes-you-think-youre-smarter-than-you-really-are/. Sadly, it may take his son getting an unnecessary disease to wake him up to facts. Hopefully he will change is mind before that, but once we humans “know” something, it is hard to get us to change our minds.
I wish you great success with your new book.
I doubt I would have exhibited as much restraint as you did!
Unfortunately, on the internet, you can “educate yourself” to learn absolutely anything, whether it’s true or false…
There certainly is a correlation between the incidence of autism and the prevalence of inoculations. The real question is to what extent is there causality?
Advocates of science-based medicine must “own” their entire concept which means a relentless adherence to their own scientific model. The “Burden of Proof” logical fallacy occurs when somebody makes a statement, then insists that others prove them wrong instead of substantiating their own argument. That’s not how it works…at least if you want to be both logical and scientific.
To date, there is no proof that vaccinations work “as advertised”. The small amount of pathogen that they inject is not enough to get past the body’s T1 defenses, so they must add heavy metals to force the body’s T2 immunological response. The adjuvants used to elicit the required T-cell involvement include toxins and heavy metals. It is well-established that such metals are neurotoxic and current data insists that we collectively assess the cost/benefit to this “vaccine experiment” that is destroying our people.
The first two steps in the scientific method include making observations and asking relevant questions. The data is begging for observation and people are afraid to ask the tough questions.
Good to see you back.
Found this through Facebook- agree! My husband and I are expecting our first child in a few weeks, and we’ve been advised by many well-meaning but misinformed people that we should really “read the ingredients lists!” and see “what’s REALLY in those vaccines.” And of course, there’s the misconception about autism. We are far more concerned about the possibility of our child catching one of these illnesses from an unvaccinated person! We are going to limit where we take our son and who can visit until he himself has had his vaccines. Unfortunately, this will not be taken well by certain anti-vax family members. But when it comes to a newborn’s fragile health, I’d definitely rather be safe than sorry!
Love to hear from you!
Hi One, I’m reading!
You know me quite well!!! Look at the name in my email address. Not vaccinating our 2 children wasn’t even a consideration. I empathize with parents of special needs children as this is within my line of work. However, I don’t personally believe there is any correlation.
I check in here from time to time. I like your perspective regarding autism as I have to deal with it myself. I personally don’t think vaccinations cause autism because it I think it is most likely rooted in ones DNA, but I often wonder if children would be better served if vaccinations could be delayed a few years rather than being administered during that critical 1-2 year developmental period. After all most of the things being vaccinated for are supposedly eradicated diseases so I don’t necessarily see a big risk doing this. After my daughter got her MMR vaccination, her behavior for a few days was terribly altered nut fortunately she got over it. Nevertheless it was quite scary for a while and I do think they can have adverse side effects.
I’m an occasional reader. Not being a scientist, or even scientifically literate, the topics of some of your posts are over my head, but you do a great job at making the topics you blog about understandable to me. So nice to see you around again!
As for the topic of your post, I don’t have much to add. I disagree with anti-vaccinationism, and since I’m convinced that the full schedule of vaccines is probably necessary to prevent many preventable illnesses, I think vaccines should generally be mandatory. That said, there is a part of me that empathizes with people who hold (what I’ll euphemistically call) “alternative views” about things, and that empathy extends to anti-vaccinationists as well as to young earth creationists and others. Perhaps that comes from growing up in environments where such views were taken seriously and seen as something to be debated, although the views themselves were still generally considered mistaken.