The "Anti-vaxxer" and the "Flat-Earther"

Given a previous post I wrote regarding vaccinations, I think I make my stance on the matter perfectly clear: yes, vaccinate anyone who can be vaccinated. No, it's not the same as mass sterilization. God fucking damn. If you want to look at my education record, as well as the training I am currently undertaking, you could say that I've been brought up to understand the world from a scientific perspective. Of that, I am rather proud, because science makes a lot of sense to me. Not that we've found all the answers, but it just feels as if there is always a way- a way to explain how everything falls into place, and no piece of the puzzle gets left behind. I don't really feel the same way about religion.

So naturally you'd assume I'd grow up not believing in God- well, maybe it doesn't have to be God, but you'd think I wasn't religiously inclined, at all. That's not necessarily true in the way you think it's true, given my fascination with the concept of spirituality and philosophy and all that jazz. I'd consider myself agnostic- if that still means what I think it means. I don't like the concept of atheism, the same way I don't like the concept of becoming fanatically religious. There's something about absolutism that drives me insane- it's like... really uncomfortable.

Anyway, the scientific community is in a uproar, because there has been an immense outbreak of some vaccine-preventable disease, and the blame has fallen to the "anti-vaxxers". Firstly, I'd like to say that name-calling behaviour is childish, and it is very, very rude. Like, sure, the outbreak likely happened because someone wasn't vaccinated for whatever reason- accept that and move on! Why is blaming them afterwards useful, in any fucking way? I just think it would be far more productive, to examine the reason as to why they weren't vaccinated. Was it a lack of supplies? Was it a lack of education? What interfered with the circumstances, and what conditions were fulfilled so that the disease spread from one to another? I don't recall "find someone to blame" being a practical strategy in damage control. I'm reading these articles thinking: this has nothing to do with science or morality or health concerns- in its barest forms, it's politics. That is all I fucking see to it. Politics.

Then I keep browsing the internet and I come across shit like this: http://richarddawkins.net/2014/06/anti-vaxxer-and-flat-earther-fired-from-the-view/ and I'm pretty fucking mad. Yeah, I know who Richard Dawkins is. Yes, I read The God Delusion- and I'll tell you what- it was a good book. It was interesting to read, it was adamant in its stance and it did not allow for a shred of doubt or cynicism. That's why I praise it, and that's why I hated it, at the same time. The arguments seemed logical, for sure,but whether or not they are reasonable, I think is up for debate. I also don't understand why religion and science cannot coexist. Sure if you're a strict Bible-lover (word for word, everything literal) it was never going to work out, so we'll give up on that, but if one simply pines for the existence of a higher order, I don't think that necessarily leaves one devoid of all sense and reason.

Now it was the caption to that article which pissed me off, hard. Taken from their Facebook page as of today, I have: "It was announced Thursday that Jenny McCarthy, who thinks vaccines cause autism, and Sherri Shepherd, who once questioned the shape of the Earth, were fired from The View."  Like, alright, fine. Two people got fired. But I'll tell you what, she's probably not the only one who thinks vaccines cause autism, and we shouldn't write people off like that, even if it's far too easy for us to say those people are ignorant or blatantly-retarded. Well, I don't know her personally. She COULD be blatantly retarded, for all I know. That's not the problem. The problems lies in the fact that, people have very real fears, and the fear is that vaccines cause autism. They don't. The fear is ridiculous. But if you believed in it, what kind of monster would you have to be, to want to give your children a dose of autism? Nobody wants to do that, nobody wants to risk that- the study have not supported the link at all- but do you think people want to read studies? Do they want to study statistical significance and distributions and to go back to the maths they've forgotten since year 12- if they got up to year 12? Hell, even I don't want to do that. What people need is greater media exposure to the EVIDENCE, explanations. Nobody responds nicely to insults like "anti-vaxxers are so dumb, wtf".

As for the second part- "Sherri Shepherd, who once questioned the shape of the Earth". Well, fuck you, I, too, also questioned the shape of the Earth, ONCE UPON A TIME. Maybe our Earth depended on the shell of a giant turtle supported by elephants- I didn't know, until someone told me the Earth was round and orbited the Sun, and that's how we derive the concept of days, months and seasons. So what am I, a "turtle-Earther" now? Fucking hell.

Alright alright, I'm done venting. Going to wrap up my rant now. People are stupid, I know. I complain about the same thing too often. Except recognizing faults in others doesn't lead to self-improvement, and it won't necessarily lead to the most efficient or useful solution. Regardless of what other people do, and how hard it is for us; slowly, we learn. We learn to forgive, we learn to tolerate, and we learn to be kind.