The Vaccines vs Torch Wielding Mobs debate continues

And that’s why candidate reactions to this issue are important. Compared to economics or foreign policy, the issue isn’t that major. However, their chosen stances say a lot about either a candidate’s attitude towards science or their willingness to pander and sell out to win votes, two very important considerations when I decide which one to support.

Also, restaurants should be able to not require employees to wash their hands after using the bathroom.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/in-the-loop/wp/2015/02/03/the-next-public-health-debate-hand-washing/?tid=sm_fb

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), at the end of an appearance Monday at the Bipartisan Policy Center, volunteered a story about “his bias when it comes to regulatory reform.”

Tillis said he was at a Starbucks in 2010 talking to a woman about regulations and where businesses should be allowed to opt out. His coffee companion challenged him, asking whether employees there should be required to wash their hands.

“As a matter of fact I think this is one where I think I can illustrate the point,” he recalled telling her. “I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says we don’t require our employees to wash our hands after leaving the restroom. The market will take care of that. It’s one example.”

Why require a sign? Just let them all do what they want.

Part of the issue is “herd immunity” however. The idea is that even if the occasional kid cannot be immunized or that the immunization doesn’t “take” for whatever reason, the statistical chance that the sick kid will infect another at-risk kid is minimal.

So even when you had the occasional hippy-dippy mother who refused to immunize, they’d be so widely spaced it wouldn’t necessarily do a lot of harm

But when you have a mega-church that preaches this crap, they all tend to cluster together and infect each other and the density of infected kids running around means that the at-risk kids in that area are much more likely to get infected.

tl;dr: There may be more hippy idiots than religious idiots, but concentrated idiocy is worse than diffuse idiocy in this case.

We covered this upthread…the “hippie” hypothesis beloved of the right is not really supported by evidence: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/01/26/the-biggest-myth-about-vaccine-deniers-that-theyre-all-a-bunch-of-hippie-liberals/

That doesn’t seem too far off from, “Do you believe in evolution?”

I didn’t literally mean hippies, and didn’t even know that was a suggestion, just that younger people are far more likely to be anti-vaccine skeptics, and younger voters obviously skew heavily democrat. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/02/03/young-adults-are-driving-vaccine-skepticism-in-the-u-s/

Anecdotally, the only people I know who are anti-vaccine are young, vegan, very anti-establishment types. It’s just as much a religion to them as any of the scientologists, etc.

In my totally anecdotal experience, you have the new-agers, the home schooling crowd, and the conspiracy theorist group that seem to make up the “doubters.” I suspect anyone who was around for polio is likely inoculated from this particular brand of stupid.

Well, the studies do support the notion that many clusters of non-vaccinated fools (or more correctly, children of fools) actually ARE poltiically left leaning. But, as that article points out (while also citing the article supporting that notion) that doesn’t mean that most of the fools are liberal.

However, I am actualy heartened by the fact that both sides are scrambling to try and associate this idiocy with their political enemies. It’s about time the parties were saying, “Hey now, those imbeciles aren’t with US!”

And really, I think that’s the REAL situation. Anti-vaxers aren’t right or left. They’re just idiots, who happen to be members of various political ideologies… and all of us should join together in condemning their idiocy.

Agreed 100%, Timex.

Here here!

Let us join hands and denounce these fools!

(note: not sarcastic at all. I’ll gladly voice agreement with even the most ardent Tea Partier that denounces anti-vax.)

Agreed as well. I wish more of our so-called leaders would, too. There are things I like about Rand Paul, but after his recent statements, I’m writing him off as a potential nominee. Same goes for anyone else who caters to these anti-science fools, of whatever party.

So we are done here?

Obviously, the thing to now do is harass, threaten, and dox the morons … no, wait - wrong thread.

Your sense of fairness is pretty skewed.

Quite.

Politicians in the UK didn’t help when they refused to say if their kids were vaccinated at the height of that ****er’s Wakefield’s popularity either.

All the anti-vaxxers I know here in Michigan (direct family and close family friends) are hardcore Republican Christians. Not Christian Scientists nor Jehovah’s Witness, but people who dislike doctors and scientists because they think all of it is a threat to their belief systems, and worse that they are somehow smarter than anyone with scientific or medical background because they have Google (or their Pastor or Chiropractor promotes alternative medicine). It is frustrating how selfish they are when it comes to vaccines as they would rather kill a child with leukemia or another immunocomprised person than have their children given a safe vaccine. Interestingly, I think if one of their kids were to die of Measles… the 2 in a 1,000 that die from the disease, or from Mumps, Rubella, or the other complications thereof… they would just claim it was “God’s Will” and not accept nor recognize it was their ignorance that killed their child.

Here’s a sobering article to read: http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/02/open-letter-parent-unvaccinated-child-measles-exposure

Everyone is opposed to nuclear power. It doesn’t require the President to approve a plant or a waste dump. There have been plenty of Republican presidencies and Republican congresses with no progress in this area whatsoever. All those red states have been just as adamant in refusing to build new plants and storage facilities as blue ones. Radiation is just too scary for people to accept, and will be forever until they are faced with the clear choice of blackouts or new power plants. Sad and illogical and also a political hot potato, but not demarcated by party lines. Anyone who supports a local nuclear power facility will be destroyed in the next election.

And that’s why we will keep burning coal while pretending to care about global warming.

I’ve had the other experience, they’re always “the evil gubmint!” kinds of folks. Then again, the Hippy GMO crowd might just be smart enough not to say shit that I can detect because they know I’d come down on them like an anvil.

I suspect they’re an even mix of stupidity for mostly the same reasons. It’s all a conspiracy, but they just differ on who runs this shadow network - the government or the corporations.

Well half of us deny that has anything to do with it. Makes it a lot easier to do nothing.