Tuesday, February 3, 2015

How Strongly Should We Object to the Anti-Vaxxers?


There has been so much rubbish from the right wingnuts, including Rand Paul's totally bogus claim about severe 'mental disorders' caused by vaccinations, that is reminiscent of Michele Bachmann's LIE about HPV Vx and mental retardation.

If the language below seems a bit vulgar and excessive, then consider it in the context not only of political liars on the topic of vaccinations, who are blatantly trolling the radical right anti-vaxxers for votes, but also in the context of those who KNOW better, and genuinely do not give a flying .....FIG.....about the painful, debilitating illness or death of you, or your child, or an elderly person in your family that you love, or those with illnesses or injuries that compromise their immune system that you cherish.

Here is an example of the ignorant, arrogant, selfish, foolish, and just plain callously cruel anti-vaxxer attitudes, from azfamily.com:

 In this anti-vax context, the strong language below seems more than justified. If someone told you to your fact that their child was 'pure' and they didn't care if their child caused deafness, brain damage including retardation, sterility, or painful death to your child, you would understandably feel the same way. Many people do. All the more so because what the anti-vaxxers believe is factually false, a myth, one being promoted by extremist, radical right wing religious lunatics. Clearly, except for those who for legitimate medical reasons cannot be vaccinated, it IS time to make vaccinations mandatory, and to end the option of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children for reasons of 'purity' or debunked junk science. I'd like to take it a step further.  If someone does not vaccinate their child, or is an unvaccinated adult, and public health authorities trace another child or adult becoming infected with measles to that decision, to someone in their family who is not vaccinated, then I think the infected individual (or an adult acting for them) should be able to sue for damages.  Also, municipalities and state and federal agencies should be able to pursue those individuals to recover increased public health costs, over and above what is already budgeted for by their taxes, because of the deliberate causation of additional expense by a few people acting intentionally.  These libertarians like to talk about taking responsibility for themselves and their choices; so let's hold them to that.  When they cause damages and loss and expense with their choices -- make them pay!  And/or make them conform to being members of a civilized society. That is really the antithesis of Libertarianism.  But all of us, our society, economy, civilization have a vested interest in living together cooperatively and rationally. If the anti-vaxxers have to own, to pay for the full, actual results of their decisions and choices, then I would venture it will be the anti-vaxxers, not the pro-vaxxers, dropping the f-bomb.  

No comments:

Post a Comment