"I'm not anti-idiot, but..."
Some of you know the anti-vaccine movement is one of my bêtes noires. I don't discuss it much here, because this is my personal journal, not a current events blog; anti-vaxxers rarely impact my life so directly I feel the need to froth and rant about it here. Nonetheless, it's an important issue: Vaccines save lives. There is simply no rational reason to doubt it. People who spread FUD about vaccination are not merely uninformed, they're actively harmful. By urging others to forgo vaccination, you urge them deliberately to risk illness and death. That's the part that really bothers me; if you were to claim gravity is a lie spread by Big Aviation to sell more airplane tickets, I'd think your ignorance troubling, but not actively wicked. When you start urging others to throw themselves off rooftops, you've upgraded yourself from silly to dangerous.
Still, I feel the need to smirk at a trend I've noticed recently: Often anti-vax folks are prefacing their comments with "I'm not anti-vaccine, but..."
I think that's absolutely lovely. It reminds me of the way people always begin racist drivel with "I'm not racist, but..." It's an implicit admission that being associated with the anti-vaxxers harms your credibility. "I know you'll all think I'm one of those anti-vax kooks, but really and truly, I'm not a kook! Look, I'm barely even anti-vax! I don't even like that bubbleheaded anti-science lunatic Jenny McCarthy all that much! Er, no, I don't want to get rid of vaccination, I just... uh... Green Our Vaccines! Too Many Too Soon! Also mercury is toxic! And there are chemicals in vaccines!! Oh gee look at the time gotta go bye!"
It's really not a good sign when both a movement and its supporters start distancing themselves from their putative goals. Thus I smirk.
tl;dr: HAW HAW!
Still, I feel the need to smirk at a trend I've noticed recently: Often anti-vax folks are prefacing their comments with "I'm not anti-vaccine, but..."
I think that's absolutely lovely. It reminds me of the way people always begin racist drivel with "I'm not racist, but..." It's an implicit admission that being associated with the anti-vaxxers harms your credibility. "I know you'll all think I'm one of those anti-vax kooks, but really and truly, I'm not a kook! Look, I'm barely even anti-vax! I don't even like that bubbleheaded anti-science lunatic Jenny McCarthy all that much! Er, no, I don't want to get rid of vaccination, I just... uh... Green Our Vaccines! Too Many Too Soon! Also mercury is toxic! And there are chemicals in vaccines!! Oh gee look at the time gotta go bye!"
It's really not a good sign when both a movement and its supporters start distancing themselves from their putative goals. Thus I smirk.
tl;dr: HAW HAW!