tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post1078005143980589388..comments2024-03-27T14:50:47.345-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: Child Abuse and the Anti-Vaccination MovementLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-8967960810740974742009-04-16T07:16:00.000-04:002009-04-16T07:16:00.000-04:00What's the answer? Maybe all scientific journals s...<I>What's the answer? Maybe all scientific journals should become open access so that the average person can actually seek out published information on the web. Where does all of this distrust in scientists/doctors come from? I think that's one of the main problems here.</I>Who is going to read them? Even if people had the intellectual ability to do it (and hey don't), they would much rather watch TV all day than read science papers. <br /><br />The problem is the collective failure of society to define being educated as something positive and necessary. No amount of forced education is sufficient to teach people who don't want to learn. Until we start developing individuals who are actively looking to learn things about the world around them, from the very beginning of their life, nothing will change. But will never happenGeorgi Marinovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12226357993389417752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-2037618722745483972009-04-15T23:30:00.000-04:002009-04-15T23:30:00.000-04:00Jim and Jenny seem kinda "confused" about what exa...Jim and Jenny seem kinda "confused" about what exactly is their point.386sxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-45240289138266885412009-04-15T17:28:00.000-04:002009-04-15T17:28:00.000-04:00Anonymous
Do you really think that the people who...Anonymous<br /><br />Do you really think that the people who believe the anti-vaccination propaganda would read anything that attacked/contradicted the views of the anti-vaccination movement?<br /><br />PS What is a "sandybox"? Inquiring minds want to know.Veronica Abbasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07037599323472646996noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-90836075393158587912009-04-15T15:03:00.000-04:002009-04-15T15:03:00.000-04:00Anonymous writes: "What's the answer? Maybe all sc...<I>Anonymous writes: "What's the answer? Maybe all scientific journals should become open access so that the average person can actually seek out published information on the web"</I>What good would it do for my grandmother to be able to read 'Nature' or 'Cell' on a weekly basis? What could she take from that? Those papers are hard enough for our M.Sc. and Ph.D. students to grasp, let alone people without any background knowledge.<br /><br />The distrust of science and medicine is, I think, in large part due to the overwhelming success of the disciplines. We have the luxury of complaining about measles vaccines because millions upon millions of us are not dying of measles, thanks to the vaccines. We have forgotten the horrors of measles, and polio, and all the other diseases that no longer plague us. And more importantly, we've forgotten <B>why</B> they no longer plague us.<br /><br />The public's (mis)interpretation of science is not our fault as scientists. We simply do not have many people who are not professional scientists or physicians, but who still retain knowledge of basic principles of science or medicine (Andre Picard is one notable exception I can think of).Mikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09297263039516044615noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-59180000143582701012009-04-15T14:50:00.000-04:002009-04-15T14:50:00.000-04:00"How can anyone in their right mind think that vac..."How can anyone in their right mind think that vaccinations are so dangerous that the risk is worth it?"<br /><br />Well this all ties back to many of the things you've talked about before: bad science journalism, the Gary Goodyear fiasco / religion vs. science, etc. It's so easy to sit there and say, "What's wrong with these people?", but it points to a deeper failure of scientists and educators to inform the general public about the body of knowledge that has been accumulated over the centuries by doctors/scientists/etc. What's the answer? Maybe all scientific journals should become open access so that the average person can actually seek out published information on the web. Where does all of this distrust in scientists/doctors come from? I think that's one of the main problems here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-51304444720591640062009-04-15T13:06:00.000-04:002009-04-15T13:06:00.000-04:00The sad part is that incompetent nincompoop Healy ...The sad part is that incompetent nincompoop Healy occupied the position later held by the distinguished Nobel Prize winning physician, Dr. Harold Varmus, who, incidentally, is one of President Obamas' top science advisers.SLCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-86280676556519937632009-04-15T12:18:00.000-04:002009-04-15T12:18:00.000-04:00I just happened to catch a discussion among people...I just happened to catch a discussion among people who deliberately allowed their children to catch chicken pox because that was so much more "natural" than the varicella vaccine.<br /><br />I was immediately banned from the message board after sharing about my three bouts of shingles (so far, and I'm 33), and the sad story of my clarinet teacher who killed herself after shingles rendered her deaf.<br /><br />Congratulations, asshats, you've set your children up for a lifetime of suffering. That's love.PersonalFailurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03034292023591747601noreply@blogger.com