There was a recent flurry of interest in the fact that a government program “admitted” that vaccines may be related to autism. This article explains why that is and suggests that the VICP has gone off the reservation and is now accepting non-scientific input. That is very bad news when measles epidemics are returning for the first time in 30 years and a school has to close because of whooping cough. Children are going to die because of this nonsense.
Tags: autism, measles, vaccine, whooping cough
Feelings are more important than facts, it appears.
Especially when politics gets involved.
Bradley, I think that politics is *about* distilling complex issues down onto a bumper sticker.
For some of my students, it is “Boo War! Yaaay Drugs!”
For others, it is “GOP Bad, Democrat Good.”
I once saw a bumper sticker that read: “My political opinions don’t fit onto this bumper sticker. How about you?”
Mostly, it is about projecting one’s own views onto others.
So all Republicans are racist, and hate poor people—even if history shows that view to be, well, not very nuanced.
But is easier to get whooping crowds with extremist slogans.
As for the vaccination mess, politicians don’t want to be honest about bad news. I can promise you that none of the candidates know as much about biology as any of my freshmen. So they deal with “feelings” instead of fact.
It’s tough to get votes with fact.
But not to worry. They all flip flop on issues where it best serves them. Why, Barack Obama is wearing a flag pin these days—after poo-poohing the wearing of such pins six months ago.
It’s about the votes. Sadly.
But politicians are like children with the ability to break things but rarely the knowledge to make or repair them.
Politicians are always looking for angles that resonate with voter. You never know what it’ll be; you think you’ve got some good issues but no one seems to care. So you grasp for others..this goes for newbies as well as incumbents trying to hang on to their seats.
In the 2006 election cycle lots of people on both sides grabbed the Jessica’s Law movement – who could lose on that one? Knowing from personal experience how draconian our laws already are, I dragged my feet. I just don’t have it to be a pol.
So, the thimoserol issue probably looks pretty good to these turkeys right now. The antis care very deeply and the rest don’t really know and it *sounds* like it might be true.
cassandra, this is why we have all these expensive health mandates in state law. Each lobby, the acupuncturists are the latest in California, goes to the Legislature and says, “If you’ll give us just this one thing, we’ll be satisfied and will contribute to your campaign.” Now, in California, every (EVERY !!!) injured worker has the right to a trial of acupuncture consisting of 4 to 6 sessions. We cannot deny authorization even though there was just a double blind study from Germany showing it does NOT work for back pain. The victim always wins.
I read similar article also named The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has lost its bearings, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me