More and more I think that once this mess is over, they should hang RFK Jr.
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Oh, for crying out loud…
Measles is a solved problem! If we got the vaccination rates high enough for everyone, everywhere, it would die out! There’s no good reason for this to be happening!
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Why wait?
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Chatting with a friend (who lives in a very red part of Utah) - we both sadly concluded that probably the only thing to break through the antivax programming will be the rise of ‘ye olde nasties’ like Polio, Smallpox or some of the newer ones like Ebola.
In other words it’s got to get really really bad before it gets better - which is ridiculous given all this is easily preventable.
Of course - reassigning/externalizing blame is the fundamental tool of the regressive mindset - so even these extremes might not convince the asshats they’ve been terribly terribly wrong. I suppose Darwin would have some opinions on this (if he were alive today…after he got caught up on all his personal vaccines).
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Where I live there is a strong current of thought that essentially teaches people they should believe that disease is punishment for sin. Everyone sins. Losing some one innocent can also be a punishment for sin. So basically it’s turned into kind of an S&M cult of abuse and shame where ritual child sacrifice via medical negligence is kind of casually accepted but the very people living this damned kind of life are the ones worried about keeping “satan” at bay.
I don’t think there is any fixing this as at this point antivax is quite literally a tenet of some of the largest and most politically influential religions in multiple counties here.
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Don’t link those idiots to the kink community – there’s nothing about them that says ‘consensual.’ Our community is one of ‘opt in’ and I don’t even see an opt out in that group. (Insert additional information about discussion of such topics as playing safely, risk awareness, and avoiding ‘one-true-way’-ism.)
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Was recently talking with someone who works in aviation and lived in various countries from Oceania to Asia. They spent the pandemic in Hong Kong. The few strong beliefs shared with me were 1) the virus was manufactured (I wasn’t going to step into the minefield of asking for what purpose), 2) people who were vaccinated had the worst outcomes, because the inoculations were designed to kill people, and 3) among the unvaccinated, only people in bad physical shape or with pre-existing conditions died.
We need pro-vaccination programming to counter the conspiracy theory mess people have been soaking in for far too long. Just like too many other hoaxes and panics used to control people, they pick something with an emotional punch and set up a boogeyman to blame. It’s gone from autism to “it’s not the disease that will kill you, but Big Pharma.” This is what has folks running around claiming we should all just catch every disease because for healthy people it’s NBD.
No matter how many people die, they always have the “due to hidden health issue” excuse or “would’ve been worse after vaccination” reaction ready. We need to make it clear that the people they are listening to have an agenda. It’s easier to convince people to kill themselves than to kill a lot of people. Their audience is full of folks who seem to really want to believe in conspiracies. We need to give them one that saves lives, instead of the one putting themselves and others at risk.
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Agree. Unfortunately maybe it won’t be until someone sees a loved one bleeding from every orifice as their organs liquify before they come to the realization “yep - that’s wayyyy worse than any bad outcome I’d get from a vaccine”.
And that’s still just a ‘maybe’.
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Agree. The problem comes when the hucksters give simple, absolute, easily understood answers, while we give answers that are citing statistics, contain words like “most likely” and “98%.” I’ve heard way too many times “How am I supposed to believe you when you can’t give a steaight answer and the ones you do give keep changing?” Nothing in science is 100%, that’s just how it goes. And as we learn more, we have better answers. But the root of it, IMHO, comes down to identity. For too many, their identity is tied to not vaccinating, not trusting “them,” only trusting OANN or Faux News. “Christians” for whom Jesus is too woke. Parents who are ok with their kids dying, “because the vaccines sre wore.” I just do not know how to reach them, and i think watching their loved ones die horribly will not reach them either.
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You have a much rosier picture of kink spaces than I do, clearly. There are a lot of abusers looking to find vulnerable people to victimize in the kink community. I had to stop using FetLife cause it was an unending parade of men sending me non-consensual images despite ‘lesbian’ and ‘no men’ in my bio.
While I do have a community, it’s highly curated and requires a baseline level of trust for entry. A lot of people in the larger kink community have tried to engage me while actively violating my boundaries with their very first message. Not a good look.
From my perspective as a queer trans woman, the kink community is highly problematic and trying to minimize it with a ‘no true Scotsman’ argument kinda gives off #notallmen vibes.
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The reference to idiots not to be associated with the kink community wasn’t about kink space at all. It was in reference to framing people with “… a strong current of thought that essentially teaches people they should believe that disease is punishment for sin.” No one is making a true Scotsman argument about some group of kink players.
And yeah, as with any group, your mileage may vary depending on many factors, what you consider community, location, and others.
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I didn’t see @tornpapernapkin link the kink community to those groups though. She said it was an S&M cult, so I guess I don’t see why you made the link in your comment. The people participating in the stuff she was talking about aren’t a part of the kink community at all.
Anyway, I’ve taken this way off topic. Apologies all.
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No surprise, but it did not, in fact, stay out of Colorado.
Officials said an unvaccinated adult was confirmed to have the disease after recently traveling to an area of Mexico that has been experiencing a measles outbreak.
CDPHE confirmed the individual visited Southwest Deli and Cafe at 1873 S. Pueblo Blvd. March 17 through March 21 and the Southern Colorado Clinic at 109 South Burlington Dr. on March 22.
They always post these as though that is the extent of the exposure risk. This bug is incredibly good at infecting humans and hanging in the air waiting for one to come by. And the frequent (understandable) exposure at healthcare sites is particularly concerning, considering that young unvaccinated infants, immunocompromised individuals and potentially intentionally unvaccinated folks would tend to cluster in these sorts of areas. What a mess…
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No words. Vaccinate your kids. They will not.
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I’m starting to think we need a site that displays counters for cases. Figures from previous years/decades could be listed next to them. It might help the public realize / track how the Department of Health and Human Services has changed, especially with the names of department and administration leaders printed at the top. Of course, the figures for those counters would have to come from the state level…
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Interactive map by state for measles cases. My only gritch, and it’s a minor one, is that the TX, NM and OK (and probably KS) outbreaks are all the same outbreak. Dividing it up like that somewhat hides just how bad it is.
I would also caution interpreting the vaccination rates found here. They are accurate for the overall state rates, but that really does not matter. The small-scale, local neighborhood or school level is what matters. And antivaxxers tend to cluster, as mom groups influence each other and scare some off of vaccination. That’s the situation here. We have a good uptake rate overall, but there are communities that we all know have way, way low rates of vaccine uptake and if it gets into those communities, we are screwed.
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Huh. I wonder what caused this dramatic drop in 2020.
I’m certain is wasn’t the widespread use of masks or social distancing, because I have been assured by one doctor that those things do absolutely nothing to stop viruses.
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Yup, it is a mystery…
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