by Cyborg Girl » Thu Sep 15, 2016 6:43 pm
Just saw a Facebook discussion about the dangers of vaccines, showcasing massive willful ignorance of things like herd immunity. It also wandered into a sub-discussion of raw veganism (which is a stupid idea), how a raw natural diet would prevent and cure mental illnesses (it won't), how people with depression should ditch their medications and go vegan (ha ha), how humans used to live much longer (they didn't), etc.
I was unable to comment for obscure Facebook reasons. One of my friends did comment, twice, with well-supported facts... And was ignored. Someone else who I didn't know, who happened to have a degree in public health, did the same... And was dismissed, rudely 'splained at, and eventually likewise ignored.
WHY?!
a) Glomming onto every form of pseudoscience out there is a *stupid* way of protesting the scientific establishment, or whatever the hell the cause might be.
b) The reason you're being compared to global warming deniers is that you are doing the same thing, on an almost fallacy-for-fallacy basis.
c) Anti-vaccine crap has lead to deaths, and communicable diseases are a huge factor in keeping many countries in poverty. Medical pseudoscience is not progressive.
d) Fascists who literally want to kill people I know are saying that, hey, those pansy liberal SJWs are useless because they deny reality, and therefore impede society's functioning in reality and are a danger. You are denying reality, at the cost of society's functioning. You are making the murderous Fascists look demonstrably correct in the public eye. Your thoughtless rebelliousness is enabling violence.
... Also, telling someone with depression that they don't really need their medications is ignorant, arrogant, and frankly a kind of ableism.
Also? Don't tell someone that their statement is "their truth", and then proceed to dismiss it and them. This is insulting and disingenuous. We both know very well which "truth" you consider more valid.
... Okay, yeah. I think that's it.
*seethes*