3 ms·
I really, really don't want to start a flame war here, and I'm trying very hard not to make any statements about any individuals or even groups of individuals.
by MoreMoschops 16y ago
I really, really don't want to start a flame war here, and I'm trying very hard not to make any statements about any individuals or even groups of individuals. I thought my framing of it was pretty even-handed, but fair enough.
I wasn't aware that there were any serious effective alternatives to vaccination (besides living in a sterile bubble) and I just did a quick search. Obviously it has been only the most superficial look, but I'm seeing things like homeopathy and acupuncture recommended (as well as changes in diet, which I think is very optimistic indeed when confronted with the horrors of Polio), and at risk of offending, I'm still not convinced there are any effective alternatives. Of course, it was only a brief search, so I'm by no means stating that there aren't any; just that they're not in the top of the google list :)
However, this is at risk of turning into an off-topic digression and, even worse, one of those vaccer vs. anti-vaccer flame wars.
Back on topic, go go Bill Gates. If he decides to spend his fortune killing a disease, I for one will consider the years of putting up with MS Windows an extremely good deal.
I bet I wasn't careful enough and I've sparked a war now. :(
- Mz 16y agoNo, you've been very polite and I am not inclined towards flame wars. It's just obvious you are coming from an assumption that skipping vaccines is a bad idea. I've replied to another poster regarding alternatives. I see no reason to repeat that here. (FWIW: If anyone gets downvoted into hell, it will be me. HN has a long history of being very strongly pro-vaccine. That is unlikely to change any time soon.)
- shadowsun7 16y agoHN has a long history of being very strongly pro-vaccine. No. HN has a long history of being pro-evidence. (As opposed to being pro-vaccine). If you give us strong, irrefutable evidence that vaccines cause harm, and you give us an alternative that is - again - proven to be comparable, there is a high probability that we would all turn on a dime.
- Mz 16y agoI've participated in threads like this before. I can't find the quote, but someone once said something to me along the lines of "They disagree with you because it is an insanely stupid position." It got lots of upvotes. So I believe the view here is biased in a pro-vaccine way. Most of the conversations here concerning vaccines don't dispassionately discuss the facts. Instead, they routinely make sweeping negative characterizations of the anti-vax crowd. It's always a pleasure when someone here asks genuinely interested questions concerning my views. But a lot of the replies (to me and to others who are not anti-vax) are basically attacking and dismissive.
- tptacek 16y agoThere are a lot of "positions" we're not going to be able to have an evenhanded conversation about. Positions that seem to have the effect of killing kids are probably among them.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]