NOTICE: This post will be edited as the conversation continues on the other blog...
No, I'm not ranting about vaccinations... But someone on MystBlogs was. I'm going to warn you now; it's not a pretty post. Whoever this person is (a very recent addition to MystBlogs, it seems, or at least someone who hasn't posted in a long time), they've decided to take it upon themselves to call every parent who doesn't give their kids vaccines an idiot... It wouldn't have necessarily bothered me, because this, after all, is some random person with absolutely no stories to back up their claims. It's all a rant to let the entire planet know what they feel, whether it's right or wrong. They don't care... Just another typical personal blogger. Give someone a microphone, an audience, and total anonymity, and they'll make fools of themselves every time. (What? Hey! Stop looking at me like that... My political commentaries are rooted in fact. I provide links to sources and everything. This guy? Not so much. And as far as my anonymity goes, I just want to make it clear that I don't have personal contact information up on my site because I still live with my parents... I have always planned to release some real-world contact info once I get a house of my own. Anyway, on to the task at hand!)
Now... I don't usually take these posts so seriously, but, guess what? I'm a parent who thinks vaccinations are probably the single worst thing you can do to a child. Well... I'm not a parent yet. But I've discussed, on two separate occasions (here and here), my personal experience with vaccines. Basically, I was very sick with some disease that our family doctor couldn't diagnose for months, and when I wasn't getting better, was referred to a specialist who immediately recognized my condition as HSP, and I was immediately admitted to a hospital. Once I got in the hospital, it was only 2 days and then a long period of recovery, but I was sick for a very long time before then. According to sites, as I've mentioned before, there are two ways to contract HSP: One is "nobody knows how", and the other is "vaccinations." It was either measles or smallpox... I don't remember, but if anyone's interested in knowing, I can consult my parents. (But they're asleep right now, so you'll have to wait.) My brother was started on the standard progression of injections and displayed allergic reactions... Basically, his blood pressure went through the roof as a DIRECT result of the vaccines. My parents then made the decision that they wouldn't give us any more vaccinations. Three more babies later, nobody's had a single vaccine and we're all doing just fine. No serious health issues.
Now, to make what could be a very long post short, here's the comment I left for the person in question:
It was difficult to read through your... Tactless ranting. Did you even bother to search for news articles discussing the possibilities of autism being linked to vaccines? Try this Google Link for starters: autism linked vaccination. It's not exactly some brain-dead parents' foolish misconception of how medical science works... There's some real articles out there that go well beyond "crazy parent syndrome". To be honest, I don't blame anyone at all for balking at the idea of vaccines with all the reports of problems we've had over the years, and for someone to call them irresponsible is just wrong. They made a judgment call in what they think is in the best interest of their own children. If you want to take the chance with injecting your own children with mercury, that's fine with all of us, but I'm personally thankful that my parents stopped giving me injections... In fact, I contracted a health problem called HSP that only occurs as a delayed reaction to one of the few vaccinations I DID receive. My brother was given injections at a very young age and he displayed an allergic reaction to them. It's not all crazy people being afraid of rumors... There's some hard facts and experience behind these ideas.
Having done a fair bit of research on the effects of vaccinations myself, I find it very discouraging that people like yourself would post something like this without anything to back themselves up. But, then again, this is a personal blog, isn't it... Heaven forbid that anyone does any fact checking for a public journal that's intended to tell the world what you think, whether it's right or wrong.
Now, having said that, I want to refer you to an older article about a certain family and chain of events that seems to have been buried as quickly as possible by the mainstream media. The father was a neurologist and the mother was simply referred to as a doctor... Either way, these two people know something about medical science. You know what THEY said? They successfully won a settlement that claimed their daughter developed autism BECAUSE of the vaccinations she was given at a young age. These aren't just some witless parents who are afraid of some rumors flying around... These are medical doctors we're talking about. Let's also not forget that the court also agreed with their assessment that the vaccinations caused autism. The court agreed with the two doctors... The two parents who noticed their child started displaying austistic traits after receiving vaccinations. That sounds a little above and beyond hysterical morons, wouldn't you agree? Tell me... Do you still adhere to the belief that parents are idiots for thinking autism can be caused by vaccinations? It sounds to me that they're listening to some very solid evidence that supports that thought.
So yes... I just had to make a comment because it's my hobby to point out when people are wrong!
EDIT 1: In response to a reply comment to my own, I have further expanded on my own opinions. I encourage you to visit their site and read what they said, though. I won't post their own comments here, because I think that since this is a conversation that began on their site, people should at least be willing to visit and drum up the hits for their blog, too. But I WILL, however, post my own comments so that you can see the broader picture of where I'm coming from:
Interesting... So you're still calling them morons for hearing about a study (and a huge court case that went in favor of two doctors who said the vaccines caused autism) even when nothing is "proven"? Isn't that just airing on the side of caution? Isn't that called making an educated decision until proof DOES come out? In either case, pumping someone full of mercury and other odd chemicals simply can't be good for you... You said people think austism is a bacteria when nobody has said anything of the sort. They're saying that the increased amounts of mercury, in some cases, have been shown to increase the chances of autism. Mercury affects the mind and nervous system... How is that not something that could exacerbate and even cause autism at a very young age where things are still developing? I still think you have some facts mixed up and are basing an attack off not nearly enough evidence. There's enough evidence out there to show that there's something up with vaccines, and some parents are taking the initiative to stop having them done until more information is out. I don't call that idiotic... I call that caution and concern for the health of their own children. If you don't see anything wrong with it, then you are by all means free to keep the injections going, but you specifically called everyone a moron for thinking vaccines could be dangerous.
It's therefore odd that you think people being shunned from society for this is ridiculous... I mean, you made a pretty heated post telling everyone how dumb they were for thinking this. Unless you've managed to calm down and think rationally, it seems you're part of that group of people who thinks it's better off for parents to just fill their kids full of junk and darn them all if they don't think it's right.
Also, if you read my own blog, you'd see that I've made it a hobby of mine to address things like this. Controversial subjects of a more or less political nature. It's what I do... and I read MystBlogs... and when I saw this post on it, I had nothing to do with my time, so I decided to make a comment. I wouldn't call it "feeding on negativity", because I'm not angry, as you were so apt to point out. Coming across as a self-proclaimed Christian conservative, I get many a comment addressed to my controversial posts. Personally, I have absolutely no issue with someone who returns to have a civilized conversation, only with those who show up to tell me how wrong I am without ANYTHING to back themselves up, and then run away when I rebut them with more information to the contrary. I've grown used to it, but I've come to realize that my controversial posts are the most interesting to the world at large... Sure, there's some people who feed off negativity, but I also tend to think that nobody finds posts about my personal life interesting in the least bit. It's like me not caring in the least bit about your other posts because I don't know you. Those posts mean nothing to me... But you finally made a post I could relate to, I felt I should comment on it, and then you think it's weird when people DO comment on it. Wasn't this entire inflammatory post intended to stir up conversation? People shouldn't write this kind of stuff if they don't intend on people seeing it and stopping by to give you a piece of their own mind, especially after seeing you give THEM a piece of YOUR mind. It takes a while to get used to, but expect only your closest friends to read your blog regularly if you're just rehashing your life, and then expect the floodgates to open when you make an opinion piece about a hot topic of the day. There's a slight difference in target audience when you do that, and the target audience WILL respond.