Show Notes - Hyperbole gets you no where

 

Courtesy of Right Wing Watch

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/beck-anti-vaxxers-are-being-persecuted-just-galileo

"I'm interested in moving to common sense. I'm interested in moving in the direction of freedom," Beck said. "And so when it comes to these measles vaccinations, we have a lot in common with the left ... and we have to reach out to allies."

Common sense dictates one follows the evidence as presented by science - vaccines work.  Freedom has a price as a citizen of this country; that is following the mandates and laws of our country.  Vaccines are not a rallying point for partisan politics.

"We don't know what is going on with autism.  We dont know what is happening to our children and our families."

We may not know what causes Autism, but science is working damn hard figuring it out.  Researchers have identified a number of genes associated with the disorder and studies of people with Autism have found irregularities in several regions of the brain.

Other studies suggest that people with Autism have abnormal levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain.  Leading researchers to explore disruption of normal brain development early in fetal development.
While these findings are intriguing, they are preliminary and require further study.   

Although science has not given us a "specific" answer as to the cause, it has given us therapies and behavioral interventions that have improved the outcomes for those affect and their families.  Science has also given us a means to properly diagnose and begin the above therapies at a much earlier age.

What the numbers were for Autism 25 years ago,,, 1 in 300 now have autism, it used to be 1 in 5000,,,if this trend continues, by 2025 1 in every 2 will have autism.

Actually Glenn it is 1 in 68 that have been diagnosed with Autism.  Or put correctly 1 in 68 have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

What you fail to qualify in your statement is that most individuals now diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder would never have qualified under the 1980 classification, a classification that did not separate out schizophrenia prior to that time. So it’s not surprising that numbers have increased in the U.S.

Rates of autism have not changed significantly over the past couple of decades, and a 2013 study found that identified autistic children “clustered” where resources for diagnosis and treatment were greater. In other words, where there’s more access to diagnostic services, the autism rate is higher.

And Glenn, citing a paper by Stephanie Seneff, not a smart move if you want to be taken seriously.

Seneff is a researcher, at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.  She is not a biologist; she is not a chemist. And she likes to make up fancy words - exogenous semiotic entropy - it exist no where but her paper.  [A point I should have made in regards to her academic standing, "That does not mean she is wrong – it just means it is misleading to cite her as a researcher and authority. She has published only speculations and gives many presentations, but has not created any new data,,, The dramatic claim she is currently making, the one prompting many scary headlines, is that “Half of All Children Will Be Autistic by 2025.” This is not based on any new research. It is simply a naïve extrapolation of current trends indefinitely into the future – which is always dubious. Seneff is also naively equating correlation with causation.]

As Derek Lowe, a real live organic chemist writing for Corante, so aptly summarizes: "But the evidence given for these assertions, and their connection with disease, while it might look alarming and convincing to someone who has never done research or read a scientific paper, is a spiderweb of “might”, “could”, “is possibly”, “associated with”, and so on. The minute you look at the actual evidence, things disappear."

“If you happen to be a parent and you say, you know, ‘I’m sorry. God gave me a brain, God gave me personal choice and responsibility for those choices, I’m going to say no to those vaccines because I’ve done my homework. Nobody that hasn’t done their homework says no to vaccines.”

“Here’s another group of people that are now being rounded-up and pointed at and called morons and idiots and crackpots and crazies,” he said. “Just totally discredited … Where is anybody saying ‘my gosh, we’re living in the days of Galileo’? The church has become the state and if you don’t practice their religion exactly the way they tell you to practice it, you’re done.”

So, if I understand Beck correctly, these brave individual who cling to a thoroughly discredited study claiming a link between vaccines and autism are actually the modern equivalent of Galileo?

There’s only one tiny problem with the analogy, (besides the fact it didn't work last year with the creationist that Beck assigned the Galileo stature too) Galileo was a scientist.  His findings (that the Earth revolves around the Sun) were based on scientific observation and demonstrable, repeatable proof,,, the Wakefield study of 1998 was not.

So these "morons and idiots and crackpots and crazies" are being discredited with scientific facts.  Then again, perhaps anti-vaxxers should be persecuted as well.

Remember that personal responsibility you spoke of, here is what I have to say:  When your choices result in the deaths of others, you do deserve persecution.   So when you choose not to protect your child and others from preventable diseases, you should be held accountable as well.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-literally-stands-and-applauds-parents-who-are-refusing-have-their-children-vaccin

So too you Mr. Beck, I say, Sit down and shut the fuck up!!

Another Beckism in regards to the Measles outbreak:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-measles-outbreak-hoax-meant-convince-people-obey-government

A rebuttal of sorts,,,

==========
More Info:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/autism-prevalence-unchanged-in-20-years/
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-genetic-suspects-autism-20141230-story.html
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2015/02/08/5495666/could-autism-and-chemo-brain-share.html#.VNiRFi7jIZx

What do you think?
http://gizmodo.com/the-anti-vaccine-movement-should-be-ridiculed-because-1683258152 [Courtesy of Dave Foda]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/revoke-the-license-of-any-doctor-who-opposes-vaccination/2015/02/06/11a05e50-ad7f-11e4-9c91-e9d2f9fde644_story.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/01/30/amid-measles-outbreak-anti-vaccine-doctor-revels-in-his-notoriety/
http://robertmoorejr.tumblr.com/post/110101466091/im-an-anti-braker [Another Dave Foda contributed article]

More to watch and listen to:
Myth: Vaccine Deniers Are All Hippie Liberals - David Pakman Show

The Vaccine War | FRONTLINE | PBS

Paul Offit, MD, on Measles in the Magic Kingdom and the Anti-Vaccine Movement