Hey @Tribeca, I fixed some errors in Andrew Wakefield’s bio for you pic.twitter.com/JOMg7SRCuZ
— Joe Hanson (@jtotheizzoe) March 25, 2016
Zombie lies, they’re not just for economics any more! Per the NYTimes:
In a decision that has dredged up the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism, the Tribeca Film Festival plans to screen a film by a discredited former doctor whose research caused widespread alarm about the issue.
The film, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” is directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield, an anti-vaccination activist and an author of a study — published in the British medical journal The Lancet, in 1998 — that was retracted in 2010. In addition to the retraction of the study, which involved 12 children, Britain’s General Medical Council, citing ethical violations and a failure to disclose financial conflicts of interest, revoked Mr. Wakefield’s medical license…
On Friday, Robert De Niro, one of the festival’s founders, said in a statement issued through the festival’s publicists that he supported the plan to show the movie next month, although he said he was “not personally endorsing the film,” nor was he against vaccination.
Mr. De Niro’s statement seemed to suggest that this was the first time he has expressed a preference that a particular film be shown at the festival.
“Grace and I have a child with autism,” he wrote, referring to his wife, Grace Hightower De Niro, “and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening VAXXED.”…
The plan to show the film has unnerved and angered doctors, infectious disease experts and even other filmmakers…
According to the festival’s website, “Vaxxed” will be screened only once, on April 24, the festival’s closing day. A talk with the director and the film’s subjects will follow.
An earlier version of this article suggested that perhaps Mr. de Niro intended to rebut the film during his talk, but that doesn’t seem to be what he’s planning, per Deadline:
…[T]he TFF promotional material could easily be taken to endorse Wakefield’s cause. “Digging into the long-debated link between autism and vaccines, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe features revealing and emotional interviews with pharmaceutical insiders, doctors, politicians, parents, and one whistleblower to understand what’s behind the skyrocketing increase of autism diagnoses today.” Also this: “The most vitriolic debate in medical history takes a dramatic turn when senior-scientist-turned-whistleblower Dr. William Thompson of the Centers for Disease Control turns over secret documents, data and internal emails confirming what millions of devastated parents and ‘discredited’ doctors have long-suspected.”…
One happy effect of De Niro’s statement, according to the LA Times: “The De Niro news does quell reports that actor Leonardo DiCaprio was involved in backing the film — as Wakefield apparently told reporters on a promotional cruise — and even may have been orchestrating its Tribeca screening.”
Trentrunner
Other titles in the Tribeca festival lineup:
Not Round: What Shape IS the Earth, Anyway?
If She Floats, She’s Not a Witch
Astrology: Guiding Our Destiny?
Baud
I’m thinking of going back to school to get a phrenology degree.
I have a feeling it’s a profession that will soon take off.
Baud
Via LGM, more “medical” news.
humboldtblue
May I recommend an excellent short film to view instead of the Wakefield Follies?
It’s a beautiful story of a little boy and his desire to go to the zoo and his sister’s plans to foil that trip.
It’s called Bear Right
MattF
It’s necessary to be reminded, every now and then, that actors are not necessarily intelligent or well-informed. Acting is a craft, and it’s wonderful when someone does it well. But looking to actors for intelligence or good judgement is simply an error.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Yup, they’re going after women who dare to exercise agency in any way, shape, or form.
Amir Khalid
As the father of an autistic child, shouldn’t Robert De Niro already be aware that Andrew Wakefield is a long-discredited fraud? That’s what surprises me most about this.
Linnaeus
At WA Dem caucus. Quite unorganized! :)
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: See Matt F’s comment above yours.
Ken
There’s your first clue that it’s false.
Luthe
@Linnaeus: “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” – Will Rogers
You expected anything else? :)
Redshift
@Amir Khalid:
Since the entire anti-vax movement is driven by parents who want to believe that Wakefield’s research is true, no, that would not generally be a valid assumption.
Linnaeus
We’re caucusing in a hallway!
Ruviana
You can follow these issues from a science-based perspective, at the aptly named Science-Based Medicine and at Respectful Insolence. David Gorski, aka “Orac” runs the latter and blogs with others at former and I do see some familiar commenters there. If you’re looking for snark with a sciency edge both are great!
Geeno
@Amir Khalid: That’s why he must prove it wasn’t his genes that caused the autism, but some nefarious cabal of scientists.
Baud
@Linnaeus: Better than the restroom.
Bobby Thomson
@Amir Khalid: you’d be surprised. I’m the father of a spectrum kid and a lot of people in the community are still whack jobs about it.
Linnaeus
@Baud:
We’re so packed here that I’m sure some precincts are!
schrodinger's cat
@srv: He is a terrible director too. His direction and Matt Damon’s acting managed to make a spy story boring with a capital B.
Benw
@Linnaeus: a raucous caucus!
trollhattan
The anti-vaxxers are too busy self-nailing to an infinite number of crosses to notice 1. having been utterly discredited and 2. they are getting people killed. I’m awaiting the strategic partnership with the Creation Museum.
Less than a year ago we has the spectacle of RFK Jr. coming to town and declaring vaccinations to be a modern “holocaust.” Wingnuts are circulating a California ballot proposition to protect doctors from issuing medical exemptions like lollypops, now that there is no longer a personal exemption. Double-down holding a pair of threes.
Linnaeus
Sanders people definitely skewing younger in my precinct.
pamelabrown53
@Baud:
Okay, Baud. I’m beginning to think that you’re in this election for the grift. Lefty grifting is a nascent sector but your interest in phrenology proves you’re a leader.
SiubhanDuinne
@Linnaeus:
New CLUE™ Categories: Linnaeus, in the hallway, with a caucus.
humboldtblue
@trollhattan:
They aren’t wingnuts, they’re generally affluent crunchy white soccer mom-types. Humboldt County has one of the worst vaccination rates and some of that is partially due to the extreme rural nature of some communities but much more to do with college educated white moms who think vaccines “contaminate their pure children.” It’s fucking galling. The county with the highest rate of non-compliance is Napa if I’m not mistaken.
Linnaeus
@SiubhanDuinne:
LOL. Nice!
Baud
@pamelabrown53: Guy’s gotta eat.
schrodinger's cat
Science, it works even when you don’t believe it.
Miss Bianca
@Linnaeus:
Keep us posted! Updates from the Corridor of Power! : )
smith
What’s breathtaking is his disingenuous explanation that we need a conversation about this. It’s not like there hasn’t been a raging “conversation” for years now, and it’s NOT LIKE LITTLE KIDS AREN’T DYING AS A RESULT.
pamelabrown53
@trollhattan:
“I’m awaiting the strategic partnership with the Creation Museum”.
Spot on. There is a segment of lefty thinking that has me thinking that the outer edges on both sides of the continuum meet in a circular way to form the anti science, batshit crazy cohort.
Brachiator
@Baud:
I understand that you encounter a lot of bumps on the way towards a degree in this field.
pamelabrown53
@Baud:
“Guys gotta eat”.
I’m so with you. I’m an early retiree who has found it prudent to scale back on my pleasure travel. I wonder if Phoenix University has an on-line phrenology “degree” with a minor in Elmer Gantry marketing to the Left.
trollhattan
@humboldtblue:
The worm has turned and in the statehouse, all antivax efforts are coming from Republicans. Here’s the latest data on vaccination rates by county
Dread
Sometime I wish I didn’t have a conscience, so I could sell people magic beans and become rich without having to worry about insomnia.
Stupid Baptist guilt.
Miss Bianca
@Amir Khalid:
You know the thing that makes me angriest about this, is the unspoken presumption that – even if it were true, which it’s not, it’s such complete BS that the fact that this charlatan Wakefield is still opening his cake-hole in any forum without being driven off with hisses and cries of “Shame!!” is *itself* a hissing shame – it’s somehow *worse* to run the risk of your child’s autism by vaccinating than it is to run the risk of his or her DEATH by not doing so.
Yup. Risk of autism is worse than risk of death. Chew on that one for a moment.
Baud
@Dread: It’s the dark side of religion.
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Heh.
Sugar in your tea? One lump or two? Thud.
/Warner Brothers
Baud
@pamelabrown53:
Depends. Do you have money?
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator:
D’oh! : )
pamelabrown53
@Dread:
I always thought that Catholic and Jewish guilt was endemic. Catholic parents and Jewish in-laws led me to believe that these 2 groups had the guilt trips down to a science.
humboldtblue
@trollhattan: Gotcha, and I missed that initiative as well, thanks.
pamelabrown53
@Baud:
“Do [I] have money”?
It takes $ to make $. If I felt I could master the minor in Elmer Gantry marketing then I’d be well on my way to accumulating all sorts of filthy lucre.
Linnaeus
Delegates in my precinct: 4 Sanders, 2 Clinton.
Cacti
Just got back from my first ever caucus.
Give a primary election any day.
What a clusterfuck.
schrodinger's cat
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan sings Naina Thug Lenge (Your eyes will deceive you, don’t believe what you see.) from the movie Omkara, a retelling of Othello set in the dusty plains of India.
pamelabrown53
@Linnaeus:
Thanks for the report. Are you in WA state? If your precinct is representative, sounds like a blow out for Bernie.
Kathleen
@SiubhanDuinne: Almost sounds like the title of a whimsical children’s book.
Miss Bianca
@Cacti:
AK, WA, or HI?
LAO
@pamelabrown53: so sorry to hear about your brother in the previous thread. I’m hoping all ends well.
Re: guilt. I always joke that Catholic guilt is institutional; whereas Jewish guilt is familial.
Kathleen
@Dread: My dad, who was Irish Catholic, also said if he didn’t have any ethics he would have been a televangelist. He could really do the spiel very well (he was a broadcaster).
Kathleen
@pamelabrown53: Irish Catholic guilt represent (especially if raised Catholic female in the 50’s).
Miss Bianca
@pamelabrown53:
Yes, I didn’t comment on the previous thread but was wincing in sympathy.
I have to admit I’m kind of amazed that given how serious your brother’s condition seems to be, he managed to make it all the way to Berlin. Travelling overseas is not the easiest thing to negotiate under the best of circumstances.
Major Major Major Major
Oh lord, I saw the Tribeca thing on Salon the other day. (I read it so I know which of my FB friends are idiots, updated daily.) The article was very anti-Wakefield, which is funny because I remember Salon posting RFK Jr. anti-vax crap back in the day. Such a terrible website.
Cacti
@Miss Bianca:
Washington
MomSense
We Found out a couple years ago that some dear friends are anti vaxxers when several of their children had whooping cough. In the rest of their lives they are sane, science accepting, liberal voting nice people. I still can’t understand how anyone would want to go back to the pre-vaccine days. I figure vaccines, trauma medicine, and antibiotics are three of the best things that ever happened.
In other film news, I’m watching karate kid with the kids and laughing at the 80s clothes, hairstyles, and music. They do not know where the old photos are hidden!
Miss Bianca
@Cacti:
OK, details! – unless it’s just too traumatic to talk about, in which case i’ll beg your pardon and refrain from further pestering.
NotMax
@MomSense
“Wax on … wax off.”
Bartholomew
Hello pretenders! Allies LOL. If you’re waiting for the latest Clinton to swing to defense of the LGBT community in North Caroline, don’t bother … NC black voters have long ganged up with the Rightwing evangelicals to persecute gay people. How awesome that fell grouping is being given the deciding liberal vote: literally it couldn’t be happening without folks like you be.
I wonder if I have any residual anger from watching friends die while the churchy black voters made common cause with their former tormentors, and helped anoint the Con Revolution of 1994. That was something, yes. It was all for God don’t you know. I guess it’s just ancient history, I’m sure the leopards have new spots by now.
You know, it used to be the (screwed up crappy) deal that we all had to vote for the “lesser of two evils” … until … well, right now. Booyah! But then, betrayal IS a lefty trait. The Right’s mirror. Corruption is fine if it’s working for you amirite.
A Dozen Reasons Sanders Voters Are Justifiably Angry at the Media Right Now
Cacti
@Miss Bianca:
Mine was pretty poorly attended. High school gym, maybe half full. Less than 20 people from my precinct showed up (they divide you by precinct). Nobody in mine had any experience with the process, so the Dem Party folks helped us fumble our way through it.
They counted the ballots, calculated delegates for the county convention, asked for volunteers and alternates for that, asked if anyone wanted to change their vote, asked if anyone wanted to speechify for their candidate, asked if anybody had any motions to forward to the state party at the county convention, and then we adjourned.
Took a bit over an hour.
Major Major Major Major
Where are all these Bernie people I’ve never heard of coming from
Cacti
@Bartholomew:
It’s always been the progressive position to blame the ills of society on black people.
#FeelTheBigotry
Major Major Major Major
people don’t even read this blog
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Geeno: He must really hate the correlation between increased paternal age and ASD risk:
Science is an endangered concept in the US
Miss Bianca
@Cacti:
actually, that sounds pretty organized compared to the ones I’ve been to…where in addition to countin’ and speechifyin’ on behalf of your candidate, we also go over state party platform planks…*that* part in ours took longer than the rest of the business put together! Ours took 2 1/2 hours from opening to wrap-up!
Nu, so…delegate breakdown?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Major Major Major Major: “Bartholomew” seems a perfect representative of the worst of BernieBroism. Almost too perfect to be believed.
Cacti
@Miss Bianca:
4 for Bernie, 1 for Hillz in my precinct.
NotMax
@MomSense
Betting hysterics would ensue as well for Saturday Night Fever‘s worst-of-the-70s milieu. Or (cosmos forfend) Xanadu, which ought to have served as an early warning for us to skip the 80s altogether..
Linnaeus
@pamelabrown53:
Yes, I am in Washington state.
I was a little surprised at the delegate count for my precinct, since the demographics of my neighborhood struck me as more leaning Hillary. Then again, I do live in Seattle, which would be Sanders-friendly generally.
Dread
@pamelabrown53: Baptists are a close third. Especially if you were raised in it with the added benefit of angry God waiting to roast you over the coals of hell.
Mike J
I’m back from being caucusized. Two delegates from my precinct, we split. I’m an alternate.
I actually like the caucus. One of our brogressive betters tried to argue that Benghazi and the email server were good reasons to vote against Hillary[1], on of them insisted on calling up Bernie’s web site and reading straight from it for five minutes. Everybody else was pretty sane, even if I thought a few of them too excitable.
Everyone got a chance to speak and make their argument, nobody changed their mind, Bernie got way more votes but delegate math gave us a 50/50 split. I enjoyed it.
[1] I promptly called his argument “bullshit” and explained all the reasons why.
Miss Bianca
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Come on, are you kidding? Parental age is a factor Mr. Hollywood Actor Dude would have to take personal responsibility for!
MomSense
@schrodinger’s cat:
Ooh thank you. I saw Nusrat in concert many years ago. It was a wonderful experience.
Cacti
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I dunno. He sounds pretty Asheville hipster to me. He’s got the requisite dash of racism down cold.
Linnaeus
@Miss Bianca:
We don’t do the plank discussions in Washington until the next stage, which is the legislative district stage.
Linnaeus
@Mike J:
Our caucus was very cordial. No bullshit arguments from either side.
MomSense
@NotMax:
Ha! In the photos that will never be seen by my kids are some of me with roller skates inspired by Xanadu.
Frankensteinbeck
@Cacti: and @Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Just remember goobers like that are the classic example of how the craziest fringe on the internet are the loudest. He’s not representative of Sanders’ base, and just a sign that Sanders picked up the tiny but obnoxious Naderite whiner demographic.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@pamelabrown53: I still think they are. Catholics try harder because they know (on some level) that the Jewish folks have an edge by virtue of experience, since they started sooner.
And (or) what LAO said better. :)
Your family is in my thoughts during this stressful time. I hope your brother surfaces safely in Sweden or another country where he can receive good care.
pamelabrown53
@LAO:
Thanks for your well wishes.
I LOVE your guilt assignation as Catholic: institutional and Jewish: familial. That dovetails perfectly with my experience but hadn’t made that distinction.
Cacti
@Linnaeus:
Mine too. No obnoxious missionary zeal from anybody’s supporters. The precinct next to mine was a different story. But, their problem, not mine.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Bartholomew: I’m going to guess that you voted for luap nor in the last primaries.
Mike R
By fell group it appears Bartholomew is referring to the Black democrats as evil, at least according to the Cambridge dictionaries on line. Seems like he might have some anger issues. It appears being angry and judgemental isn’t only for RWNJ. Man get a grip, everybody gets a vote and then we do our best to stop the republicans from winning in November. We are sorta on the same side, even if we back different candidates.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Good god, I guess you would have had to be there to tell which was more annoying?
Good on ya.
Linnaeus
@Cacti:
We took kind of a long time, though. We were second to last to leave the caucus site. Most of it was making sure we got the procedures right. I’m with you – I’d rather have a primary.
Miss Bianca
@Mike J:
Yes, I found that BJ participation had sharpened both my arguments and my “pushback on MSM BS” factor when it came to caucusing…to the point where I had to watch it lest I become (more of) the asshole (than I usually am)…
what’s the HRC equivalent of a “BernieBro”, anyway? “HillaryHo?”
Mike J
@Linnaeus: The Benghazi guy was the only bullshit one from ours. Everybody agreed on voting for the nominee, no take my ball and go home-ism. We argued hard, but nobody had any hard feelings and afterwards we talked about how much fun it was to be able to argue with actual Democrats with whom you share common values and goal.
Roger Moore
@pamelabrown53:
Lots of religious groups have guilt down. You should see Buddhist guilt sometime.
pamelabrown53
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Catholics try harder because the Jews have more experience.( My paraphrase). I’m in tears with laughter. Thank you. Joni Mitchell wrote: “laughing and crying is the same release”.
Also, thank you for the much needed personal support.
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
Hillaritic?
Hillfilly?
A Ghost To Most
As the father of an autism spectrum kid who has fought himself to within a year of getting his undergraduate degree, might I kindly suggest that DeNiro go fuck himself with Jenny McCarthy’s dick.
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
Hillraiser.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Miss Bianca: What’s the Baud equivalent?
Roger Moore
@MomSense:
I think sanitation tops all three. Try to imagine a city the size of New York without modern plumbing.
Miss Bianca
@Baud:
Oooh, I like that one.
Baud! For the win!
Frankensteinbeck
@Thor Heyerdahl:
Baudy Snatcher.
schrodinger's cat
@pamelabrown53: Brahminical guilt could give Jewish and Catholic pplz a run for their money in the guilt Olympics. You can never live up to the expectations, evah.
ETA: I read about your brother in the last thread {{{ }}}.
MomSense
@Roger Moore:
Number one in the list.
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
Hillzilla!
Miss Bianca
@Thor Heyerdahl:
Baud-y? Baud-acious? Baud! to the Bone?
ETA: Those are all adjectives, tho’…Frankensteinbeck may have won this one.
@MomSense:
Yes! HEAR ME ROAR!!
NotMax
@Miss Bianca
It’s rumored his campaign director is referred to as the Chairman of the Baud.
pamelabrown53
@schrodinger’s cat:
I guess “guilt” trips are near universal. Would love if you could either expand your comment or direct me to a juicy example of Brahminical guilt.
I so appreciate your comments on Indian culture, politics, food and religion.
schrodinger's cat
@MomSense: Thanks! I am glad you liked it.
Omkara’s title song is equally bad ass, sung by Sukhwinder Singh.
Miss Bianca
@NotMax:
Rim-shot!
@Frankensteinbeck:
Baudy Politic.
Major Major Major Major
@Thor Heyerdahl: Baudhisattva, remember?
schrodinger's cat
@pamelabrown53: Husband kitteh had to rush to India to perform his father’s funeral rites. He got the news at 11pm at night took the next available direct flight leaving at 2 pm the next day. Because you lose 10 hours when you fly to India, husband reached India more than 24 hours after his father passed away. So he had to perform some religious ritual to apologize for not arriving in the timely fashion to perform his duties as a son at his mother’s behest.
My family is not so bad because they are further away from their priestly roots than my in-laws (especially MIL’s family who are like the old-timey Puritans)
PurpleGirl
@Roger Moore: The day that my complex had no water because of a burst water main was not a nice experience. I wouldn’t want to be without modern sanitation.
Roger Moore
@schrodinger’s cat:
But is that really guilt, or is it just ritual? If it’s just a ceremony you have to do to deal with circumstances, it’s only ritual; it only counts as guilt if the people around you try to convince you you’re a bad person for needing to perform it.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Major Major Major Major: ah yes. I remember now.
schrodinger's cat
@Roger Moore: Its both guilt and ritual. Of course you are a bad person first of all because you didn’t get married to the woman selected by your parents. Got married before your sister. You are a bad person because you went oversees, flew away from the family and so on.
I am a bad person because I don’t perform the elebenty billion rituals that I should etc. I flatly refuse to do things that make no sense to me, then MIL will look at me with puppy dog eyes like I am the worst person in the world.
StellaB
Maybe Tribeca could also screen Invisible Threat as counterbalance.
When I lived in Santa Cruz, an outbreak of whooping cough at a Waldorf school killed an unvaccinated nine-month old sibling. Freedumb!
Linnaeus
@efgoldman:
I grew up in Michigan, all my family is still there, and I visit the state frequently. So I’m kind of a dual citizen.
Brachiator
@efgoldman: RE: I understand that you encounter a lot of bumps on the way towards a degree in this field.
But, but … becoming a top notch phrenologist is a heady experience!
pamelabrown53
@schrodinger’s cat:
Totally mesmerizing. Maybe that’s why I’m drawn to movies about inter-generational conflict. Especially when it it involves cross culturalism. Probably too broad, not enough nuance, but I loved the movie “Bend It Like Beckham”.
Linnaeus
@efgoldman:
I wish I could. :)
LAO
My newest nephew is 6 weeks old. His mom, my SIL, is dumber than a box of rocks. But, the email invite to the bris was clear- do not bring unvaccinated children. First time in 5 years, I thought “maybe she’s not such an idiot”.
Cermet
@Roger Moore: Don’t forget clean drinking water – that is #one, followed by waste water systems, vaccination, antibiotics, surgery (and all required aspects), refrigeration, dentistry (and all that entails) and, most critical for all of these; that is, what led to all (most) of this – empirical science which created the scientific method.
Miss Bianca
@efgoldman:
I’m sorry, but…is there *any* thread these days that *isn’t* comic books and super heroes?
Not that there’s anything *wrong* with that, of course…(stuffing “Wonder Woman” under the bed)
pamelabrown53
@efgoldman:
I don’t think your daughter has a “guilt resistant gene”. More likely your atheistic Judaism and your wife’s reformed Catholicism tilted to nurture over nature.
Again. mirrors my experience.
Mandalay
Our liberal media at work:
After getting called on that bullshit the NYT sneakily modified the phrase to pro-abortion rights without noting the change. (Evidently pro-choice was a bridge too far.)
I wonder whether we can look forward to the even-handed NYT describing the positions of all the Republican presidential candidates as being anti-choice?
Miss Bianca
@Cermet:
Don’t forget “pasteurization” in your list of empirical-science-y miracles…
Still smarting over the loss of a dearly beloved from brucellosis some months back…despite what some people think, the ingestion of raw milk products *can* present a clear and present danger…it’s just that, as Reid Fleming puts it, “the *right* people NEVER get hurt”.
Gin & Tonic
Yeah, speaking of waste water systems, I just spent a pleasant (ha!) afternoon excavating my in-laws’ yard (by hand, of course) in search of the elusive septic tank cleanout lid. The tank was last pumped a couple of decades ago, and my nonagenarian FIL had some vague directions to give me.
But in the end I found it. It’s about 20″ below grade.
Brachiator
@Cermet:
Dentistry is still pretty primitive in many ways. Drilling, pulling, plugging, bleaching. Fluoridation has had a big impact, however.
Mike in NC
@Brachiator: Hollywood has always had its fair share of idiots. Years ago I happened upon a TV talk show where actress Barbara Feldon (“Get Smart”) was gushing to the host that ‘Phrenology is very scientific’ and I wanted to yell, ‘No it ain’t, dumbass!’
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Miss Bianca: I’m sorry for your loss. I hate the raw milk assholes myself. It’s wrong to wish that some of them would expire from their foolish dairy choices, but I do.
Major Major Major Major
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): But it’s raw! It must be better.
opiejeanne
O. T.
Today we caucused for Hillary and we are now delegates to the district caucus and the King county convention. Woohoo!
LAO
@efgoldman: trust me, he’s no rocket scientist, either. I love my brother but she rules the roost. (Which, in theory, I’m ok with but in reality, kind of sucks).
Miss Bianca
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Ah, thanks. Yeah, I got triggered badly on this very forum a few weeks back – there was one person in particular who was making self obnoxious in a very smug self-righteous way about the raw milk thing…kept having to tell myself, “just because s/he either doesn’t KNOW what can happen, or chooses not to believe it – doesn’t mean that person deserves to die horribly”. It was just that it was very…hard…to remember.
Mike J
@opiejeanne: I’m an alt. I could have been a delegate but I begged off.
Miss Bianca
@opiejeanne:
Congratulations!!
opiejeanne
@Miss Bianca: Thank you. It was achieved by being the only two pro Hillary people who wanted to do it and could commit. They had more trouble finding two Bernie delegates younger crowd, mostly.
satby
Reposting from below because I wandered off for a couple of hours:
Way late everyone but:
@Baud: Hope you feel better soon
@Poopyman: Hooray! But careful, there’s a bad virus going around
@pamelabrown53: keeping your brother and family in my thoughts. Hope he surfaces soon.
opiejeanne
@Mike J: does that mean you only go if a delegate can’t make it?
Brachiator
@Mike in NC:
In our defense, the West Coast has often been open to wild ideas. It’s just that some people have a hard time filtering out the dumbass stuff from what is reasonable.
And the rich and artistic types everywhere are often suckers for nonsense.
Also, though, in its early days in the 19th century, phrenology was called “the only true science of mind.”
I’m sure that future generations will look back at us and call us dopes about any number of beliefs that we think are reasonable.
PurpleGirl
@Miss Bianca: I remember that thread; I tried NOT to read the comments by teh asshole. I’m sorry you had to go through with original loss and then deal with the asshole.
Miss Bianca
@efgoldman:
yeah, I believe that news story was what kicked the whole discussion off…
Not to rehash the issue – and I say this as someone who willingly eats raw oysters, rare beef, and even – on occasion – raw milk cheese – but there’s a *reason* pasteurization became a thing.
For one thing, it’s the reason why we no longer think of tuberculosis as being a food-borne illness, tho’ raw milk was its primary means of transmission, back in the day.
And I think that, just as with vaccination – see how I brought the whole thing back round to the beginning? – the success of pasteurization in virtually wiping out raw-milk-related diseases is the reason that a certain amount of contempt for it has crept back into the “back to nature” crowds.
@PurpleGirl:
Aw, thanks…and thank Goddess I wasn’t reading that thread in real time, or I would have gone completely postal.
Mike J
@opiejeanne: Yep.
shortribs
@trollhattan:
That would explain Sharyl Attkisson’s involvement in the film.
scav
A thought. Given their predilection to ignore science, could all future tackle football teams be manned exclusively from the ranks of the special snowflakes of the anti-vaxxers? Or, has science suddenly become all true and shit.
Villago Delenda Est
@Miss Bianca: The “Back to Nature” crowd wouldn’t care too much for actual nature…”nasty, brutish, and short”. Also the glibertarian paradise, now that I think of it.
schrodinger's cat
@pamelabrown53: I liked that movie too. Do you like Mira Nair’s movies?
Geeno
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Scientists now believe that aging itself is the result of accumulated genetic replication failures. We just can’t replicate our replacement parts like we could when we were young.
Death Panel Truck
@Roger Moore: Modern plumbing didn’t eradicate polio.
Ben Cisco
Update: Film is being pulled from schedule: http://jezebel.com/tribeca-film-festival-robert-de-niro-announce-theyre-p-1767288170
sm*t cl*de
De Niro belatedly watches the propaganda film, realises that it’s crap, removes it from festival:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/26/3763690/tribeca-anti-vaccination/
Villago Delenda Est
@sm*t cl*de: Good. Wakefield is an utter fraud.
Captain C
@Trentrunner:
This must be that contrarian film; traditionalists such as Sir Belvedere would have it that if she floats, she’s a witch, and if she drowns, she’s innocent and gets to go straight to Heaven.
liberal
@Death Panel Truck: yeah, so? The fraction of people who suffered the really bad effects of polio was actually pretty small, so RM is correct.
liberal
@Villago Delenda Est: no, he’s a monster. Fraud is an understatement.
Elizabelle
And: DeNiro pulls the film. NY TImes:
You people are mighty.
Tom
@Captain C: I believe the hypothesis was:
If she weighs less than a duck
then she’s made of wood.
And therefore…
A witch!!
Original Lee
@pamelabrown53: You are correct, at least by what I can tell anecdotally. The anti-vaxxers I know are almost all Trump supporters. They have a vast distrust of the medical profession because preventive medicine is a cash cow for pediatricians and Big Pharma, which has been somehow co-opted by the Nanny State. One of these people actually let their newborn die (“Survival of the fittest applies to humans, too”), which shows how whacked-out they are.
Original Lee
@Major Major Major Major: The argument I keep getting from a member of the family. I have to keep saying, even if it’s your own cow and you know exactly where it’s been, and you drink the milk practically from the teat, my children are not drinking raw milk.