midnightinchicago
I have a lot of connections in the autism world and some of the bonds that I have established are fraying.
Three separate people in the autism community, one of them a leading blogger, and two of them executives in very large autism organizations, have told me that the reason they post and discuss the vaccines-cause-autism theory is because even though they know the information has been scientifically disproved, they still believe people need to determine for themselves whether or not they believe vaccines cause autism.
I don’t buy that explanation.
I think the blogger just wants a lot of activity on her blog and the two autism organizations in question want to keep the donations flowing in.
Nicolaus Copernicus was a mathematician and astronomer who lived from 1473 to 1543. He realized that the stars, the sun and the moon did not move as Aristotle postulated. In fact, the earth was not the center of the universe; the sun was the center of our universe.
As he put forth his heliocentric cosmology based on sound scientific research and methods, he was attacked by the majority of society for daring to provide facts to back up his claim. In fact, Copernicus was subjected to a great deal of abuse for his work but he persisted despite the fact that he was persecuted for doing so.
Bravery is when you tell the truth and present the facts and risk the consequences.
If you post on your blog: “Vaccines don’t cause autism and here is the research to prove it”, a consequence is that you will lose the vaccines-cause-autism peanut gallery. And in addition to that, more likely than not, they will throw the discredited Andrew Wakefield unproven hypothesis in your face and spam your blog with anger and bad language.
If your organization says “Vaccines don’t cause autism and here is the research to prove it”, you need to accept the fact that the vaccines-cause-autism crowd is going to withdraw their funding and put it elsewhere.
But here is another consequence of telling the truth: You properly inform people of the facts so that they can make informed decisions.
If you know that all credible research points to the fact that vaccines do not cause autism, then you won’t subject the autistics you care for to United States Food and Drug Administration unapproved-for-autism-chelation-therapy and a host of other scientifically disproved quack cures. Additionally, you won’t waste valuable money on these quack cures but will instead spend it on good and proper education and vocational assistance for the autistic you care for.
Isn’t it morally correct, and just plain better to do that than to confuse people with misinformation so that you can keep people reading your blog or keep people contributing money to your organization?
Your comments are welcomed.
Thomas D. Taylor
Co-Creator
MIDNIGHT IN CHICAGO
October 19, 2009 at 6:00 am
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October 28, 2009 at 9:59 pm
For whatever reason, I’ve been feeling more and more uncomfortable and disturbed about our multi interconnected world. I’ve never liked cell phones, but I understand they have a use. This “social networking” craze on the internet, although, too, has uses, for the most part it just makes me want to vomit. I suppose we are still in what’s called “the information age”. From what I’ve noticed, we are bombarded with more and more information everyday. I’ve also noticed that a lot of the information we’re confronted with is outright bunk, and just because more and more people are believing these lies, the lies still remain to be lies.
I learned about this chap, Brian Dunning, online and even burned a copy of his video, “Here Be Dragons”. I happened upon Mr. Dunning’s work while doing my own research on the “vaccines cause autism” myth. I applaud Mr. Dunning for his confirmations of “Correlation does not indicate causation” and the like. Pseudo-science and pop-culture give us people like Jenny McCarthy, the anti-vaccine Autism Research Institute or its Defeat Autism Now! Project , Oprah Winfrey, and countless others. Mr. Dunning said it best when he stated “Science should be taught as fact, not offered as an alternative opinion in a debate.” Facts are facts. The validity of fact is NOT subject to “popular opinion”; it does not change just because it may be unpalatable. Unfortunately, there are times when humans buy in to “herd mentality” or what I call “band wagonning”; people will believe or hitch their beliefs to the “Well, everybody else is doing it…” type of justification, or they jump on the latest bandwagon because they believe it’s the popular belief.
I find it sad and even frightening that at times that the “running with the pack, herd mentality” gets precedence to fact.
Douglas Giesel