[identity profile] luzribeiro.livejournal.com posting in [community profile] talkpolitics
Measles Proves Delicate Issue to G.O.P. Field

Hillary Clinton hits GOP with pro-vaccine tweet

Well, ain't that the moment quite a few had been waiting for. As the media has spent the day painting all Republicans as anti-science, flat-earth types (a view that's not entirely devoid of merit, by the way) in light of comments made by Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul on vaccinations, plenty of conservatives must have wondered when Hillary Clinton would finally emerge from her Twitter silence and declare her position. And lo and behold! The bandwagon didn't take long to get overcrowded:


Well, she couldn’t be much more clear than that, could she. "Grandmothers know best", perhaps, but what about those years before she was a grandmother? Because, hey, there was a time when Hillary Clinton also flirted with the theory that vaccinations increase autism risk, the anti-vax group she had been pandering to at the time bearing the ominous name Advocates for Children's Health Affected by Mercury Poisoning.

Back then, Clinton wrote that she was "committed to make investments to find the causes of autism, including possible environmental causes like vaccines". And in response to the question of whether she would support more research into a link between vaccinations and autism rates, Clinton wrote: "Yes. We don't know what, if any, kind of link there is between vaccines and autism - but we should find out".

Shall we call the current development "evolution of views", potentially a result of a possible obtaining of the insight about that purported link between vaccination and autism that she had been talking about? Or could that merely be skillful pandering to the base and an attempt to put the GOPers in a position where they'd have to either look dumb and Medieval (hey, monthly topic anyone?) or be compelled to acknowledge that she might have a point?

I guess what I'm asking is, was the science "more unclear" when she last ran for president (and lost), than it is today? Just to remind, both Hillary and Obama used to give some credence to the anti-vaccine theories at the time.

As for the issue of whether vaccines are a conspiracy of Big Bad Guvmint + Big Pharma to make us all sick, establish mind control over the enslaved populace, and curb population growth - that's a whole other story, and quite a fascinating one, at that.

(no subject)

Date: 10/2/15 00:52 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] telemann.livejournal.com
“If not the vaccines... then what?” Because no other possible cause provides a satisfying explanation.

That is a trade mark method nearly for every conspiracy theory. It's believed that the mere asking of a question makes the proposed theory a correct one, but only after ignoring all the scientific evidence offered.
Edited Date: 10/2/15 00:52 (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 11/2/15 15:16 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] eio-cos.livejournal.com
Thank you for confirming that you have no answer.

Eio

(no subject)

Date: 11/2/15 19:36 (UTC)
From: [identity profile] telemann.livejournal.com
And asking or not answering questions is no substitute for proof that vaccines cause autism. In a similar manner, Creationists do the same sort of thing: they ask a lot of questions about something pretty complex, and they assume if you can't answer in a short pat reply, you're wrong. It's called Gish Galloping

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