by admin | Oct 3, 2015 | Information, Politics, Rant, Religion, Stuff I Did |
Why I No Longer Debate FOX News Trolls…
There are many reasons why I no longer debate Fox News trolls. Several years ago when Obama was running for his first time I was pretty sure the democrats had blown their chance at winning back the presidency when they nominated Obama. I liked him, he sounded like a man of good and honest character. I knew Republicans were going to hate him for a ton of made up reasons. And to be honest, I just thought there was no way America was going to elect a black man as president. I mean we are talking about the US of A here, a country that re-elected Bush knowing full well, he was a complete idiot. A country where millions in the deep south still praise the Confederate flag. However, to my pleasant surprise, he won the election.
In the time prior to the presidential election I was having daily debates with an old family friend. He had fallen victim to the FOX News cult of stupidity. He was sending me the most racist bullshit and when I called him on it, he said I was overreacting, it was a joke, it wasn’t racist. For months and months I wasted hours daily responding to his emails. He would bombard me with the most ridiculous half-truths and lies. I countered all of them with facts and links to those facts. He almost never would respond to what I said. Instead, he’d just send along another question with a link to another crazy conservative blog or FOX News site. I would again drop what I was doing and take the time to factually respond to him. When he did take the time to reply to the information I sent him, it was always the same. “You’re getting that from the lame-stream media!” It didn’t matter if it was an official government document or not. No source could be trusted according to him unless it was from FOX News or some conservative blog.
At one point he sent something from one of the blogs he follows. I read it and I was stunned at the lies and misleading information it provided. Information that had been taken completely out of context. The shit this blog was saying blew me away. I mean it was bat shit crazy, cult type thinking. I get to the bottom of the blog page and in the footer section, I see the problem. The blog is run by a nutbag Christian that is selling books talking about how man and dinosaur walked the earth together.
The back and forth emailing went on for months and I eventually and I jokingly called him a crack baby. He took it serious and I apologized to him but he refused to accept it as I understand it. And, in some ways, I’m glad he did. I had asked him repeatedly to stop emailing me his ridiculous propaganda. I was getting at least two or three emails a day with his crazy bullshit. Once he got butt-hurt the silence was amazing! It felt so good. His lack of bullshittery in my inbox was like breathing in fresh air.
Over the years since then, I have seen the economy strengthen, and an end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. My broke ass now has health insurance that has since saved my life. I have seen marriage equality become a reality and I have seen the capture and killing of Osama. And, through all these world changing positive things, I have watched the republican party do nothing but tell their party that it’s all been a bad thing. That the economy isn’t really any better. That the U.S. is worse off now than it was when Bush was in office. It’s insane.
The republican party is deluding it’s followers with lies and half-truths. It has become a party of severe paranoia and hate. The republican party has gotten its members convinced that everything is liberal conspiracy and sadly, these people are just too stupid to see it. And, the reason why? Because hate and fear, sell. When you convince people to only trust certain media sources because all the other have an agenda, you’ve got them. You have got to watch multiple sources of news to even begin to see other points of views and get a “fair and balanced” view of what’s happening in the world.
The republican party is deluding it’s party members with lies and half-truths.
For example, I have seen friends and others on social media talk about the rest of the world laughing at president Obama. I’ve flat out asked these people if they have friends in other countries. The response is always the same, “Nope.” And yet, they think this is the case because that’s what their news tells them to think. I work with people from all over the world. I have not met one of them that is laughing at Obama. Every single one of them agrees that Obama is doing a much better job than Bush had done.
I have spent hours and hours debating these kinds of conservative idiots on Facebook and you can’t win. You just can’t win an argument with these people because they refuse to listen. Their minds are made up. I have seen it over and over again. The delusion is always the same. They have become so stupid and reliant upon what their “news” sources are telling them that they no longer understand the difference between fact and opinion. When fox news throws out it’s right wing opinions under the guise of “News” they take it as fact. When you take the time to provide these people with facts, they refuse to believe it. There response is always, “I don’t believe your facts.” I always say, “They’re not ‘my facts’ and these aren’t my opinions They are simply the facts.” But, they don’t get that. It’s like they just have turned into mindless zombies and it’s really, really frustrating.
The family friend I mentioned earlier. He’s actually more of a friend to my parents. They know he’s a dumbass when it comes to politics. They just don’t like confrontation so they don’t say it. My father isn’t really into politics at all, but is very much into science and math. He has been debating with this friend on climate change. My dad who has read several books on the subject from varying points of views has concluded that climate change is real based on the available evidence that he has seen. My dad, when it comes to science and math is one of the smartest people I know. Even my dad has asked this friend to stop emailing him on the subject of climate change.
The reason my dad gave up on trying to explain global warming to him is because he refuses to listen. This family friend is doing the same thing to my dad that he did to me years ago. He’s spamming my dad with crap all day long asking him to explain this or that. My dad has spent hours trying to explain to him the science behind it all. He won’t listen, he ignores every single one of my dad’s responses.
What finally made my dad give up on trying to explain it to him was when this friend sent a link to an article that was saying global warming is a lie. My dad once again, went to the site or friend linked to him to, read the article and then responded with the facts, links to the facts and so on. Later that day the friend sent back another email with something else just as stupid as his last email. My dad asked him two questions. First, “Did you actually read the article that you sent for me to read?” and “Did you read my response and the links that I sent you in response?” Our friends response was, “No.” That was it for my dad.
This is exactly why I have stopped trying to talk to these types of idiots. These are people that have already made up their minds. They are simply too stupid to understand the difference between an opinion and a fact. And, you just can’t argue with or debate people that refuse to even listen to anything that doesn’t agree with the opinions they have already formed.
The problem is that the Republican party learned that you can cherry pick the facts and weave your own version of them to the public. And, once you have their trust, the rest is easy. I am not saying the democrats aren’t guilty of doing the same at times. What I am saying is that right now, the democrats haven’t taken up residency in crazy town, sure some democrats and liberals have moved there but not the hole party. Their overall message is one of equality, peace and truth. The Republican party has stopped in crazy town and taken up residency there. They party has been overrun with these Tea Party idiots. It didn’t used to be that way, I know, I used to be a republican. Not any more. I realized that their overall message was one of fear and hate they wrap up in a cute little bow and sell it to the public as patriotism.
by admin | Aug 28, 2015 | Fun, Information, Politics, Rant, Religion |
Nuts/Stuff 2016 Because, ‘Merica!
It’s official, I have decided, after careful consideration that I am throwing my support behind the Nuts/Stuff ticket for the 2016 Presidential election. This decision did not come easy. I had to look at all the candidates individually. I even looked at the republican clown car, hoping for some sign of intelligent life. Unfortunately, all I found were terribly misogynistic bigoted, homophobic, racist candidates promoting an agenda of half truths, denial, lies, paranoia and fear with a terrifying splash of war mongering thrown in for good measure. I can’t, in good conscious, vote for any of them.
There is some hope withing the democratic party, none of them are promoting, promising or hinting at getting into another war. They are all running campaigns based largely upon supporting the sciences, the middle class and the poor. All good things. If you take away all the fake, hypocritical, conspiracy theories waged by the republican party against the democrats running for president, the democrats stand head and shoulders above every single republican running for president.
So why I am supporting a Nutz/Stuff 2016 ticket if the democrats have by far the most competent of presidential candidates? It’s a good question and I’m glad you asked. The Nuts/Stuff 2016 presidential ticket is promising something no other ticket promises. It promises to lead the world not by war but rather it’s continual struggles for peace. It promises to lead by example rather than fear or by threat.
You see our great democracy became a symbol of freedom to the world not by the wars we waged but by the wars that never happened. The wars that were avoided by stunning acts of diplomacy. America was built by immigrants who believed that only in America could they get they get a fair shake. They came here with the belief that in America you could live a life free from religious persecution. They believed in a government that allowed you, not only, the freedom of religion but the freedom from it. They believed America truly was the land of opportunity.
I believe in those things too. Sadly, somewhere along the way this country steered of course. I believe that a Nuts/Stuff 2016 ticket promises a future where every person is treated with absolute equality regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual preference or gender identity. That we shouldn’t fear the unknown but rather embrace it and learn from it. A world in which we can learn to separate science from speculation. Where ideas can be expressed without fear and hate. A world where our morals stem from compassion and a good sense of right and wrong instead of fairytales and mysticism.
Or, perhaps, I’m just supporting a Deez Nuts and Butt Stuff presidential run because I like saying Deez Nuts and Butt Stuff because even in middle age I still am kid at heart.
If you’re completely unaware who Deez Nuts and Butt Stuff are, they are officially running for president. I’ve decided that they should join forces. Will they? I don’t know. Is any of what I said about them true? I have no idea. At the end of the day, I just wanted rant about our current state of political affairs.
by admin | Aug 14, 2015 | Information, Politics, Rant, Religion |
Teen Girls To Be Charged As Adults in Slender Man Case…
The Hypocrisy of charging teens as adults.
Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier are both 13 years old now but were 12 at the time of their alleged crime. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren has now ordered them to stand trial as adults. They face up to 65 years in prison for the stabbing. The victim survived the stabbing and yet these two young and very disturbed girls are facing a longer sentence than some get for murder. I think this fundamentally wrong for a lot of reasons. A couple of them are that it’s hypocritical and it does nothing to rehabilitate teens that end getting charged as adults.
The whole reason the court system tries children separately from adults is to protect them. They are young, and therefore not capable of making grown up decisions with in the eyes of the court. Personally, I don’t agree with that, I think some kids can make adult decisions and make better ones that most adults. But, I accept on general principles that children don’t have the necessary life experience to make grown up decisions and thus they need protection under the law.
This is why I am enraged every time I hear that a child is being tried as an adult. I don’t understand the argument made for this. It’s the same argument every time, “They made the adult decision to kill some one so they should be charged as an adult.” It is such a hypocritical train of thought. First off, it doesn’t show an adult decision. It shows a bad decision not an adult decision.
Let’s look at this way. Let’s say a 12 or 13 year old girl has a crush on an adult and she actively peruses a relationship with said adult. Going even further, let’s say that said adult gives in and has sex with this kid. This little girl, no matter what she said or what she did would never be charged with a crime. She wanted to have sex with this adult, she was not forced in anyway into having sex with this adult and she enjoyed the experience. Yet, nothing she could do or say is going to make any of us think or feel that she was anything or than a victim of sexual abuse and that’s the way it should be.
So how is it that the same girl could make the decision to stab someone and then she’s suddenly an adult? She makes the decision to sleep with an adult and she’s not held accountable at all? It’s complete non-sense! Of course she’s the victim of a sexual assault! She’s a child, and in this country we do our best to protect our children from certain adult realities until we feel that they have reached an aged in which they have some amount of healthy life experience behind them. You can’t say in the same breath that a kid is an adult if they seriously harm someone and yet they’re a child and a victim if they choose to have sex with someone. You can’t have it both ways.
Of course, this is “Merica. Sometimes, it’s like we pride ourselves on being terribly shallow, ignorant and hypocritical. It’s like so many other stupid things we accept in this country. Like, as a country, we have no problem at with allowing an 18 year old kid to sign up for the military and be placed in a war zone. We have no problems with letting that 18 year kill and be killed. Yet, that same kid wants to have a beer? Fuck him! It’s a crime! Are you kidding me? How fucking ass backwards can we be? Either lower the drinking age to 18 or raise the age of military age of acceptance to 21.
Either all of our children or worth protecting or they are not. It’s really that simple. It is insane to me that two 12 year old girls, are going to be charged as adults because they pledged an allegiance to a fictional character. How ironic it is that every witness in that trial will have to place their hand on a Bible and basically swear the same allegiance.
‘Slender Man’ Stabbing: Teens to Be Tried in Adult Court
Two 13-Year-Old Girls Are Being Tried As Adults. Here’s Why That Matters.
Who is Slender Man?
by admin | Aug 7, 2015 | Information, Politics, Rant, Religion |
How Can You Be Pro-Life And Against Gun Control?
I have always asked this and thus far no one has gave a compelling answer to my question. The other day I got into a flame war on Twitter with someone that proudly threw around his idiotic, irrational, right wing, pro-life bullshit rhetoric. He came off to me as lazy and stupid and I just have no tolerance for people like that. I try so hard to be nice to them but I lose control every time and I brake my golden rule, “People deserve respect, ideas don’t.” I really need to make more of an effort to focus my name calling to the ideal and not the person because when I call someone a dumbass what I really mean is that their idea was a dumbass idea not that they themselves are a dumbass. Though, they probably are a dumbass but I don’t know them well enough to make it a statement of fact.
This guys right-wing statements were inflammatory, totally unfair and showed a complete ignorance about Planned Parenthood. I re-tweeted his stupidity while making a comment on his ignorance. He then asked me to explain, and I did. He then asked me to show what other good Planned Parenthood does. At this point my level of anger rose because I know people with idiot ideals like this guy and I know that no matter what I point out, no matter what facts I present he isn’t going to accept them. It’s what the right-wing does. Deny, lie or present half-truths and when that doesn’t work they try to scare you and fill your head all kinds of paranoia. I tell him to go look it up himself and then he implies that I didn’t list any good that Planned Parenthood does because they don’t. I was busy with other things, I had no time at all for his bullshit. However, later that day I did have the time and posted an article that outlined all the good Planned Parenthood does. Not surprisingly, as predicted, he dismissed it all claiming that non of it was worth killing babies for. When I more or less asked him, “How Can You Be Pro-Life And Against Gun Control?” he went silent.
There is something innately futile and at the very least terribly difficult in dealing with hypocrites because they are too blinded by their own bullshit to see anything other than what they want to see. Yet, I continued to do so anyway. So, I asked him if he believed in the 2nd Amendment. And, of course he does. In fact, he said, he would use it to protect his babies. And, I wanted to laugh. Think about that statement he just made, what he’s saying is that life is sacred if it’s an embryo, but once it’s born, he will kill it in a second if it threatens his kids. Okay, I can accept that. What I can’t accept is that he wants Planned Parenthood closed because it kills babies. Well, the 2nd Amendment kills kids, kills women, kills men and he has no problem whatsoever with supporting it. You can’t use the excuse that Planned Parenthood is bad because it kills babies and flat out ignore all the good they do then turn around and accept the 2nd Amendment while ignoring all the people that die because of it. That is the very definition of a hypocrite. Sadly, people that using this kind of heinous fuckery as logic are simply too stupid, too shallow or too blind to grasp their own hypocrisy it’s those very qualities that make a person a right-wing nutjob.
If more people would step back and just accept that the 2nd Amendment needs to be better defined. I have no problems with people having guns. I don’t want to take them away. However, I don’t believe that everyone should be allowed to have one. I believe we probably need not only need stricter gun laws but more importantly we need to first start enforcing the gun laws that we do have. We can’t begin to effectively write new gun laws without seeing what the effect of actually fully enforcing the current gun will have. Even the most insignificant of gun crimes needed to be treated with extreme prejudice. But, this is rant for another time.
The point to this rant is that people have got to start seriously looking at what they believe. We take many of our own beliefs for granted. Like the guy with the idiotic ideals I was debating has. He obviously has a strong belief that abortion is murder and the government shouldn’t fund murder. Maybe if one truly believes that then one should really think about why they believe that. Is it because they believe that it’s a life and therefore sacred? Are they religious and believe “Thou shalt not kill?” And, if so, apply that train of thought to things like the death penalty or the 2nd Amendment, and war. Apply it to issues like gun control as well. Because if someone is more concerned with the life of an embryo than they are with all the lives lost to gun violence then they truly are, as I said before, shallow, stupid or blind. If you think Planned Parent is bad because it “kills” babies, regardless of all the good it does and yet you support the 2nd Amendment then you don’t really care about life as much as you think you do. And, maybe if you try real hard you could maybe see how some people could support a woman’s right to choose and yet will vehemently be against the 2nd Amendment or at the very least support more effect gun control laws.
by admin | Jun 13, 2015 | Information, Rant, Religion |
The Anti-Vax Cult…
Cult:
a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister.
WARNING THIS IS A RANT.
IF YOU ARE OFFENDED EASILY BY OPINIONS OR FACTS
THEN YOU MIGHT AS WELL STOP READING NOW.
Yes, a lot of the anit-vaxxors have become cult like. When you refuse to accept any explanation other than what you want to believe, you are not a skeptic. You’ve gone from being a skeptic to a fanatic. These are important distinctions to keep in mind. You have to ask yourself honestly, when you are provided with evidence that goes against what you believe, do you consider it openly? Or, do you just reject it because you think you already know the truth?
The other day I saw a fear mongering tweet made by a celebrity known for being part of the anti-vaxxer cult. In her tweet she said, “Again…Im not ANTI vaccines but we MUST take responsibility 4 choosing which ones WE give OUR children & ourselves.They aren’t ALL harmless“. I wasn’t going to name the celebrity out of respect but as I just went to get the exact quote and couldn’t find it, I discover that she has blocked me from her twitter. I wasn’t rude or disrespectful and only responded to her a few times. Since she has blocked me it means I can’t see any of her tweets now. Because she has not shown the slightest bit of respect towards me I see no reason to show her any respect in return. Respect, is earned not given and I wasn’t even given a chance. I even had commented to one of her fans who suggested that her and I were fighting that I didn’t believe we were. I was just asking to her to post her facts. I was completely civil towards her.
It was Kirstie Alley doing the fear mongering. And, her tactics are working. I was inundated with responses from one cult member after another. She lights the fire and then runs away and let’s her minions do the work. Brilliant but cowardly.
Now before I get into the meat of the rant, let me explain why her comment is fear mongering and ignorant. First, if you don’t fear vaccines you would never say that you need to take responsibility for choosing the ones to give your kids. It’s like saying, “I’m not anti-carseat but not all of them are safe.” There is no reason to make the statement if she wasn’t trying to promote a fear of or concern for vaccines. Whether she’s bright enough to understand that’s what she’s doing or not, she is promoting an agenda of fear.
She even went on to say, “Google it…Many physicians disagree with certain vaccines…some will actually speak up.” What kind of conspiracy logic is that?! Seriously, if they haven’t come out against it than how does she know they are against it? The complete lack of logic and basic understanding of how science works coupled with a complete ignorance of risk versus reward is simply staggering. Furthermore, any doctor that has actual evidence or research that they feel proves a serious risk of side effects is a coward for not saying so.
You have got to remember that everything has possible side effects. Vitamin C can have them and so can eating an baked potato. Take for example, Motrin. It can have some very serious side effects that can include, ash with flat lesions or small raised lesions on the skin, blistering, peeling, loosening of skin, coma, seizures, vomiting of blood and sores, ulcers, or white spots in mouth or on lips to name a few and yet it’s sold over the counter. It can be sold over the counter because the risks are very low.
Another thing I was confronted with were people pointing out lists of doctors that claim to be against vaccines. One one such list had Dr. Nancy Banks listed first. I clicked the link and watched her video. She ignorantly tries to make the argument that since the diagnosis of autism has risen over the years that it must be the rise in vaccinations. She should know better than that. First of all ask most doctor that treat autism and ask them how has the diagnosis for this has changed over the years. They will tell you that because they have become better at diagnosing it. The medical definition has changed over the years so thus they have naturally seen a rise in diagnoses of it. The better doctors become at recognizing the sings of autism the more it’s going to be diagnosed. And, it’s diagnosed at tremendously higher levers than before based on science and testing. Not due to an increase in MMR vaccine. There is no scientific evidence to suggest otherwise.
One person whose child developed some life long illness believes it’s because of the MMR vaccine. She is sadly mistaken. She actually said that she wishes her daughter had just had the measles instead. Really? Chances are her kid would be every bit as ill today and possibly dead if not for that vaccine. But nope, this person is convinced that it was the vaccine. She has no proof at all, just the baby got the shot and then some time later got sick. She simply can’t accept that sometimes bad things happen and there is no excuse. It’s natural to want to blame something or someone but sometimes bad things just happen. If she had any facts that vaccines caused her child’s illnesses, she certainly didn’t say so.
The problem is that the actual evidence just doesn’t support the conclusion some of these wacko doctors like Dr. Nancy Banks are preaching. Her video on YouTube ran about a minute forty-five before I was able to debunk it and I’m not even a doctor. How do I know what I have said is true about doctors knowing more about autism now? Because I have talked doctors. I had a friend whose child has autism and I asked my doctor about it. I’m always asking my doctors questions because I know that no matter how much I can Google this and that, it doesn’t take the place of years of eduction. I know that my doctors know more than I do and when most of them agree on something, I’m gonna go ahead and take the odds that they are right. To do otherwise isn’t ignorant, it’s stupid.
I mentioned risk versus reward and it seems these cult members can’t understand it when it comes to vaccines. It can be looked at it this way. Every year in the United States there are roughly 30,000 people that die in car accidents. There are roughly 2.35 million injuries from car crashes every year. Think about these numbers. We all drive, are passengers or cross the street. Hell sometimes a person can just be sitting in a restaurant having lunch and a car can crash into the store. These numbers are huge but most of us don’t think twice before getting behind the wheel of an automobile. That’s because whether we it’s a conscious act or not we all have decided that driving is worth the risk. Even if it’s just to go for a Sunday drive. We don’t even think about the risks and they are by far greater than that of getting a simple vaccine. We all risk death and series injury every single time we get behind the wheel and most of us do it every single day. For the most part, we feel totally safe going for a drive. Statistically, most accidents happen within 5 miles of our home. Our safety behind the wheel is just an illusion.
Let’s say the most dire anti-vaxxor stats are true as to the death tolls and illnesses causes by vaccines. Even if all of it were true, owning a dog would be a bigger risk than getting vaccinated. Yet for some reason when it comes to vaccines the same people that risk death or injury by going for a drive every single day refuse to give their children vaccines or even flu shots because of an unrealistic and unsupported belief that these vaccines are harmful. They simply are not and study after study confirms this. Why do they believe this? Because a very few amount of doctors and celebrities have come out against them. They have provided misleading stats and studies designed specifically to show the outcome they want to see. It’s just that plain and simple.
Every single link I looked at posted by one of these cult members I was able to look at and see the error in their way. This is why it’s so hard to not call anti-vaxxors stupid. If they looked at what these doctors were actually saying, they could see how these doctors are obviously promoting an agenda of fear. Their arguments do not hold water when put to the test. They are constantly being debunked because they are promoting ideas not science. Or, they use what’s called pseudoscience. The pick and choose real things that sound bad and ignore the things that sound good.
A perfect example you hear these cult members talking about the chemicals used in some vaccines. A big one is formaldehyde. When you hear that can be in some vaccines it’s sound horrible! They fill the veins of the dead with that stuff, who wants it in their body? It can’t be healthy? Well, news flash. Formaldehyde can be naturally produced in our bodies. If you’re a actually educated you should already know this. Yet, once we read that image our friend posts on Facebook that lists the ingredients of vaccines it’s not hard to see why so many people get tricked into believing vaccines can pose a danger. Add to it the celebrities like Kirstie Alley that drop shit bombs for their fans and then cowardly run away, it’s easy to understand how these people get mislead.
When I mistakenly responded to Kirstie Alley i got hit with a shit storm of anti-vaxxor cult members. They came out of the woodwork to throw bad studies and bad science at me to prove their misguided point. I couldn’t respond to every attack and it was seriously frustrating me that I couldn’t. One of the first people to come after me posted several doctor names that supported the anti-vax movement. I took the first name on the list, reviewed it and gave a link right back showing why that doctors opinions had already been debunked. No response to my post. Just a barrage of links to more studies and doctors that back up their irrational fear of vaccines.
You can tell when people are blinded by ignorance by the way they respond to things. An easy way to tell is when they bombard you with links that back up their ignorant beliefs. You can’t respond to everyone, you just can’t. I found myself searching for responses by medical experts and as soon as I’d post one there were 5 more links thrown at me. This is a tactic done by people who are usually on the wrong side of an argument. They don’t want to hear what you have to say or what your response to it is. They just want to beat you down their stupidity until you give up and walk away.
Another way to tell you’re dealing with people who have weak arguments. When they ask a question and don’t give you time to answer it. This coincides with the reason I just mentioned but it’s more than that. This is because they are asking questions that they have no interest in hearing the answers to. For them, their question is more rhetorical in nature because they don’t respond to answers. All they do is just keep asking more questions or posting more ridiculous links to things that back up their ignorance and stupidity. It will never matter what facts you provide them, they will always find an excuse to not believe them. “The site is pro vaccine site” or “The CDC has lied before” or “My kid got sick after getting a vaccine shot so I know better than all the pro vaccine doctors.” These people are sad and ridiculous but most of all their ignorance is dangerous.
These signs tell you they don’t want a conversation or a debate, their minds are made up already and there is nothing you can say or do to change their minds. It’s why I stopped responding to the tweets the other day. After wasting all day on these idiots I was getting nowhere. No one took a moment to respond to any fact I posted. I was just continually attacked with a mass of stupidity.
One of my personal flaws is that I don’t handle stupidity well. I don’t care if I say or do something stupid or someone else does. No one rides themselves harder than I do. If I make a mistake or get something wrong, I mentally beat the crap out of myself over it and I try to learn from my mistake. The nicest thing I could say to these people was that their opinions were ignorant. And, that was as nice as I could be because their opinions were, in reality, bat shit crazy. They weren’t ignorant, they were stupid and paranoid. Their fear is irrational and they apparently have problems with being wrong.
And, I almost can’t blame them when irresponsible doctors like Dr. Nancy Banks go on YouTube rants spouting this kind of idiocy. She’s a doctor and she should know better. But, just being a doctor doesn’t make you right. What makes you right is when you publish your findings and everyone else can conduct the same study and come up the same results. Everything else is just an opinion and as she just proved, not all opinions are worth the breath taken to utter them.
I read almost every single link these people threw at me and tried my best to respond with facts that can’t be challenged. Real facts spoken by real doctors. What they kept throwing at me was misleading information masked as facts. They simply just have their minds made up and they are going to ignore or discount any thing that disagrees with what they want to believe. They have gone from becoming a healthy skeptic to members of a cult.
At one point a lady brought up the “Vaccine Court.” This is something a lot of anti-vaxxors like to bring up as if it is proof to them that vaccines are harmful because the court has awarded money to some people who claim to have been victims of vaccines. This is proof of nothing! This court came to be in the early 80’s and the standard for proof needed to prove someone suffered an illness from a vaccine is far less then what is required from to prove from a scientific standpoint. A win in civil court is not proof of guilt and anyone that says or implies otherwise is misrepresenting the facts. Vaccine court is a civil court, not a criminal court.
I am a what the scientific community would call a healthy skeptic. When I hear the word “study” I don’t outright believe it for a few reasons. One reason is because a study doesn’t mean it’s a fact. Studies can show whatever you want them to show. It’s all about how objective they are. The more objective a study is, the more likely it is to represent the truth. For example, the primary study that many anti-vaxxers still quote is one that has been debunked for about two decades now and the doctor that headed that study has lost his medical license. Most of the doctors involved in the study have had their names removed from it.
Andrew Wakefield’s debunked study is still causing people to fear vaccines. And, to prove how irrational the anti-vaxxer cult has become, many still follow the man even though he is no longer even a doctor. To these people it’s all a big conspiracy. The sad part is they’re right, there was a conspiracy but it wasn’t to discredit Wakefield. It was Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent attempt to discredit the current MMR vaccine because he wanted to market one of his own. If he could discredit the current vaccine then he could introduce his and make his own “Big Pharma” money.
Think about that. So many of the reasons people fear vaccines, and a big one is “Big Pharm” as they like to call it. A lot of these anti-vaxxers believe they make their money from these things when they simply don’t. The irony being that the study these people believe in was actually part of a conspiracy to make Andrew Wakefield millions by releasing his own vaccine. Yet, these cultists keep on believing this guy. It’s insanity.
So when it comes to studies, you have to keep an open mind. And, the problem with the anti-vaxxer studies is that they are shown to be either inaccurate or purposefully misleading and yet they still continue to believe them. These people have lost their objectiveness. They just want to believe what they want believe.
I have researched the anti-vaxxer delusion several times. Every single time I look for a reason to prove that vaccines aren’t safe, I can’t find one. What I find are tons and tons of articles out there provided by the anti-vaxxer community and I have yet to find one peace of information that hasn’t been debunked, in one way or another by the majority of real doctors and scientists.
Like any community there are going to be good and bad. However, when it comes to the medical community the overwhelming majority support vaccines. As I recall it’s something like 81% of doctors support vaccinations. However, that’s just one study I have read others that claim a much higher rate. I posted the 81% stat because it was the lowest one I had ever read. I want to show that even being generous of the number of anti-vax doctors that when I say the “overwhelming” majority I am not exaggerating. Seriously, how can you ignore the majority like that? What level of delusions must one suffer from to reject the more than 80% or the medical community?
It’s excuse after excuse with these people. No matter what evidence is shown to them, they come up with more nonsense and paranoia. It’s truly sad. One person started coming at me saying I wanted everyone to be required by law to get vaccinated. I absolutely don’t want a law requiring that. I never once said that I did. I don’t believe the government should be making vaccines mandatory. However, to enter public schools, the military and so on, they should be required, absolutely.
I only wish the anti-vax cult would use an open when they do their Googling. I read so many responses by these cult members that were simply illogical and completely delusional. Several times responses I posted went ignored because the “site” I linked to had a pro-vaccine reputation. How insane is that? Of course it does, when the vast majority of doctors recommend vaccines what do they expect? But, it’s no reason to ignore the data. These people find the most ridiculous reasoning to avoid accepting the truth.
For example, I have been in a lot of political debates with right wingers and every single time they end up posting a link to FOX News or a right wing blog. In my mind, I already know that the information is probably going to be biased and misleading. But, it doesn’t stop me from clicking the link to read what they have to say. I do this because I can’t respond to them it if I haven’t read what they have said. I always keep at least enough of an open mind to hear a person out if I have entered a discussion with them. If I have engaged the person then I owe them a complete response. I just wish they would return the favor. Kirsty Alley is a perfect example of this. She makes her comments, then refuses to hear anyone out that disagrees with her.
Below are some links that support a lot of what I said here. If you’re anti-vaxxor these probably aren’t going to mean much to you but if you haven’t stepped over the edge yet and still consider yourself a healthy skeptic then all of these make for good reads. If you’re short of time I suggest the video in the New York Times article. It pretty much sums everything up.
And, one last thing, if you’re some anti-vaxxer and can’t sleep without telling me how wrong I am, feel free. Just don’t expect a response. Chances are I am never going to read your response anyways. This is a rant. My rants are by nature opinionated but I try very hard to post facts supporting my opinions. If you disagree with the facts, that’s your problem. Not mine. This is rant is not an invite to a debate. You will gain nothing by debating me. Even if you are successful and get me to join the cult. It changes nothing. What you need to do is convince the doctors and scientists, not me. Because, they are who I listen to.
Annual United States Road Crash Statistics
http://asirt.org/Initiatives/Informing-Road-Users/Road-Safety-Facts/Road-Crash-Statistics
Ibuprofen Side Effects
http://www.drugs.com/sfx/ibuprofen-side-effects.html
Majority Of Autism Increase Due To Diagnostic Changes, Finds New Study
http://www.forbes.com/sites/tarahaelle/2015/01/05/majority-of-autism-increase-due-to-diagnostic-changes-finds-new-study/
This link has a great video that helps to explain not only what happened with the Andrew Wakefield’s fraudulent report but how this idea of vaccines being dangerous has really begun to take root…
A Discredited Vaccine Study’s Continuing Impact on Public Health
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/02/us/a-discredited-vaccine-studys-continuing-impact-on-public-health.html?_r=0
7 Biggest Lies Spread by the Anti-Vaccine Movement, Debunked by Science
http://mic.com/articles/85725/7-biggest-lies-spread-by-the-anti-vaccine-movement-debunked-by-science
Journal Club Debunks Anti-Vaccine Myths
https://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/journal-club-debunks-anti-vaccine-myths/
Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism/
Is there a cure for the anti-vaxxers?
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2015/02/cure-anti-vaxxers.html
Debunking the Anti-Vaccine Pseudoscience
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/398261/debunking-anti-vaccine-pseudoscience-thomas-sowell
How To Argue With The Anti-Vaccine Crazies: A Guide
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-07/popsci-guide-anti-vaccine-claims
15 Common Anti-Vaccine Arguments and Why They are a Load of Crap
http://thelogicofscience.com/2015/02/01/15-common-anti-vaccine-arguments-and-why-they-are-a-load-of-crap/
by admin | May 24, 2015 | Information, Politics, Rant, Religion |
Why I Gave Up On The Republican Party…
I was a republican for most of my adult life. It took a little over two years into Bush Jr.’s presidency for me to leave the party. It was a difficult road for me because I had always agreed with the core republican philosophies of smaller government and a big military. I still believe in those philosophies to a point but not to the extreme. It’s just that I kept seeing the Bush administration tell one lie after another. I am talking about real lies, not made up things, real provable lies. I kept having to defend Bush in debate after debate on forums, chat-rooms and Facebook until one day it just hit me, “Why I am defending this guy? He’s flat out lying to me.” I made up my mind in the next election I would vote for anyone other than Bush.
So that elections arrives and I was forced to vote Kerry. Didn’t want to but Bush had fucked things up so bad, there was no other viable, logical alternative. When Kerry lost, I was dumbfounded! I had sat back and watched the republican party use the most absurd threats of fear to win that election and enough people fell for the bullshit that an idiot like Bush Jr. won a second term. We are talking about a guy that literally refused on two different times to capture Osama. He had two chances that I am aware of and blew both chances. It became obvious that the was never going to capture Osama because “fighting” terrorism became big money for the Bush / Cheney administration. Being told almost daily that another attack was just a matter of time was keeping them in office.
It was during this time I really saw the religious right begin to take over the party and there are few that are more un-American than the religious right. I remember how I used to tell my leftists friends, “I know we have the crazy religious right in our party but we don’t actually listen to them.” and then somehow the the religious took over and now those loonies run the asylum and it’s terrifying! You would think that a group of people claiming to be Christians would be more about helping the poor and caring about their fellow man. They don’t. Oh, they say they do but actions speak louder than words and all they do is make excuses as to why they don’t help the poor. Their lazy, they are a burden on our system. They scam the system. It goes on and on. The only things they actively fight fore are making money, keeping Mexicans out and protecting the unborn, once you’re born, “FUCK YOU!” is their motto. That is unless you actively promote a Christian God or the 2nd Amendment.
It was when I first heard her speak and I realized that she is stupid, she made Bush Jr. look like Stephen Hawking in comparison.
Now it was coming to the end of Bush Jr.’s second term and it came down to Obama and McCain. I was almost actually considering McCain. What concerned me was that he had voted on average about 95% of the time with Bush. I didn’t want another Bush in the White House. Bush had refused to go after Obama, the economy was beginning to crash and he simply had become a laughing stock to the entire world and many of our allies actually feared the man. I have to admit, I did too. But, it was when McCain named Sarah Palin as his running mate that I knew he had lost his my vote for sure. Well, it wasn’t exactly at that moment. It was when I first heard her speak and I realized that she is stupid, she made Bush Jr. look like Stephen Hawking in comparison. There was no way he was getting my vote now.
I continued to see the republican party deteriorate into a racists, bigoted, religious party of absolute heinous fuckery. I watched as friends of mine were sending me the most offensive racist emails about Obama. I lost two friends over that bullshit. One long time family friend was sending me racists shit on almost a daily basis and if it wasn’t racist it was a complete lie or half-truth. I literally spent months leading up to that first election responding with facts showing him how he was wrong. But, it was too late, he had turned into one of the those Teabag idiots. He absolutely refused to believe anything that didn’t come from either Fox News or one of his crazy conservative blogs that he followed. Seriously, I was fact checking one of his sources and it came from a blog that some crazy religious person was ranting on. At the bottom of this guys blog were links to some books he had written about how man and dinosaur lived together and how the earth is only several thousand years old. You can’t argue with that level crazy, you just can’t!
The religious right and the Tea Party have become like a virus to humanity, spreading hate and ignorance throughout the republican party.
The religious right and the Tea Party have become like a virus to humanity, spreading hate and ignorance throughout the republican party. I have had debates with these people and every single time they leave me realizing that they are all just bat shit crazy. Well, that’s not really fair, they are just fucking stupid on an epic scale. They have had lies thrown at them for so long they have become absolutely paranoid about democrats and Obama. They have been told so many lies, and so many of the same lies repeatedly that the the lies have become the truth and no amount of legitimate evidence is going to convince them otherwise.
Seriously, if you think about all the predictions the republican party made about what would happen if Obama wins you will see how almost none of them have come true. We were told the wars would rage on. Obama would bring on the “End of Days”. He would wreck the economy worse than it already was and he’d kill the stock market. Gas prices would sky rocket. He would go easy on the terrorists because he was secretly a Muslim sympathizer and the list goes on and on and not a real American as well.
Let’s look at where we are now. He ended the war in Iraq. He ended the war in Afghanistan. He has had more terrorists killed than George Bush Jr. He had Osama killed. He has brought back the economy. Gas is has reached record lows. The stock market has set record highs. And, he passed a new healthcare system that isn’t great, but is a working and is vast improvement over what we had. I can attest to that as I have insurance now that I was unable to afford for well over a decade. In fact even those idiot fucking gun nuts are complaining and yet, he’s actually expanded the rights of gun owners. I am not saying it’s been perfect under Obama but let’s be honest, he’s done some things that I haven’t liked. But, any serious account he done more for this countries well being than any other president in recent history.
If you confront the average republican about all of this, they are in complete denial about it. I have been told that Obama made a mistake in how he had Osama killed. That the recovery of the economy is because of the republicans in congress who have done almost nothing and have voted against almost every single thing the president has tried to pass. The have been the most useless congress in as far back as I can remember and still the economy is better. Just about everything is vastly better than it was 7 years ago. But, try to tell that to a republican and they will make up shit about how it’s all smoke and mirrors. How the economy isn’t really doing well, how the debt rising even though by every account he’s spent less than all the dire republican predictions claimed. Every single thing Obama has done these people have attacked on him it and manipulated the truth and continued to spread fear to keep their followers faithful to the republican party.
As I grew more and more discouraged with the republican party I began to see that the party was never what I thought it was to begin with. It’s ideals are a myth. Their reality has become simply disturbing. I recall I was finally old enough to vote. This was for the vote between Bush Sr. and Clinton. I had voted for Bush Sr. I really liked Bill Clinton though and the only reason I didn’t vote for him was because my party, the republican party was telling me lies about about Clinton through innuendos. One huge lie was that he was a secret Communist! They showed photos of him looking like a hippie’ish with friends in Russia. What they didn’t say is that he was very smart and a Rhodes Scholar. They had me terrified to vote for him even though I agreed with everything Clinton was saying while he was running for president. Or at least most of it. I found the man to be inspiring. But, no way was this self-respecting republican going to vote for that hippie communist.
Of course, it’s been more than 20 years since then and what Clinton turned out to be was one of best presidents and humanitarians. But, what did the republican party try to do with him? They fought him at every turn, and even tried to impeach the man because he lied about getting a hummer from intern. That was their big thing and they failed miserably at it as usual. Looking back I realized the republican party didn’t fight fare. They constantly tell the most insane lies over and over until people believe them. It’s been their strategy since at least the days of Reagan.
I have not become a democrat, though I gave up on the republican party and now am a registered Independent. I don’t agree with everything the democratic party stands for and they too have some bat shit crazy folks on their side but at least no one is really acting upon what they are saying. We just kind of nod our heads to placate them, then we go about the business of trying to get things done. It hasn’t been easy when it seems that every single republican has become a compete coward due to their unwillingness to stand up to the religious right.
What these republican cowards keep forgetting is that they don’t need the religious right to win an election. They just need to stand up to them and be honest. They will sway almost all of the independents and a good chunk of the democrats as well. Because, one of the things I like about the democratic party is that they tend to vote for the best man, regardless of his party. Whereas the republicans have always treated voting against the party as a betrayal.
So in a sad nutshell, I gave up on the republican party more than a decade ago because I got tired of justifying their constant lying, their fear mongering, and the complete take over of the party by the ultra conservative religious right. They have become so insanely ignorant and anti-science. They praise ignorance now. They are backing anyone no matter who they are or what they have done as long as they support the 2nd Amendment to the extreme or they are religious fanatic. I simply had no choice but to leave a party that supports this kind of outright fuckery.
…but doesn’t deny doing everything he could to avoid “Getting his Michigan ass shot off in Vietnam.”
Just in case anyone thinks I’m exaggerating the claims about the republican party, here’s a couple examples. First up, Josh Duggar just admitted to raping underage teens and having incestuous relations with his sisters. Republicans are standing behind him and supporting him for his bravery in coming out about it. Why do they accept him? Simple, Josh Duggar and his crazy bigoted family are ring wing Christian conservatives. Want another example? I have many but let’s look at Ted Nugent. He admitted to shitting his pants and doing drugs to make sure he was able to avoid being drafted into the military. He has since denied that he shit his pants but doesn’t deny doing everything he could to avoid “Getting his Michigan ass shot off in Vietnam.” so either Ted was either lying back then or lying now. Either way he is no American hero and not someone the republicans should be proud to have as supporter of their politics.
The man threatened to kill the president for god’s sake! What did the republicans do? They invited him to one of Obama’s the State of Union speeches. Why did they do they do this? He is right wing gun night. That’s it. Doesn’t matter that he’s a coward and rapist. Oh, yes, he’s a rapist too. Let’s not forget he openly admits to having plenty of sex with underage teens. But, the republicans give him a pass on that as well.
How anyone can admit to supporting this party any more is simply disturbing on so many levels. Seriously, these supporters have got to be, in general, evil, crazy or in complete denial about what their party has become. Whatever, the reason, I am proud to no longer be any part of that sick, demented party.
