Probably the most debated issue in public health is the safety and need for vaccines. It’s really stupid that we’re debating the safety and need of vaccines since the performance and safety of vaccines has been settled for decades. The problem is that junk science, with the assistance of social media, has become pervasive among those who are more inclined to superstitions and myths than to critical thinking. That superstition was on public display this week when Arizona state representative Kelly Townsend idiotically claimed that requiring children to get the measles vaccine is somehow “communist”. Never mind that “communism” has nothing to do with science or public health policy, Townsend’s nonsensical declaration is just another example of the damage that poor education, ignorance, and the proliferation of pure bullshit can inflict on a free society. That pure bullshit is easily obtained online or by tuning into Fox Noise and other outlets of propaganda.
In the 21st century, we’re debating the efficacy of vaccines which has been settled science for decades. We’re also debating the assertion that massive tax cuts increase government revenues. We are debating national healthcare policy with those who believe that the rigged healthcare system is “free market”, which it’s most certainly not. We are actually debating putting MORE guns out in public because some people believe that the most armed society in the developed world is suffering gun violence because their aren’t yet enough guns. We are arguing over public education with some who believe that “school choice” is actually a serious proposal beyond the actual goal of killing public education. We argue that labor unions, which protected the income of middle Americans for almost 100 years is actually evil and should be destroyed.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. The problem with all public policy debates these days is that one side wants to argue policy, and the other side wants to argue bullshit. And that bullshit is ALWAYS politicized. When you can’t even agree on the facts, informed debate is impossible, which is exactly the problem today. Civil discussion is impossible because many live in an alternative reality while the rest of us live in the real world.
Idiots like Kelly Townsend actually believe the uninformed bullshit that they spout because all they hear or read is bullshit. Because she read on the internet that vaccines are bad, she chooses to ignore the mountain of settled science about vaccines. Because gun nuts believe a radical interpretation of the Second Amendment, they believe that God gives them the right to carry an AK-47 into Kroger to stock up on their weekly supply of Twinkies. All of these radical ideologies carry a common thread, and that is that one American has no burden to carry their own weight in a civilized society. They believe that their own private “liberty” overrules the rights of all others because of “freedom”. Radical libertarianism has infested one side of the political spectrum, but that radicalism only extends to the first person; this is the irony of this way of living. An individual has the right to do whatever they want no matter the damage to others, but others don’t have the right to do the same. This way of thinking is irrational, non-historic, and can’t stand up to even the most casual straight faced test.
Such is the condition of our society today. Logic is inundated by a virtual tsunami of bullshit, and it’s driving our society backwards. That’s the bigger problem.
