After a very long hiatus, Hbomberguy has come out with a new video, about vaccines and the anti-vax movement. And it’s…ONE HOUR AND 44 MINUTES LONG???!?
Oh well, I’m currently doped to the gills and melting over my chair, so I guess I’ll watch it. At least, have it in the background while I stare vacantly into space.
A depressing topic presented in a fun way.
When I saw the title, I thought, Oh no, Herman Kahn is back. Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse…
Herman Kahn is the model for one of the Generals in Dr. Strangelove.
He was one of the inventors of MAD, the nuclear war strategy of Mutual Assured Destruction and wrote about how we could win nuclear wars.
The world was a better place and a safer one when he died.
Before watching the video, I had heard, repeatedly, that the Wakefield et al. study from The Lancet was bunk. I hadn’t heard just to what degree that study was bunk. And I’ll admit to not having bothered to check on it myself.
But holy shit, that study was bunk of the first order and highest degree. How on Earth did The Lancet not reject it out of hand?
I do enjoy some dunking on Wakefield.
@4 specialffrog
In a truly just world with a truly just god, Wakefield would experience death for every child killed by his dangerous and unsubstantiated philosophy. Wakefield just proved gods don’t exist.
I takes an over a hour-and-half to explain why the anti-vaccine movement is absolute garbage using big words and difficult-to-explain concepts, yet all it takes to counter that is a certifiably insane or obviously gritting to say “uh-uh” for the media and government to acquiesce to stupidity.
This is why freedom of speech/press/religion/thought is a BAD idea, and a truly decent government* would punish such liars on sight.
*We don’t live under a decent government. We live in a FREE government.
I see PZ has not posted anything new yet … I hope he is OK (under the circumstances, anyway) and is taking it easy.
@ Akira MacKenzie, # 6: I remember someone describing that as “the economy of stupidity.” It only takes a few words to say something stupid, but it takes 10 to 100 times as many words to explain why it was stupid.