I’m feeling like a broken record these days… or maybe not a broken record as much as constantly annoyed, irate and angry at stupid people. Stupid people, stupid news papers and then most of all stupid people in charge. Why must you make these foolish comments that get repeated time and time again? They are wrong! And how can you still repeat them. Shame on you for lying through your teeth.
I realize that I should practice the whole “being a duck and letting it fall off me” but I am the type of person that want to correct people when they say wrong things, especially when it comes to “know it all type of people” when they tell “how it is” and it really isn’t. And I am listening in… or, as it’s been the last couple of times, reading blog posts or opinions.
I could go on and on, but it would do no good. I have to realize that this is neither the time nor the place to correct people. They will believe what they will but what really pisses me off are all those “experts” who continue to tell the world “the truth”. I mean, I can’t technically be mad at a Joe Schmo who says things about vaccinations and influenza (I’ll just have to live with that everyone is entitled their own opinion, no matter how wrong I might find it) but when people with a degree (PhD but more often these days the MD) talk nonsense and decide that they can speak for a whole other field than they have their expertise in…. well… that’s a different story. They give me a bad name. So therefore I can get annoyed with them. Really annoyed. And mad.
It’s that thing about appearances. They can sit there and pretend that they are experts in this other field, because they are called Doctors (really half of them should be referred to as physicians but whatever) they know absolutely everything and they are all so bloody SURE on what’s going to happen. Put on a white coat and then look into the TV and go “well you see this is how it is going to be”. Or they write some nonsense in a newspaper article with statements like “everyone knows” and “it is obvious” and “this is the right way of looking at it” and then you read their specialty is nowhere near virus, immune response or bacterial infections… I would be closer starting to dabble in telling people about T-cells and I would never even consider it. Then again, I am not an MD who knows it all, duh.
Whatever happened to fessing up and stating “We are not 100% sure on what will happen BUT this seems like the most likely scenario” or “considering that the risks far outweighs the benefits it is best to do this”. I know that I would want to believe that people can fill in the blanks on their own… but they can’t. Everyone seem to be looking for a new mother and father to say “believe me, life is Black or White and we will take care of you” when in reality it is a blurry grey mess and most everything has to do with “risk assessment” and weight worst case scenario against best case scenario and see which is most cost effective and/or reasonable to live with.
I started writing a thing last night about basic stuff that people haven’t seem to understood yet. Like :
* virus and bacteria are two different things
* virus can not be treated with antibiotics
* Tamiflu is not antibiotics
* many of the bacteria causing pneumonia today are antibiotic resistant
* it is likely that we will not have too many antibiotics to help against a bacterial pneumonia in the near future
* vaccines today are not as bad as the ones in the 1970 where there was a problem with too high antigen content and mercury as an adjuvant
* influenza is not a “simple” disease, even if we in the developed world perceive it as that
But then I realized that this would all be redundant. Throwing pearls for swine and all… The people who are interested in knowing already know. The other people are not interested in learning…
I guess I’ll go back to my little lab bench and stay there. Happily away from the discussion and the endless “no, you are telling LIES to people”. (And trying to stay away from the dream dystopian future that I sort of want to happen where no antibiotics work and people start appreciating that maybe it wasn’t such a splendid idea to just ignore all the warnings and actually be thankful for vaccine technology instead of bashing it with lies, misconceptions and conspiracy theories.)
11 comments:
I hear ya. I wish more people would have the integrity to say "I don't know". Especially if they follow up with "but let's try to find out".
:( It must be hard to hear that kind of thing and not want to wring someone's neck. I find it annoying when the news, or other sources, get wind of one little thing and go completely crazy with it, or using it as a scare tactic.
I for one would like to be more educated on these issues, so if you ever do a post on it, I'll definitely read and learn!
Cath: exactly. It's the scary part of saying "we don't know that... yet" but then again, it is too scary?! pah.
Alyssa: aw, thanks. I might just take you up on it and dabble a bit of "smaller info" that seem to be making most of the misunderstandings. Pneumonia for example, is usually of bacteria but viral pneumonia works too... ah well, I see what I can write soon :)
...and I just realised Dr CH :) hi!!
I feel your pain sister. Those things (your list) drive me bat-shit crazy. I've tried keeping up with all the groups that go around spewing nonsense like vaccines weaken the immune system and the like, but it just ended up making me so mad that I had to stop. I just don't have the patience to educate these people, especially when these same people are going to take advice from an actor that probably only obtained a HS diploma as their highest educational achievement.
I loved your list! My lab is predominately microbiology, but we have 3 MD/PhD immunologist now so the shift is moving more in that direction (not to mention the hire of two immuno graduate students)
" vaccines today are not as bad as the ones in the 1970 where there was a problem with too high antigen content and mercury as an adjuvant"
This point was my favorite since a friend has recently blamed her child's autism on the use of childhood vaccinations. She is now performing a "clense" because a friend of hers who lives in another city said it "cured their child's autism at the age of 7."
This makes me angry on multiple levels, but I would love to get your experience with dealing with the claims of people who obviously don't know the first thing about the subject on which they are giving their advice.
[this bear also does not pretend to be an expert but knows when to keep her fuzzy mouth shut]
Oh, the autism connection is just infuriating, Science Bear! It's bad enough hearing people like Jenny McCartney talk about it on E! News or whatever...I can't imagine how I would react if a friend of mine started spouting such unproven nonsense.
If all people could be like you :)
The "my friend" argument is valid, as a scare thing and explains why some people are scared. That is a whole other thing than to make it "The Truth" or "This is how it is"... but so we all know...
and MXX, it is so true. You know, anyone can do what we are doing and more - really. It's not that difficult and probably not needed with as much training etc that we have. duh.
So, I'm late to this post, but I had to comment because this same subject annoys me to no end. The PhDs/MDs spewing this nonsense infuriates me. I always wonder when I watch them, if they say all these things because a statement of "I don't know" would damage their egos or if they just don't feel any responsibility to correctly inform the public.
The autism stuff is almost worse to me because it preys upon people's basic instinct to protect their children. Then by not vaccinating their children they inadvertently (I'm assuming that if it wasn't for all this awful misinformation, they'd vaccinate their children) endanger their kids and other people's kids. It infuriates and depresses me at the same time that some actor who could use his/her popularity for good things, uses it for bad things.
Right on! I teach this in my classes, and really try to impart healthy skepticism in every course I teach. But Amanda is right... a person's duty to protect their children did not evolve to be a well-thought out rationalized reaction.
I agree!! I try so hard to impart this to my students... the healthy skepticism. But Amanda is right. A human's duty to protect his/ her children has not evolved to be a rational thing!
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