A couple of links

[sarahmichigan]

SYLVIA BROWNE IS A BIG FAT FRAUD

Have you read recently in the news about that boy who was kidnapped and found alive many years later? Sylvia Browne, supposed psychic, not only told his parents he was kidnapped by a Hispanic with dreadlocks (which also makes her a racist bitch) but that Shawn was dead. He turned out to be alive and was kidnapped by a white dude, no dreadlocks...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw_7sMKR8jo

TEXAS MANDATES HPV VACCINE-- HOORAY!

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-vaccine3feb03,1,2886229.story?coll=la-news-a_section

This is a great first step to reducing the occurrences of cervical cancer. I'm surprised that Texas, not known to be a bastion of liberal thinking, is doing this, but I'm glad they're standing up to fundies who think it'll encourage unsafe sex and the crazies who think that vaccines cause autism.

I'm not a fan of Big Pharma, but just because they'll profit doesn't make this a bad decision. Vaccines-- in general, not this one specifically-- are a blessing. If your kid has an allergy to an ingredient in a vaccine, it's one thing to ask for an exemption in one particular case. But wide-spread fear-mongering about the supposed dangers to the average child from vaccination is EVIL. People who refuse to vaccinate their kids for no legitimate medical reason should be investigated for child abuse and neglect. I am completely serious.

Comments

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Sylvia Browne preys on the grieving and credulous. Most crime is committed within the same race-- i.e. whites preying on whites, blacks on blacks, and so on. Her bringing up the specter of the scary dark man really, really pissed me off. Do you know how often people who make up claims about abduction (like the woman who killed her own children but claimed that she was car-jacked) blame it on some dark-skinned person? Brown is a fucking fraud, fucking racist bitch. I hate her guts after watching that video.

I have no problem with parents educating themselves on the risks of various vaccines and refusing one or two for legitimate medical reasons. I think flu vaccines, for instance, are kind of a 50-50 thing, and I never get them.

But when a parent bases a decision to not give kids the normal vaccinations against the really scary stuff on New Age mumbo-jumbo, junk science, and conspiracy theory, they're too stupid and irresponsible to raise children, IMO.

I think modern parents are really soft and have never had to suffer what parents and children of previous ages have. They never went through the epidemics of the past and don't realize how really painful and potentially deadly something like whooping cough can be, for instance. I'd like to strip those people of the immunities they're parents lovingly gave them and put them 150 years back in the middle of an epidemic and see what they think about vaccines, then.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_earthshine_/]

Re Browne: It sounds like in her case, she's got an actual negative motive and/or track record going, which is obviously a different story.

In the general case, i'm down with, as i said, encouraging people to be aware of the social ramifications of a claim, and/or the possibilities that subconscious suggestion can play a part in filling in "gaps" when trying to reconstruct information. After those things have been carefully considered, though, i wouldn't want someone biasing what they truly believe to be fact just to avoid a racial issue -- in some ways, that's more racist than just being honest, i think.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

I don't believe in psychic ability or being able to contact the dead, and therefore think all psychics are either liars or self-deluded. Sylvia Browne has shown that she has very few scruples about taking money from the grieving and giving them bullshit "information," so I'm more likely to inclue her in the "liar" camp than the "self-deluded" camp.

Knowing that she's an opportunistic liar just makes her statements about a dark-skinned boogey-man that much more morally reprehensible.