Two weeks in a row now I've been able to make reference to that Neil Young song: last week it was in regard to so-called Deflategate, that cataclysmic event which threatened the very fabric of our society, i.e. the National Football League. This time it's about something a little more serious, seriously: the Anti-Vaccination League.
It's hard to believe that we even need to have a discussion in 2015 about the efficacy of and crucial need for vaccinations. And yet I'm sure you've read or heard recently about an outbreak of measles which began in Disneyland, of all places. Maybe it was in "Yesterdayland." Turns out that SoCal is an area ripe for such a thing, as it is a hotbed of the "vaccinations are bad" school of parenting. People who grew up being vaccinated as a matter of course, and thus were protected from a wide range of illnesses, crippling and life-threatening viruses like polio, like measles, rubella, diphtheria, mumps, whooping cough and many others have decided that their children, for some reason, don't need the same protections. Their "reasoning" verges on the unexplainable, if not outright child abuse, to me.
Some of the fears around vaccination may have originated with Jenny McCarthy, MD, PhD, and Playmate of the Year (only one of those titles is real; can you guess which?), who claimed that vaccines caused autism, a claim that has since been debunked by essentially the entire medical community. Another propagator of anti-vaccine nonsense was former Representative and Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Idiocy), who claimed that the vaccine for HPV caused mental retardation. Among other things, Ms. Bachmann also said that Melissa Etheridge's cancer was caused by her lesbianism, that carbon dioxide is harmless, and that scientists support the concept of Intelligent Design. She, herself, was standing behind the door making up stupid assertions the day the intelligence part was handed out. These are clear instances of Bachmann Turning Overwrought.
It's easy to dismiss people like McCarthy and Bachmann because they're ill-educated, ignorant idiots. But recently, as the Never-Ending Presidential Campaign began to return from dormancy, some from the ASP (Anti-Science Party) began to crank up the vaccine-is-evil rhetoric again. Chris Christie and Rand Paul (who is, in fact, a real MD, albeit an ophthalmologist, not an epidemiologist, and who still can't read the writing on the wall) spoke to the issue, both advocating parental freedom in choosing whether or not their kids were vaccinated. So my kids, and your kids, and every other responsible parent's kids should be put at risk because some few misguided, at best, parents choose not to? Does that make them Pro-Choice? Just askin'.
The amazing thing is that those statements were even too much for John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to tolerate, and they, along with many other Repugnicant so-called leaders repudiated them. Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle: Some small evidence that Repugs don't universally reject science across-the-board! Some good can come out of any situation, apparently, although Boehner said, while lighting his 33rd cigarette of the day, that "I don't know that we need another law" about the issue, and McConnell described himself as "a big fan" of vaccinations. Man, that's some pretty strong stuff, huh? Can'tcha just see him on the sidelines at a clinic, pleated skirt and pompoms aflutter, leading the "Give me a 'V,' gimme an 'A', gimme a 'C'," etc., cheer? My heart does cartwheels.
This crazy old world just keeps gettin' crazier and crazier. Thank god for music, and for these songs in particular this week:
Soul Vaccination Tower Of Power
The Needle And The Damage Done Neil Young
The Needle And The Spoon Lynyrd Skynrd
The Needle Has Landed Neko Case
Needles and Pins The Ramones
Pushing The Needle Too far Indigo Girls
Silver Threads And Golden Needles Linda Ronstadt
Stick A Needle In My Eye John Prine
Disease Katy Sullivan
Disease Of Conceit Dylan
Down With Disease Phish
Industrial Disease Dire Straits
Social Disease Elton John
Science Tanita Tikaram
Political Science Randy Newman
She Blinded Me With Science Thomas Dolby
Risky Business John Abercrombie
The Risk Warren Zevon
Bad Risk Sly & The Family Stone
As A Matter Of Fact Dirk Hamilton
The Facts Of Life Talking Heads
The Natural Facts Sister Rosetta Tharpe
The Rumor The Band
Rumors Josh Ritter
(Someone's Been) Telling You Stories Dan Fogelberg
Lives In The Balance Jackson Browne
Idiot Wind Dylan
See ya Tuesday, then, from noon til two on WOOL FM, 91.5, or wool.fm on the webs, the best little radio station goin'. Meantime, don't do anything rash.
For a much better view on this business, by a real writer, check out Katie Burns's column in The Concord Monitor from this past Sunday, February 8. I think you'll see why I have an affinity for her work.
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