to think it's not terribly helpful to keep referring to parents who haven't MMR'd as "whack jobs"...

[MsGillis]

..or morons, or unfit parents, or up there with people who drink and drive?

I appreciate that people have very strong feelings around the subject, but I think that we need to understand that there are a significant number of parents who didn't/haven't vaccinated, not because they are crystal waving nutjobs, but because they are actually scared shitless and paralysed into indecision?

Surely there are ways and means to communicate information, and arrogantly shouting about how one person is right and anyone who disagrees is all kinds of nobhead is not going to be conducive in opening up reasonable dialogue?

I agree, if you want to persuade people then being agressive won't work. Who has been saying this out of interest?

The most recent thing I've read is this but I've seen similar all over the place, especially Twitter and some of my FB friends. I just think it's a bit short sighted, arrogant and counter productive.

Yeah it's not helpful. I couldn't give a monkeys though. I do not give my kids vaccinations, my ds is recovering from mumps at the moment and we are getting on with life.

YANBU. It's not helpful and in any case, some people have valid reasons not to vaccinate.

The problem with this most recent outbreak is that it illustrates there are a large number if unvaccinated children, who are suddenly being vaccinated due to the recent outbreak. That makes people who have vaccinated feel justified in their decision and therefore they feel it's fine to criticise those parents who haven't.

Twitter & fb generally is short sighted, arrogant & counter productive

That link is to a spoof site.

Well that website does say it is spoof news.

I think tailtwister has said it very well.

It is a spoof site, if you had linked to a reputable news site your argument would have had more impact. That site isn't intended to be informative.

I am glad your ds is 'recovering' waynetta and hope he also recovers from measles,meningitis,tetanus,polio,TB and all the other disesase that he MAY get-especially if everyone else decides to go your way.

Agree the grey lady.

Waynetta when I was training as a nurse 2 children died in the paediatric ward I was working on for 12 weeks.

One was from measles and the other from whooping cough.

I think you are dicing with your child's life.

I hope they never decide to go back packing abroad.

Oh dear, do you think newsthump is a genuine news site?

I know that that was a spoof site - but it's fairly typical of a lot of similar sites such as The Daily Mash etc which although spoofs a lot of people do actually read and agree with, and circulate. I've actually avoided the threads on here but I suspect that there are similar opinions here too.

I know that a lot of people who haven't vaxed have just gone to ground and aren't talking about the subject because admitting you haven't done it is opening yourself up to a barrage of abuse.

People read & circulate but its sacarstic and not meant to be taken seriously?! Its a joke for goodness sake.

You can't say there are similar opnions on here if you haven't seen them! Plenty of people disagree with not getting vaccinations without being abusive, and I can't imagine anyone on here coming out with that sort of thing tbh.

well, Waynetta now knows why she should be living on a desert island.

glad to hear her son will not be left sterile. Hopefully he also won't be deafened by mumps, paralysed by polio or killed by any other preventable diseases.

fortunately for him, there's no smallpox. Now, how did that happen?

Tailtwister - spot on! Some of us have genuine, medical based reasons for not vaccinating.

Oh fgs Pootles, I am aware that it is sarcastic, but as I said a lot of people that I come across genuinely hold the same opinion as that and go about sharing similarly offensive comments in real life.

And I know that a lot of people who might be persuaded to vaccinate just aren't having the conversation because this is the attitude that so many are going in with.

Well then those people are pillocks. My point being you can't use that link as an indication of a commonly held belief, because its not meant to be genuine.

I know, but otherwise it's just me being ancedotal.

It is still you being anecdotal, nothing wrong with that, just be up front about it.

I really love the term 'whack jobs'.

I think anyone who is 'paralysed into indecision' by the idea of vaccinations is at best, a bit silly, tbh. I agree though that telling them they're an idiot is probably not helpful. Nodding, smiling, slowly explaining the benefits of vaccinations whilst thinking they're an idiot would be more productive.

I had a quick look on three news websites, BBC, Telegraph and Guardian. Lots of columns on 'Why I didn't vaccinate my child, because I felt etc etc', no hammering of parents not vaccinating there, just explaining why they hadn't and so quite supportive really.

Some comments on stories on the Guardian website, different views on whether single / combined vaccinations worked. I didn't search the whole thing, but I didn't see any comments attacking parents. I haven't looked at the Daily Mail, I just don't want to go there if I can help it.

My quick trawl didn't show a deluge of stories in the papers lambasting parents and calling them idiots.

There is an element of 'I told you so'. So many conversations and arguments with people who didn't want to vax, then to see the queues...

And, once again, of course no one is giving people a hard time for not vaccinating their children when they have a proper medical reason. You are the reason for herd immunity not the problem.

Msgillis, you do realise that's a spoof website, don't you?

I love the Daily Mash. It's a national treasure already.

Ah.i see you do. Why not link to similar views in a serious newspaper, they we can have a discussion?

I'm not supportive of parents who don't vaccinate* I think it's seriously fucking irresponsible.

*Obvious caveat for those whose children are too ill to be vaccinated. Those children need everyone else to be even more than the rest of us do.