The Picture of Desperation

As more people become aware of the low risks posed by infectious illnesses, vaccine fanatics have had to take their campaign of fear mongering to a new low. In a desperate attempt to deceive parents, the extremists, holed up in basements and garages throughout the USA, England and Australia, are compiling a series of photos they hope will scare parents into vaccinating. (At first I was not going to give credence to the reprehensible tactics used by these reprobates by linking to the actual photos. But now I realize linking to them is the best way to expose this particular act of desperation )  Oddly, some of the photos actually show nothing more than a frowning child with a rash - I guess some illnesses are so mild even a worst-case scenario photo is incapable of instilling even moderate concern. On the other hand, a few pictures do portray incredibly rare but undoubtedly severe outcomes that can rarely result from the combination of infectious illnesses and contributing factors such as impaired immune status or environmental deprivations.

Since a picture tells us nothing about these co-factors it is entirely without context and therefore tells us nothing meaningful, it is simply an appeal to emotion designed to override reason. For example is the picture from Botswana or Baton Rouge? Is the victim a homeless drug abuser or a healthy adult? Was the child healthy or severely malnourished?

Additionally, if we don't know how often a severe outcome will occur we cannot measure the risks of that outcome and therefore cannot use the photo as a means by which we make a decision to vaccinate or not.

That is the intent of propaganda. Photos without context do little to inform our decision making. This type of tactic demonstrates the utter lack of scruples in the vaccine fanatic cult. Let's break down the photos one by one:

The mumps one is silly. It is just a child with a swollen neck. The photo often used because most cases are not noticeable to this extent. So an extreme case must be used or there would just be a picture of a normal looking child in a textbook section on the mumps. Mumps is universally acknowledged to be a mild illness

The measles photo is another that can't be taken seriously. It is a child with a rash and a frown. Not very worrisome

Pertussis is another silly one. It is a photo of a child coughing. I wonder where the photo of the crying caused by the pain of injection after injection is.

Rubella or German measles is the next. The photo does not really show much but science says the German measles are, as illnesses go, the mildest of the mild. Just be sure to get them as a child because if a woman gets them while pregnant her child could suffer severe outcomes. Intentionally getting them as a child was what doctors of the 1960's recommended. [2]

Diphtheria photo is probably the most deceptive since it is not a photo of the common form of the illness. It is rather a photo of cutaneous diphtheria. According to patient.co.uk

Cutaneous diphtheria is most often associated with the homeless and those with poor personal and community hygiene.

Hunter's Tropical Medicine describes it this way:

Outbreaks of cutaneous diphtheria have occurred among impoverished or indigent populations, homeless individuals and alcoholics, and in environments with overcrowding and unhygienic living arrangements

So if your child isn't a homeless alcoholic, I wouldn't worry.

Finally we come to polio. The vaccine cultists would not know what to do with themselves if they didn't have to polio card to play. Because they know little about the history of polio, the extent of their argument cannot progress past the point of parroting, "what about polio?" What about polio indeed. First polio was blown out of all proportion by a campaign of fear created by the March of Dimes in order to raise money to fight the illness. [1] Second overzealous doctors caused many cases of polio as a result of their mindless quest to vaccinate children or the era and remove parts of their immune system, specifically the tonsils and appendix. Third paralytic polio only emerged in 1 of 200 infections (1-1,000 in children) and half of those resolved on their own. Fourth polio in epidemic form did not exist before the late 1800's and one must conclude environmental changes precipitated the disease's emergence. Since polio fell about 50% before vaccination became widespread, one cannot say what the state of polio would be today because environmental conditions are again quite different from the 40's and 50's. For example at that time children were regularly exposed to two potent immune suppressants. Lead (scientists at the time said it was as safe as apple pie) and DDT. Lead, from the exhaust of automobiles filled the air while DDT both contaminated the nation's milk supply and was sprayed upon children as they played in the streets.

So to assert polio would return if vaccination against it stopped has no basis in science is nothing more than wild speculation of a handful of vaccine cultists.

In a future post, we'll cover a few more of these illnesses - including the dreaded chickenpox. In the meantime, I wouldn't let one of these pictures scare me into vaccinating anymore than I would let a picture of a car crash scare me from driving to the supermarket.




1 - Patenting the Sun Page 82