http://gizmodo.com/the-anti-vaccine-movement-should-be-ridiculed-because-1683258152

Ridicule is the absolute wrong way to do this. Ridicule is a personal attack, and discourages free discussion and openess. Do this enough, and people shutdown. It may sound good to shutdown an anti-vaxxer, but it shuts down much more than that and creates quiet enemies–and not just among anti-vaxxers. In the future, even on a subject you may have common ground on, you will never get that person to work with you on it because of the ridicule.

In addition, Ridicule also makes the person doing the ridiculing seem like the one who has the closed mind and is insensitive.

The real intent of the ridicule is to isolate the idea from spreading and taking hold in fertile, unexposed (i.e. uneducated) minds. The right way to deal with this is to create some kind of penalty for someone who had knowledge of, and access to a vaccine for themselves or their dependents but refused to take it, which caused themselves or their dependents to become infected. But it has to be done systematically, and showing compassion.

Take this warning seriously.  I am seeing this ridiculing occur in many aspects, including simple political speech.  Have we as a nation forgotten, that one of our founding fathers (Patrick Henry) is repeatedly quoted as saying, “I may not like what you say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.”  It is only out of respect for someone, that a person changes.  Trying to generate fear with tyrannical rants (and writings) sears that person’s conscience whether they see it or not.  Ultimately, the ridiculing becomes an ugly form of arrogance, obvious to everyone except the person ridiculing.

Watch this video clip of the Nazi court trial of the people accused of the plot to assassinate Hitler on July 20, 1944. You don’t even need to know German to get the message. Imagine how our courts and government would look like operating like this. And don’t make the mistake of thinking it could not happen here. All of this starts with a lack of respect: especially for your enemy.

A sidenote: the judge in the trial doing the ridiculing is Roland Frieser. He was killed in a bombing raid, and not only did no one care that he died, he is even buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetary plot belonging to his wife’s family. So again, be very wary the path of ridiculing.

No Comments
Politics and Public Policy