Constructive discussion with vaccine deniers, I'd like to see that :D
My mother is a doctor. My English language is rather poor, but I believe she would be called a "Chief Physician" in English (I'm from Russia). That is to say she is a physician and she also takes a rather important position from management perspective, if that makes sense :D
Now get a load of this - whilst being a "doctor" she is also, on top of it - a homeopath and a vaccine denier, both for humans and pets. She actually holds some kind of special animosity towards vaccinating pets and veterinarians in general. You'll get no constructive discussions out of her, that I can guarantee you, and don't even think about arguing that whole sham homeopathy thing~ Even my older sister who is a cardiologist, doesn't bother discussing it with my mom, I think she just gave up on that~
Meanwhile I, with no background in medicine whatsoever and without an ability to construct a proper and compelling argument (as opposed to you), I therefore don't touch that topic with a ten-foot pole. And in general just slowly back out of the room whenever discussions about the horrors of vaccines begin :D
I am not a anti-vaccine person and I do vaccinate my cats and myself semi-regularly (I'm still a lazy asshole, but if someone pushes me to a vaccination station or a hospital, I won't hesitate).
That being said I admire your desire to have a discussion on that topic, in part because I myself support vaccines, but as I mentioned above am unable to effectively partake in such conversations. But what's more - it is a kind of sensitive topic to me because of my character I suppose. Even watching such discussions online(say on YouTube) or arguments like "creationism vs science" make me so nervous and agitated that I feel like I'm getting myself into an early grave xD So I tend to avoid it altogether, I'd rather listen to an educational scientific podcast, bypassing all the arguing and drama~
And then there is of course all the backlash that you might get from those who disagree with you, as you yourself mention in your article.
So whenever I see someone who is calm, collected, able to look at both sides of the argument and can provide proof from legitimate sources, all without losing his or her head~ And all while promoting science and scientific approach - well let's say it just makes me warm and fuzzy inside :D
I truly wish you all the best, I hope you become more and more popular, so that you can share the things you know and learn with more people. And also start new conversations on these sensitive topics which hopefully will be seen and joined by more participants~
Thank you very, very much @catpaws. It is very interesting to hear that it is an issue in Russia. So far I have only been aware of this issue in the US and England.
I would say it is not necessarely that you cannot argue with people who oppose vaccinations, but rather just certain individuals. In my opinion, a lot of problems we have today, all around the world, are because some people do not want to listen to or consider other opinions. I am just trying to encourage people to argue constructively and evidence-based.
I would write a longer response because I am really thankful. However, I am pretty tired of typing so please dont take this short reply as a sign of me disliking what you wrote! I hope you have a good night!
Cheers!
It's impossible.
Hey @justtryme! You know, I tried haha.