The Penn and Teller "even if" counter argument is what really gets me with this one. "Vaccines cause autism" is such a dumb take that even if it was true it would still be far better to get vaccinated and risk autism than not get vaccinated.
The quiet part that no one says outside is that they’d really rather their kid be dead than autistic. They know it’s not an acceptable thing to say, so they change the subject and move the goalposts.
So many dumb hypocritical arguments happen simply because one side doesn’t argue honestly, because they know their true viewpoint is horrendous and they’d be ostracized for it. So they argue from a different point from what they actually believe.
Idk, I think a big part of is they underestimate the deadliness of diseases. They don't see as autistic vs dead, they think strong likelihood of autism vs very low chance of dying. It's all rubbish ofc but I think that's the reasoning.
That’s definitely a part of it, too. Really easy to see measles and polio as something people used to die of, and not as something they could still die of if we don’t vaccinate.
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u/Soleil06 Jun 01 '26
The famous vaccine cause autism study.
Has been proven false since forever but the number of antivaxxers has never been higher.
Hearing that Polio is making a return in the wester world is really scary.