_An open letter to Generation Rescue, NAA, SafeMinds, ASA, A-CHAMP, DAN et al._
I’ve had enough.
If I might be permitted to make a few assumptions I believe its accurate to say that _we’ve_ had enough. Who are we?
We’re parents like you. However, unlike you, the self-styled ‘autism community’, we are also autistic people. We are also scientists. We are also professionals working in the field of autism. We represent groups of people that you never can and never will. We are fundamentally different in attitude from you and _we have had enough._
Enough of the lies. Enough of the misrepresentation. Enough of this media circus you are turning autism into.
_You lie._ When the NAA published its scurrilous attack on Paul Shattuck it revealed the depth of its desperation. By wilfully and deliberately *lying* about the ‘Merck’ connection, you revealed yourselves as people willing to do anything and everything to blacken the name of those who simply disagree with you.
When you allege conflicts of interest that amount to absolutely nothing – _and when they know this to be the case_ – then you again reveal yourselves as tawdry and grubby dirt diggers, desperate to besmirch people. The irony of your president having an established and non impartial financial connection to David Kirby and your chairperson having been in the pay of lawyers litigating the thiomersal connection is immense. It boggles both the mind and any ordinary persons sense of common decency. At the absolute least you owe Paul Shattuck an apology.
_You mislead_ . When Generation Rescue _continue_ to state baldly that autism and mercury poisoning are interchangeable – that one is the other and that is all that autism is, it is obvious that that organisation is comprised of absolutist zealots who care nothing for reality, science or truth – all of which are concepts that stand in direct opposition to your beliefs. When you ignore the reality that there is likely to have been _no epidemic of autism_ and yet you continue to use falsely inflated statistics like a 6000% increase in autism _and when *you know* this increase is down to better diagnosis, widening criteria and the fact that its only in the last 15 years or so that autism has been counted separately to other developmental ‘disorders’_ then you move beyond the bounds of simply misleading, you move beyond the bounds of simple innocent ignorance and enter the area of wilful, deliberate manipulation.
When you resort to buying and placing adverts that _you know_ are misleading and with which _you know_ the people you cite do not agree, when you resort to employing the services of media manipulators like Fenton Communications to dress up your spin for you then you have left simple campaigning behind and entered the realm of deliberately misleading, exaggerating and falsifying.
When Generation Rescue employ the services of men like John Best Junior to enter the homes of families then you know something is badly awry with the morals and ethics behind this organisation. These are the words of a Generation Rescue Rescue Angel:
Some “brilliant” goofball coined the term “Homophobia” in a pathetic attempt to bring some small measure of respectability to a perversion. Fortunately for me, I grew up in an era when people were not subjected to public acceptance of sexual perversion. I never “stomped” a queer and I don’t approve of that behavior. I also don’t want to have to hear about this nonsense portrayed as anything near normalcy.
The scientists you quote range from respectable to quacks. You misrepresent the nature of the respectable science and hype the quacks as credible scientists. When your science is conducted by men censured by government and peers (the Geiers) or is conducted by men who behave very curiously such as pre-registering patents that back up future research, source subjects for studies that are undergoing litigation or allegedly financially benefit from these associations (Wakefield) or who refer to autistic children as ‘mad’ (Boyd Haley) or ‘train wrecks’ (Rick Rollens/MIND) or who attempt to make their science relevant _to autism_ where it is clearly not (Hornig, Burbacher, Deth, Bernard) then you have a serious credibility problem.
But none of this – none of it – would matter at all, except for one thing (or several things). You call yourselves the ‘autism community’. You present your manipulations as fact. You fail to understand the good science and twist the bad science to fit your agenda. You rely on people such as David Kirby – a man who is demonstrably dishonest and a man like RFK Jr who invents conspiracies where none exist. These are the people who shape your policy and guide your information – David Kirby, Dom Imus, RFK Jr, Dan Olmsted. Journalists, chat show hosts and a wannabe politico.
Enough is enough. I’ve had it. Up until now, we’ve contented ourselves with correcting your ignorance and dishonesty in blogs, forums and chat rooms. Now we will be finding ways to extend ourselves. Wherever you are quoted, we will follow up. We will make sure that people know the sort of spin you employ, the sort of manipulation you attempt and the sort of people who are aligned to your cause. Because of you, vaccine uptake is dropping. Because of this, epidemics are breaking and people are dying. Because of you the field of autism research is being turned, into the words of Lisa Randall, into a ‘a vipers nest’ where scientists are more and more loth to get involved. Who can blame them when the sort of shameful behaviour in evidence on the Evidence of Harm email list comes to the fore? Parents hassling and abusing people like Paul Shattuck, despite his clear request for them to cease and desist. Parents making alleged threats of property violence against Paul Offit.
Because of you, the field of autism research is in extreme danger of sinking into a dark age. The gains that autistic people themselves have fought for over the last few years are slipping away into a _real_ abyss of ignorance and stigma. This must be stopped. _You_ have to be stopped.
This is about dignity. Its about respect. You have none and you are in the process of taking ours away. We will fight for it. For ourselves, for our children, for our siblings, for the good of diversity and to attack stagnation we will fight.
Get ready.
Left Brain Right Brain 
If it is any comfort to you Kev, these people will soon go away. Apparently, very few people attended the march in Washington last week. Also, it seems that the lawyers for the omnibus mercury case are refusing new clients, and they are asking for extensions so that new science supporting their case can be found. But, it is clear to those of us who follow the science that this new science will not be forthcoming. Those lawyers know what they are doing. If they thought they were on the winning side, they’d be signing up more clients as fast as they could. Right now I think you are seeing an extinction burst, where the mercury parents cannot believe that their religion is not true, so they are fighting back, not with science and logic, but with lies and full page ads.
Soon, there will be lots of parent of newly diagnosed children who will actually look up their child’s mercury exposure through vaccines, and will say “but it can’t be the mercury”. Those parents are going to get more vocal. They are going to know that they are there in large numbers. They are still going to be on long waiting lists and fighting for services. They are going to turn on the autism=mercury parents and say “Get off your hobby horse, and start to pay some attention to our kids!”
I, too am worried about the autism scientists. However, most are not involved in research into the mercury issue, and are more or less safe from the mercury zealots.
Right on!
Kev,
I’m with you 100%! Let’s take the fight to them for a change! Like you, I’m fed up with their lies, their manipulation and their general slimy, sleezy behavior! Let’s sign them up for an old-fashioned ABA session with slaps and shouts – let’s see if their behavior becomes more acceptable!
Jennifer, I hope that you’re right about the extinction burst, but I’m also willing to do my bit to see that this behavior is well and truly extinguished.
Saddle up!
Prometheus.
With this Manifesto the mercury brigade awakes to a new day with new rules.
Bring it!
Damn…..
Kev, you made me wish, I could sign this.
Kev,
“We’re parents like you. However, unlike you, the self-styled ‘autism community’, we are also autistic people. We are also scientists. We are also professionals working in the field of autism. We represent groups of people that you never can and never will.”
To imply that all those who believe vaccines have contributed to autism do not consist of any of the people you describe would be incorrect.
Kev, The statements about Shattuck may have been incorrect and do deserve a retractment. But that does not mean Shattuck’s analysis is correct. Time will tell but I suspect like Croen before him, the diagnostic substitution theory will once again be proven invalid.
Safe Minds and those other groups have stood up and fought against the very things you accuse it of. They exposed the lies initiated by the FDA and their handling of the thimerosal issue, they took on the CDC and their conflicts of interest and their bogus VSD study, the IOM and their illogical conclusion back in 2004 based on flawed studies and the AAP today with their decision to fight to keep thimerosal in vaccines based on money & public perception rather than child safety.
Jennifer, you say “these people will soon go away” based on the number of parents who made it to DC last week and you couldn’t be more wrong. Ever think that it might be difficult to travel to DC while caring for autistic children?
Honestly, I’m not just saying it because I support groups like Safe Minds. But their momentum has never been stronger. There are more politician’s in our camp than ever before. All these groups want is the truth, mercury banned and for more research. With a push from Lieberman & Mahoney to have unbiased researchers looking at the VSD and to study unvaccinated populations hopefully we get the truth once and for all. The AAP is waging a good fight to keep thimerosal in vaccines but it ultimately will be in a losing effort. And there is more and more research showing that autistic children are sick – suffering from oxidative stress, immune disorders and gut disorders. The finding of vaccine strain of meales virus in the guts of children will hopefully put an emphasis on helping those children instead of persecuting the original deliverer of the bad news. And the studies of thimerosal continue to occur and will hopefully be bolstered by Krigsman’s measles finding.
“Great, great harm has been done by those who believe that connections, power and money mean everything in the world.”
You’re exactly right. When will you realize that it’s not the groups you are attacking who have the connections, power & money.
“Claire Bothwell had the first mercury related lawsuit in the US according to one of her fans. She works for Waters and Kraus and is the chairman of the board of NAA. A little conficted?”
The CDC mandates vaccines and checks them for safety. A little conflicted?
“Claire Bothwell had the first mercury related lawsuit in the US according to one of her fans. She works for Waters and Kraus and is the chairman of the board of NAA. A little conficted?â€
The CDC mandates vaccines and checks them for safety. A little conflicted?
The CDC keeps finding flaws with vaccines, they are monitoring vaccine safety, they want people to use vaccines so that massive numbers of Americans don’t drop like flies in an epidemic. Epidemics must exist in communities without vaccines. It’s a natural phenomenon, hand washing and clean water help, but they don’t stop epidemics. Vaccinating large numbers of the populus stops epidemics.
I don’t care if the oversight of vaccines goes to another agency, and the supposed bad behavior of the CDC and IOM is all supported by very week evidence and loads of ugly inunendo and conspiracy flogging.
I’ve read all the garbage that NAA is using to smear the CDC. It doesn’t add up to them knowing that autism was caused by vaccines. The evidence shows that autism is not caused by vaccines any more than it’s caused by sun spots or television watching. There’s no evidence that vaccines can cause autism.
But the mercury parents are in line to get cash right now if they can convince people to listen. Never mind that their evidence is pure garbage.
There has been no autism epidemic. Stay tuned. It will have to come out from ASA after it comes from the MIND and other more credible sources.
If there had been an “epidemic” you wouldn’t have to keep pounding it. Everyone would know it. But they don’t know it. They see little Markie Fromblatz who is just like his uncle Fred, rocking and flapping, who is just like his great grandfather Zeb, rocking and flapping. The kids with really normal parents are very rare. Sorry. Those are the facts. The kids that regress are in a minority. The parents who believe in the vaccine connection are in the minority by far, but they have the unmitigated gall to say they speak for all parents of autistics.
They don’t speak for me, they don’t speak for anyone I know who has an autistic child or is autistic him or herself.
And the bunch of them are liars. They have stated as a fact that the IDEA numbers show an epidemic, but patently this is false. Obviously this is false, the same numbers from the IDEA can be used in the same way to prove an epidemic in traumatic head injury! Wake up darling. Smell the coffee. No epidemic! They’ve already figured it out in England go check out the NAS website.
I seriously hope that Shattuck sues the NAA. They’ve been getting away with murder in the press.
“The CDC mandates vaccines and checks them for safety. A little conflicted?”
…and the CDC is making money on this how? Yes, I’ve heard about how individual gov’t scientists consult for small pharma, big pharma, non-profits, and for-profits. Castigating an organization comprised of 1000’s of people based upon a suspicion is too much.
…” I support groups like Safe Minds. But their momentum has never been stronger.”
Or could it be that the appearance of momentum has never been stronger?
“There are more politician’s in our camp than ever before.”
Not necessarily something that I’d be proud of, although I’m not judging anyone. The funny thing is that I keep hearing about corrupt politicians and evil gov’t scientists, right up to and not including the point in which they start nodding their head along with Handley’s beat. Then they rock. I guess I can’t dance to that music.
“very week evidence” should say “very weak evidence”
…and the CDC is making money on this how?
Exactly. Believe me, private sector work pays a whole lot better than sloughing around for a federal government agency. There is little financial incentive for the CDC or IOM to lie about vaccines. Some people don’t want to concede that the reason the CDC, IOM, et al. say that vaccines are safe is because THEY ARE.
Hi David H.
You write “Time will tell but I suspect like Croen before him, the diagnostic substitution theory will once again be proven invalid.”
Hey, you could be right.
A difference between Croen et al. (2002) and Shattuck (2006) is that for the weaknesses of the Croen study, were readily apparent even before Blaxill et al. (2002) came on the scene.
Not so, with Shattuck. In fact I have yet to find a significant flaw. Doesn’t mean that Blaxill won’t find it, but if he does, I will be very impressed indeed.
Enough is enough. I’ve had it. Up until now, we’ve contented ourselves with correcting your ignorance and dishonesty in blogs, forums and chat rooms. Now we will be finding ways to extend ourselves. Wherever you are quoted, we will follow up.
Good work Kev. More of this is needed. We need to show their arguments for what they are. We need to scrutinize their papers, not just ridicule them, and demand their retraction. We need to expose their misdeeds and their bigotry.
“the supposed bad behavior of the CDC and IOM is all supported by very week evidence and loads of ugly inunendo and conspiracy flogging.”
“I’ve read all the garbage that NAA is using to smear the CDC. It doesn’t add up to them knowing that autism was caused by vaccines.”
So as long as they don’t know for sure that autism was caused by vaccines it’s ok? Their job should have been to take a neutral stance in their research. Their goal should have been to protect children, not to protect the vaccine program. In this regard they are very guilty. If you haven’t read the documents at the Putchildrenfirst.org site you should. I’m not defending baseless attacks on Shattuck. But the parents who have fought against the corruption & bias of the CDC should be applauded.
“I do not wish to be the advocate of the anti-vaccine lobby and sound as if I am convinced that Thimerosal is or was harmful; but at least I feel we should use sound scientific argumentation and not let our standards be dictated by our desire to disprove and unpleasant theory.” Dr. Thomas Verstraeten, lead author in VSD study, in an e-mail to Dr. Robert Chen, Chief of CDC/Immunization Safety Branch
“There’s no evidence that vaccines can cause autism.”
That would seemingly require a comparison of a vaccinated vs unvaccinated community. Hopefully this will happen. But there is some evidence that thimerosal causes autism.
http://www.a-champ.org/science_documents.html
“There has been no autism epidemic.”
That’s simply your opinion.
“If there had been an “epidemic†you wouldn’t have to keep pounding it. Everyone would know it. But they don’t know it.”
I think you’re wrong on this one. Public perception seems to agree that there has been an epidemic.
“They see little Markie Fromblatz who is just like his uncle Fred, rocking and flapping, who is just like his great grandfather Zeb, rocking and flapping. The kids with really normal parents are very rare. Sorry. Those are the facts.”
Oh, come on. I know dozens of families and none of them sound the way you describe it. Where is the data to support your facts?
“The kids that regress are in a minority. ”
Again, where is the data? I believe videos were studied and it turned out that the parents were right – their kids regressed.
“…and the CDC is making money on this how?”
Amazingly, money is not the only thing that could cause someone to act unethically.
“Some people don’t want to concede that the reason the CDC, IOM, et al. say that vaccines are safe is because THEY ARE.”
Then why in the world did they destroy the VSD datasets?
“There has been no autism epidemic.â€
That’s simply your opinion.
It’s really more than opinion at this point. It’s not sufficient to point to administrative prevalence. You need to do better than that to be taken seriously.
I think this has come up with Paul Shattuck, but it has come up before – scientists, doctors etc who have worked in the field of disability come into autism and are surprised/horrified by the level of venom that comes with it. I know of a doctor who changed speciality to autism, and went from nil complaints to about one every three months. I doubt that they suddenly forgot how to be a doctor. Ditto those working on the SIGN guidelines – they’d done ones for oodles of other diseases, and suddenly with the autism guideline came in for these huge attacks.
Ach, I’ll just go back to enjoying the Ouch! Podcast. Oh, wait, sorry, I can’t possibly enjoy that, it has people with disabilities in it! It can’t be funny, it has Mat Fraser who was DAMAGED by EVIL MEDICATIONS!
_”To imply that all those who believe vaccines have contributed to autism do not consist of any of the people you describe would be incorrect.”_
Would it? I seriously doubt it.
_”But that does not mean Shattuck’s analysis is correct. Time will tell but I suspect like Croen before him, the diagnostic substitution theory will once again be proven invalid.”_
Suspect away David. I have no issue with anyone suspecting or speculating. You and I both know that that is not what the NAA did. It was not even ignorance, it was outright lying.
_”Safe Minds and those other groups have stood up and fought against the very things you accuse it of.”_
Funny how things turn out isn’t it?
_”Honestly, I’m not just saying it because I support groups like Safe Minds. But their momentum has never been stronger. There are more politician’s in our camp than ever before. All these groups want is the truth, mercury banned and for more research.”_
You’re right, their momentum has never been stronger. You’re also right you have a lot of politicians in your camp. But its because of the qualification you place on words ‘the truth’ and the way you misrepresent your version of the truth that those of us who disagree with you must be vigilant to the kind of spin SafeMinds et al manufacture. Its very telling that Safe Minds want ‘the truth, mercury banned and for more research’. What _I_ want is just the plain old truth. I expect that from those parent-led organisations that claim to speak for me as well as gvmt led institutions. Its patently obvious that these groups cannot operate without an agenda. Well now, someone is watching. Someone will be keeping track of everything thats said.
_”The AAP is waging a good fight to keep thimerosal in vaccines but it ultimately will be in a losing effort.”_
Whoopee. I don’t care. Have it, don’t have it. Your call. All I care about is the continued lie that all autism is mercury poisoning.
DH Said: And there is more and more research showing that autistic children are sick – suffering from oxidative stress, immune disorders and gut disorders.
Be that as it may, always best to avoid generalizations when discussing a heterogeneous group of individuals, but let’s say the majority of children with autism do suffer from oxidative stress, immune disorders, and gut disorders, how does that in any way implicate thimerosal?
I could just as easily say unvaccinated Amish children suffer from oxidative stress, immune disorders, and gut disorders. Some of them most certainly do so how would that be any different from your statement?
You think those things are Evidence of Harm for the same reasons Kirby thinks they are. Somebody said so.
Until you can interpret the science and decide for yourself you are just another gullible mercury parrot…err….parent.
Kev,
“Would it? I seriously doubt it.”
Teresa Binstock is an autistic adult & researcher who has been working with Safe Minds & DAN. Boyd Haley is a scientist. My son’s therapist believes autism is an epidemic and that vaccines have caused that epidemic.
“You and I both know that that is not what the NAA did. It was not even ignorance, it was outright lying.”
Do you have proof that they knew the Merck he was affiliated with was not the drug company? Without that proof it was ignorance, not outright lying.
“Funny how things turn out isn’t it?”
I guess but that’s not the adjective I had in mind.
“the way you misrepresent your version of the truth”
I could say the same thing to you
“Its very telling that Safe Minds want ‘the truth, mercury banned and for more research’. What I want is just the plain old truth. ”
And we’re all entitled to the truth. And whether you want it or not we’re also entitled to mercury free vaccines and more research into a devastating disorder
“Well now, someone is watching. Someone will be keeping track of everything thats said.”
As opposed to what? You guys have been doing tremendous record keeping for quite some time now
“Whoopee. I don’t care. Have it, don’t have it. Your call. All I care about is the continued lie that all autism is mercury poisoning.”
That’s nice Kev. Lets keep on injecting children & pregnant women with mercury. After all, thimerosal seems to prevent autism in Denmark. But at least you have your priorities straight.
“Be that as it may, always best to avoid generalizations when discussing a heterogeneous group of individuals, but let’s say the majority of children with autism do suffer from oxidative stress, immune disorders, and gut disorders, how does that in any way implicate thimerosal?”
Firstly, it’s not just thimerosal. Secondly, if all autism is genetic why would autistic children be sick in unique ways as compared to controls?
“My son’s therapist believes autism is an epidemic and that vaccines have caused that epidemic.”
Seriously, David, is this a joke? Lot’s of people used to believe the earth was the center of the universe, did their steadfast belief make that so, in any reality?
“Seriously, David, is this a joke? ”
You should direct that comment to Kev for standing by an obviously false statement that prompted my reply.
I just have to jump in here on this one.
David H said:
“…if all autism is genetic why would autistic children be sick in unique ways as compared to controls?”
It appears that David H is a bit unclear on the whole concept of genetics. David, in one way or another, almost all disease has a genetic basis. You get sick from “the flu”? Thank your genes – you don’t have a gene for resistance. Heart attack? Thank your genes there, too. Got AIDS? You wouldn’t if you were homozygous for a CCR deletion mutation. Even some trauma may be due to genes for risk-taking and aggression.
If, on the other hand, David is noting that autistic children are all different from each other, then how can this be caused by mercury or vaccines? Perhaps autism is simply the end result of a number of different genetic combinations.
Or, even more likely, perhaps autism isn’t a single disorder and – as a result of a steady broadening of the medical and social definitions of “autism” – is simply a label applied to a range of disparate disorders and conditions without a common cause.
Personally, I think that history is going to look back on this nonsense and rank it with the Salem Witch Hunts and Cargo Cult as a tragic case of irrational “group-think”.
Prometheus
DH: Firstly, it’s not just thimerosal.
Right, what else is it?
Secondly, if all autism is genetic why would autistic children be sick in unique ways as compared to controls?
OK, as long as the format is to answer questions with questions….Who says autistic children are sick in unique ways? All of them? Some of them? Does illness rules out genetics? My butcher says it doesn’t.
Are any of these disorders genetic? http://www.chromodisorder.org/sytrix/card_list.php3?dbid=82&maxlist=10
Many of them are associated with ‘unique’ illnesses.
Secondly, if all autism is genetic why would autistic children be sick in unique ways as compared to controls?
I explain this in Do Co-Morbidities Prove Pathology?.
But let’s assume that genetically autistic children do become ill as often as non-autistics (which doesn’t have to be true). I claim that a genetically autistic child who gets sick will be taken to a see a doctor and will react to the illness in ways that will make a diagnosis of autism more likely. Therefore, it will not be surprising to find that diagnosed autistics are sick more often than “controls”. An illness can also make symptoms more noticeable. For example, if a child is actually mercury poisoned and is also a little autistic, a diagnosis might be more likely. This does not mean autism is mercury poisoning.
David H: “Teresa Binstock is an autistic adult & researcher who has been working with Safe Minds & DAN.”
From autism-rxguidebook.net:
“In 1997 Ms. Binstock was perceived to qualify for an Asperger’s diagnosis. In 1998, she ended her UCHSC affiliation and returned to the edge of deep nature, what a psychologist perceived as her “comfort zone†….”
*ahem* … perceived to qualify …
Binstock should only a researcher if I’m considered a researcher. Her “research” is a joke, she’s published in “medical hypotheses” and has a bachelors degree. She draws conclusions based on what she reads and calls it research. She’s like a token Aspie to these people. It’s really bad, and she doesn’t have an official dx? maybe it’s just that she’s been poisoned by her amalgam fillings.
It didn’t take us long to figure out who the “Merck” was in the Merck foundation that Shattuck was funded through. It was discussed well on the EoHarm group, as I remember before the NAA announcement came out. The money was like a scholarship or something…
Now, lets look at a real bad guy, what’s his name?
—–
This PhD took $378,000 from Eli Lilly between 1990 and 1993?
He spoke to one of Eli Lilly’s Product Research Divisions in 1987 and gave presentations for Eli Lilly in 1990, 1991 and 1992, spoke to Pfizer people in 1995 and presumably was paid for speaking each time?
—
I’ve never taken a penny from any pharma big or small, but NAA taught me that taking money from big pharma is BAD!! Even if you don’t really take the money from big pharma, and it only looks vaguely like you did, it’s BAD!! So who will rush forward to defend this guy who has profitted handsomely in the past from big pharmers, Eli Lilly and Pfizer!! Those people are just murders aren’t they?
If GR can call for congressional hearings, I want to call for Shattuck to sue the pants off of NAA for defamation of character. I mean I can hope, it would depend on the judge, of course.
I want to express my thanks and appreciate to your Enough Credo. I must confess that I stopped trying to keep up with some of these organizations because of their angry, omnipotent views, I realize that they continue to gain ground and we must start to speak out more loudly and more unified. As you, I should be consistently reading and keeping up with the latest gossip, but find it too overwhelming. You have made me realize that I need to get back in the game and start to speak out more and connect to what is going on in this crazy, frightening time.
I am an odd duck in that I do have issues regarding vaccinations and chose not to immunize my child. Guess what… he is autistic. No doubt about it and never once has he had a shot. In 1995 I contacted Bernard Rimland and asked him if he had any research linking autism and vaccine use. The man practically hung up on me. He said absolutely not, no links that he knew of between autism and immunizations and refused to talk to me about the subject. The guy couldn’t get off the phone fast enough. I found this so amazing that this was during the same time Dr. Rimland was co-founding DAN, DAN being one of the earlier organizations discussing the possible connections between vaccines and autism. It was then that I started to realize the scam in all of this and that too many people are saying things for their own personal gain or fame. Discussing issues quietly with parents was not a priority. Shouting grief, shock, dismay and epidemic from rooftops seemed to be the battle cry.
Sadly that is what gets airplay and funding. I find this attitude pervasive all the way to government assistant programs, schools, churches and citizens. We must mourn, stand back in fear, mock and decry autism. And for God’s sake, if we have to have autism in our community, it better be “JUST ASPERGERS,†or autistics must be SAVANTS to qualify for acceptance. Otherwise we better shock them, train them, and get them to perform and for goodness sakes they better look their community straight in the eye.
I will start my fight again. Thanks for striking the match.
I am an odd duck in that I do have issues regarding vaccinations and chose not to immunize my child. Guess what… he is autistic.
Not Mercury came to the same conclusion the same way.
Teresa Binstock is an autistic adult & researcher who has been working with Safe Minds & DAN.
Ms. Binstock is what’s called an Uncle Tom Autistic. Maybe she’s just misguided. For the life of me I cannot imagine what an autistic would be doing associating with the likes of SafeMinds or DAN.
Dad wrote:
“Seriously, David, is this a joke? Lot’s of people used to believe the earth was the center of the universe, did their steadfast belief make that so, in any reality”?
– Dad, this kind of analogy is only fun AFTER we know the truth. For example, people used to think that the earth was flat. I’m pretty sure that they were mocked like crazy UNTIL it turned out that they were right….
“For example, people used to think that the earth was flat. I’m pretty sure that they were mocked like crazy UNTIL it turned out that they were right….”
Is Sue saying that she’s a flat earther? I think so.
She’s an antivaxer, why shouldn’t she be a flat earther?
Hey, Sue, whatcha think about whale.to?
For example, people used to think that the earth was flat. I’m pretty sure that they were mocked like crazy UNTIL it turned out that they were right…
So you’re a flat-earther now too Sue? 🙂
There’s a quote attributed (without source) to Carl Sagan; goes something like: “They laughed at Galileo, they laughed at the Wright Brothers; Yes, but they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.”
It’s not really true that a flat earth was a mainstream view. Among more educated people it was a well known fact that the earth was espherical. I would compare it to today’s views on evolution.
Ms. Clark wrote:
“Is Sue saying that she’s a flat earther? I think so”.
– Of course not, I’m one of the more educated people who knew that the earth was espherical all along.
Ms. Clark wrote:
“Hey, Sue, whatcha think about whale.to”?
– What about it?
The best way of dealing with the false and misleading science would be to submit a comment to the journals that have published this material. This would have a dual purpose – to force the authors of the original studies to respond – and if they couldn’t – to provide real, peer-reviewed material to those lawyers trying to fight the autism=mercury parents. A third benefit would be to provide a peer-reviewed published argument so that the other (majority) of parent out there could say “yes but”.
So all of you bloggers who have spent so much effort trying to refute the bad science – try summarizing your arguments, write to the editor of the journal, and ask for your comments to be published. Come on – you can do it! You don’t have to be a professional scientist to be peer-reviewed!
All you who are referenced in Kathleen’s wonderful article – go on – give it a try!
http://www.neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/93/an-exchange-of-views
Is that a triple-dog-dare?
If you want to go to whale.to, and dig around, read about 50 random pages from different sections of the website.
Then tell us what you think of the site.
Especially, let us know what you think about the pages that expose the Illuminati and that tell about Orgon generators and aluminum foil thought-screen helmets.
There’s an anecdote about a mom whose son was autistic until he started to wear his thought-screen helmet… stopped the aliens from controlling his mind.
“The Illuminati consist of the Jesuits and some of the world’s richest families including the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and the Windsors. While they pay lip service to religion, they worship Lucifer. Their agents control the world’s media, education, business and politics. These agents may think they are only pursuing success, but success literally means serving the devil. Prisoners of their wealth, the Illuminati prefer hatred and destruction to Love. Understandably, they can’t go public with this. They pretend to be moral while working behind the scenes to degrade and enslave humanity in a “new world order.” Hiroshima, Dresden, Auschwitz, Cambodia and Rwanda were sacrifices to their god Lucifer. They are responsible for the two World Wars, the Depression and the Cold War. Sept. 11, the War on Terror and the Iraq War are their latest achievements. The Illuminati Conspiracy Against God by HENRY MAKOW PhD”
Do you agree? Sue? It’s a quote from whale.to
Just curious.
Sure it’s flat, or rather, disc-shaped, supported by elephants, and carried through space by a giant turtle.
Anyway, Kev, I see you are loaded for bear. Just remember that old military saying, “better me firing it at you than you firing it at me, you bastard.” (T. Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment.)
Well, maybe they’re not firing it at you, but at the under-served population of adult autistics whose existence they deny.
_”Teresa Binstock is an autistic adult & researcher who has been working with Safe Minds & DAN. Boyd Haley is a scientist. My son’s therapist believes autism is an epidemic and that vaccines have caused that epidemic.”_
Is this a joke? The word ‘community’ was used, not the words ‘one person we can trot out’.
_”Do you have proof that they knew the Merck he was affiliated with was not the drug company? Without that proof it was ignorance, not outright lying.”_
Come on David, you don’t _appear_ naive.
_”And we’re all entitled to the truth. And whether you want it or not we’re also entitled to mercury free vaccines and more research into a devastating disorder”_
But that not what you want. What you want is proof thimerosal or MMR cause autism. Thats not truth David, thats manipulation to suit a pre-conceived agenda. The day that your groups started manipulating and misrepresenting science, when they started to employ high powered PR firms to spin facts then you moved beyond wanting truth.
_”As opposed to what? You guys have been doing tremendous record keeping for quite some time now”_
And now we’ll be doing more than that.
_”That’s nice Kev. Lets keep on injecting children & pregnant women with mercury. After all, thimerosal seems to prevent autism in Denmark. But at least you have your priorities straight.”_
Thats right I do. Until you can demonstrate thimerosal causes autism, I could point to your priorities that lead to people dying from being unnvaccinated, that lead to epidemics springing up in both our countries, that lead to autistic children dying from totally unnecessary treatments.
You demonise something to suit a belief. Your choice. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that what you _believe_ to be true either is or leads to anything except more stigma and negativity for autistic people.
Ms. Clark wrote:
“If you want to go to whale.to, and dig around, read about 50 random pages from different sections of the website”.
– I don’t really care about the topics which you referenced above in terms of whale.to. Not interested in digging around. Thanks anyway!
_”or example, people used to think that the earth was flat. I’m pretty sure that they were mocked like crazy UNTIL it turned out that they were right….”_
Incredible. When did it turn out they were right Sue?
Shhh, don’t burst her ionosphere.
Kev wrote:
“Incredible. When did it turn out they were right Sue”?
– I know… what a dummy I am! It’s been a long day. You guys are fairly intelligent (well, most of you) so I know that you could figure out what I meant… yes?
clone wrote:
“Shhh, don’t burst her ionosphere”.
– let’s see which is worse… 1) making an error on a silly analogy (like I did) or 2) spending hours upon hours upon hours defending poison being injected into babies… hmmmmmm….
If I’m not mistaken, the guy behind whale.to is posting to EoHarm now. Sue M – Ask him about the Illuminati. (nudge, nudge) Ask him if the Illuminati caused the autism epidemic. Please.
Sue, the thing you should be worried about is not making a mistake – everyone makes mistakes after all. No, what you need to be concerned about is that _nobody on here thought you’d made a mistake_ : we were all fairly sure that you would hold a belief like that.
On the topic of threats to those who don’t believe in the autism=mercury credo, don’t forget what our pet troll posted just today on Orac’s blog:
“Seidel should be taken out and horsewhipped.”
– John Best Jr., Rescue Angel, Generation Rescue
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/04/the_geiers_try_to_patent_chemi.php#comment-67806
My word. I hope no one will take it literally. “Seidel” has stood up to these creeps and they aren’t used to it.
So they threaten violence. Way go GR Angel guy, John Best Jr.
JBJr:
“We know that Andrews is afraid to come here but whoever’s impersonating him is really making the neurodiverse tribe look like idiots. ”
I’ve posted a good ten times to hos blog and he STILL thinks it’s someone impersonating me. Any Mouse knows me PERSONALLY and he knows my style. And he sussed out that it was me posting.
I have never known anyone so stubbornly stupid as JBJr… he makes Finnish bureaurats look intelligent!
Wow.
I’m sure glad *I’m* not that angry.
What I’ve learned: Being autistic is a lot less frustrating than being a “Rescue Angel”. Better a RettDevil any day.
Seems its about time for someone to stand up and make your views be counted against theirs, so it even appears to some people that there is a debate happening, and that hiring big PR firms doesnt make what your saying the truth.