{"id":7823,"date":"2026-08-17T18:54:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=7823"},"modified":"2026-08-17T18:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T17:55:02","slug":"the-thinking-kat-ignorance-absurdity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/?p=7823","title":{"rendered":"The Thinking ‘Kat: Ignorance & Absurdity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Not for the first time, I have to take issue with the misplaced arrogance that comes from people who boldly announce they know more than professionals and experts in the medical field. Not only that, I have to take aim at the ludicrious suggestion that looking out for my child’s health somehow equates to child abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The source of my ire? This comment<\/a>, by Alphaandomega21<\/a>, aka Baldmichael, over at Insanity Bytes, which is reproduced below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My experience it wasn\u2019t \u201cchallenging\u201d, the whole thing was a farce as I have made clear. The medical profession lost the plot when Covid came as the vast majority didn\u2019t spot the blindingly obvious clues of rebranding the \u2018flu and it thinks that cancer can be treated by toxic substances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not just admin and management which is poor but the doctors and nurses who don\u2019t understand what really makes people ill and are happy to poison them with vaccines and various toxic pharma drugs thinking this will do any good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know you had your daughter vaccinated so no wonder she is on the spectrum as you have indicated elsewhere. It is shame on you that you have failed to heed the warnings I and others have given. If you must play Russian roulette with yourself and your family you will have to take the consequences. You bear responsibility for allowing your daughter to be poisoned and that is child abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have persistently shown how shallow your research is. You have no critical thinking skills so that you believe the latest nonsense on measles. We have had 200+ years of pro-vax propaganda from Jenner\u2019s time and you are one of the many who persist in spouting the crap idea that introducing alleged disease causing agents and toxic adjuvants will do anybody any good.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Baldmichael’s first paragraph is in relation to their personal experiences with the NHS. The rest is, in this meerkat’s humble view, a dogged demonstration of indoctrination and ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I offered up a response<\/a> to his comment, posted below, and then I decided to expand that response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alright Alpha, I\u2019ll bite. If you and a handful of others have \u2018done the research\u2019 and conclusively overriden decades of scientific study and endeavour, then by all means present it, because from where I am sitting, the only being shallow is you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To suggest that seeking to protect my daughter from dangerous and even deadly disease is somehow child abuse is not merely offensive, it is hyperbolic, and I assume it\u2019s a reactionary statement on your part, as opposed to any form of carefully reasoned consideration. Alas, conspiracy theorists often rely on sensationalism, and it seems Alpha that you are no different. I await you proving otherwise, just as I await you demonstrating you know more than medical professionals, and that your experience should be treated as the defining sum of all experiences.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it seems Baldmichael wishes to act as the poster child for conspiratol anti-vaxxers the world over. The determined belief that fringe suggestions should overcome decades of experience and research is as misguided as it is arrogant, and it is also dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDC has this to say about the rise in measles cases in the USA<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Why are measles cases rising so dramatically in the US? It’s down a decline in vaccination take-ups. Why is the rate of vaccination declining? Because of anti-vax rhetoric at the highest seats of government (and elsewhere), which is motivated by… yep, you guessed it, ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of false claims about vaccines causing autism. There have been repeated studies, and not once has this claim been proven. Unfortunately the claims continue, because some people prefer to put their trust in vapid, outlandish concepts instead of evidence. Worse, it seems some people – like Baldmichael – will make exceptional and outrageous comments about parenting skills, because *gasp*, I didn’t want my daughter catching measles, or mumps, or anything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Measles cases have been on the rise in the UK too<\/a>, as some UK citizens choose to listen to the stupidity from across the Pond.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

This illness, which can cause miscarriages if a pregnant person catches it, blindness, hearing loss and death, is not a joke. Protecting one’s child from it is the right thing to do; advocating for not doing so is the true form of abuse, but this is sadly something all-too common among the religious right. In the past, I have had some robust discussions about how parents turn to faith healing and as a result, have let children die. Refusing to get your kid vaccinated, and thus risking exposing them to disease, is no different in my book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not impressed by Baldmichael’s rhetoric, and I wonder if they are prepared to do what they claim I do not do, and actually think. Will they look at the evidence, or continue to arrogantly declare their brief armchair research somehow counts for more than decades of study from professionals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baldmichael, the floor is yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to The Thinking ‘Kat<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not for the first time, I have to take issue with the misplaced arrogance that comes from people who boldly announce they know more than…<\/p>\n

Continue readingThe Thinking ‘Kat: Ignorance & Absurdity<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-and-society","category-science","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1761046212660.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7823"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7835,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7823\/revisions\/7835"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meerkatmusings.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}