Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines.
When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.
@dalias @luckytran murder implies malicious intent. words are important
edit: this is also not how you convince people they are wrong, for better or worse, you are only alienated and (in their mind) vindicating their choices.
@etsyy @dalias @luckytran Agree đź’Ż%.
But to be fair, it’s extremely rare that anyone becomes convinced they were wrong. Especially so for people susceptible to conspiracy beliefs.
@marshray @etsyy @luckytran Yeah I'm not trying to convince the antivaxxers they're wrong.
I'm trying to convince reasonable people that we should treat antivaxxers as murderers.
@dalias @marshray @luckytran from a legal perspective, negligence and manslaughter, sure. consequences for their actions, of course. but using murder minimizes actual murder.
from a societal perspective, this is just an unhelpful and divisive attitude.
@etsyy @marshray @luckytran Accomplices to murder if you prefer.
But there absolutely is malice and intent to cause death behind the movement, from the top and from the people funding it and installing antivaxxers in positions of power.
@dalias @marshray @luckytran we are talking about everyday people who have been led astray with misinformation and the exploitation of their proclivity to conspiracy and science denial. they are victims of their circumstances and to elites that benefit from these dangerous views.
if you want to move the goalpost to those who implemented these policies and encouraged these viewpoints, then I can absolutely agree in that regard.
You realize that the "wet market" hypothesis remains the most likely by far?
If there was a conspiracy to limit discussion of the "lab leak" hypothesis, it was pretty damn ineffective, since I was aware of discussions of it-- in the press and by prominent social media figures--all the way through the pandemic.
Attempts to quell the discussion, such as there were, were based on 1) sincere belief that it was wrong; 2) worries about downplaying the future danger of naturally-occurring zoonotic spillover 3) encouraging maximum participation of the Chinese government in international containment and recovery efforts.
Dr. Lucky Tran 
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etsy
Marsh Ray
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