An important question that emerges from the rise of the vaccine doubter movement is by what process of persuasion did so many people come to believe what they do about vaccination?
They believe the risks of vaccination are much greater than the risk of the diseases it is supposed to prevent.
They believe the risks of vaccination are much greater than the risk of the diseases it is supposed to prevent.
...The importance of the vaccination mess is twofold.
The first is that progress in public health, especially against infectious diseases that cause mass mortality, is really, really hard.
Acquiring the knowledge needed to fight bacteria and viruses is a slog.
Changing habits of behavior to accept new knowledge is difficult.
Losing these gains can be catastrophic.
Acquiring the knowledge needed to fight bacteria and viruses is a slog.
Changing habits of behavior to accept new knowledge is difficult.
Losing these gains can be catastrophic.
The second problem, which can crush such remarkable achievements, is the eroding credibility and authority of science. 
If too many people think even scientists are lying to them, humanity is headed toward the lemmings’ famous cliff.
If too many people think even scientists are lying to them, humanity is headed toward the lemmings’ famous cliff.
...For the purposes of the argument here, what anyone thinks about climate change isn’t the issue. There was a point in this combustible debate, though, when I began to think that science and the people who do the work of science beyond climate were allowing the credibility of their profession to be put at risk with the broader population.
That turning point was when the cause changed its name from global warming to climate change.
When the warming-only argument became scientifically difficult and the subject became the irrefutable “climate change,” it was clear that politics, not science, was running the show.
When the warming-only argument became scientifically difficult and the subject became the irrefutable “climate change,” it was clear that politics, not science, was running the show.
The people doing basic science should learn a well-proven truth about basic politics:
Any cause taken up by politicians today by definition will be doubted or opposed by nearly half the population.
When an Al Gore, John Kerry or Europe’s Green parties become spokesmen for your ideas, and are willing to accuse fellow scientists of bad faith or willful ignorance, then science has made a Faustian bargain.
The price paid, inevitably, will be the institutional credibility of all scientists.
Any cause taken up by politicians today by definition will be doubted or opposed by nearly half the population.
When an Al Gore, John Kerry or Europe’s Green parties become spokesmen for your ideas, and are willing to accuse fellow scientists of bad faith or willful ignorance, then science has made a Faustian bargain.
The price paid, inevitably, will be the institutional credibility of all scientists.
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