It’s all too easy to call someone stupid when they disagree with you. Understandable, but wrong nonetheless.
Some of these people, who don’t seem to understand science or reason, may be politically motivated. Others may be genuinely confused, uncertain, or scared and vulnerable.
This does not mean they’re stupid.
The first type of person is difficult to argue with, and even when faced with overwhelming evidence is unlikely to change their mind. Calling them names doesn’t help—it’s probably safest to state the rational arguments, and walk away. Engage with people who are genuinely seeking truth, but for the politically motivated there is nothing you can do.
But being insulting, rude or dismissive to the second group is counterproductive, and makes you (and your cause) look bad. These may be intelligent people, but missing facts or skills to make sense of data, or who are too close emotionally to a problem to be entirely rational.
Just after my first daughter was born, the whole MMR/autism thing blew up. I was a senior scientist at a small biotech company in Cambridge. I had no idea whether the press reports could be believed, or what was behind those reports even if true. I didn’t have ready access to the Wakefield paper, and I wouldn’t have known how to deal with clinical data anyway. Unwilling to risk the MMR, my daughter’s first jab was a single vaccine. As a parent I was (and still am) emotionally invested in the health of my daughter. My resolve was only hardened by the actions of the then-Prime Minister, who refused to say whether his infant son had received the triple immunization, and the government’s nannying of the issue.
Then, when it became apparent that the basis for the autism link was specious, I changed my mind and consented to the MMR for subsequent boosters and my second daughter. That I changed my mind doesn’t mean I was stupid—it simply means I became more informed.
Which is why this video is important.
People who refuse vaccines for their children, or use homeopathy, might well be wrong. But they are not necessarily stupid, and we shouldn’t treat them as such.
Cross-posted from the work gig.
Well said.
Thanks Alice. It’s aimed as much at me as anyone else.
Thank you. You’ve put it beautifully. x
We are all emotional creatures and respond much more strongly to emotion than reason. This goes for scientists as much as anyone else. If you are trying to change someone’s mind about something you need to remind yourself of that about every 10 seconds.
Nice work Richard. Relevant and topical. I’ve been thinking about this issue of ‘tone’ after recent eruptions on twitter about astrology and the alt. med. exhibition at the Science Museum (which I hope to visit soon). All the while I have been reading Carl Sagan’s “Demon Haunted World” – always skeptical, Sagan is unfailingly understanding of the mis-understanding of others about ‘the science’. That strikes me as the way to do it.
Thanks all. (Wow, I pushed this live, then went into a meeting. Ninety minutes later twitter and my email can haz asplode.)
The video is from Kylie, I read from the comments on Jackie’s own blog post.
I was in exactly the same position as you. Exactly. Very well put.
Very clear and insightful. Respect must be the basis of any discussion. Thanks, Richard,
Thanks Paula.
Henry, yes: I saw your comment on Jackie’s post. Very difficult, it was.
The effects of Wakefield are astonishing in how far-reaching they are. When I tell people I work on the genetics of autism, what do you suppose the first question I get asked is? In fact, it’s almost the *only* question I’m asked.
My kids are younger than yours (or Henry’s) and I think we may have more-or-less missed most of the vaccination controversy – which also seems to have been less strong here in Canada than in the UK. I don’t recall having any trepidation about the standard MMR triple, nor do I recall our family doc cautioning us against it. Whether this is because we were all well-informed, or alternatively not at all well informed about the controversy, I just don’t know.
I have a feeling it wasn’t big over the Pond. The madness confined more or less to these shores, I guess? Also having difficulty remembering if it was a big deal in Australia.
I thought that was a very interesting point in Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science – in the UK the vaccine scare was over the combination MMR, while in the US it was over the mercury-based preservatives used in a different set of vaccines, and in France they worried about the Hep B shot causing MS. He argued that the fact the controversies were different in each location meant they were all much less likely to be true. Of course, though, the media in each location didn’t mention the fact that their counterparts in other countries were talking about completely different vaccine scares, so no-one was able to make that connection until well after the fact!
Thus proving your point about ignorance (as in an honest lack of pertinent information) not being the same as stupidity. (Although the two do overlap, and willful ignorance is a whole other argument!)
Great post. I would just add the possibility that many people whose political motivations (broadly defined) shape their response to issues where scientific evidence is germane, are unlikely to be able to see themselves as biased. Their political stance frames their understanding of the world, of arguments, and of what constitutes convincing evidence. It is precisely because of their stance (which to them is not their politics but their insight) that they can see what is right and what is wrong. Having myself recently been on the receiving end of a fairly aggressive and distinctly un-evidence-based volley from a self-appointed arbiter of what counts as ‘scientific’ I am more sure than ever that this is something that all of use, even the greatest ‘skeptics’, can be guilty of.
@rpg – Well, remember that two of the biggest proponents over here were big stars: Jenny McCarthy (American) and her then-boyfriend Jim Carrey (Canadian, I hang my head in shame). Definitely didn’t get as much play as on your side of the pond, but those two blowing smoke about it certainly raised the profile a lot.
Indeed.
And of course, Kieron, the self-proclaimed ‘enlightened’ can suffer the same disease.
Cath, I hadn’t grasped the implications of the different country’s media telling different stories. I wonder if we’d get the same effect now, 10 years down the road with twitter and whatnot?
Of course, Ricardipus: I was forgetting that your crew were/are anti-vax completely, not just anti-MMR.
I love the video! Very good to get reminded and learn some new ways of thinking about it. It’s not all about facts but feeling in your gut etc… and the anecdotes…
I would say that the anti-vax / anti-MMR here in the US AFAIK it is fairly big, but based in two different camps. The “educated people” who are opposed it partly based on mercury and adjuvants (in the US only alum is FDA approved for use in humans….) and then the people who think “the vaccines are contaminated and out to hurt our children” (people not trusting the government due to various reasons).
You could see variation in the numbers of [child] vaccinations of MMR (as well as other vaccinations) in California, Texas and north-East New England corner compared to Iowa/Wisconsin/other places… there are some interesting hot spots ^^
Then there are the incidents with “Gulf War syndrome” and family of soldiers who has gotten sick after “military shots” but that might be a very different ball game?!? But that has lead to a bit of distrust towards vaccinations. I’ve had some interesting discussions when I presented research on flu vaccinations last time – still have a hard time answering the “why would pharma want to make a bad vaccine?” since money wise it doesn’t make sense to me… but maybe it does?
[one added fact, Cervarix is the only vaccine in the US that has an other type of adjuvant… ASO4 – alum and monophosphoryl lipid A. Just to be accurate in my former statement.]
Funnily enough I’ve just answered a comment about vaccine intolerance over at the other place: http://blog.the-scientist.com/2011/02/09/treating-with-respect/comment-page-1/#comment-5190.
Glad you enjoyed the video, Chall!