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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Pseudoscience Quackery

Rappin’ Hillary Simpson, #crazymothers, and #DearDoctor: Antivaxers blaming doctors for vaccinating children. Again.

Hillary Simpson created the Facebook group #crazymothers to co-opt the perception that the science-based world has of her and her fellow antivax mothers. Now, she’s cooked up a hashtag and social media campaign called #DearDoctor to encourage mothers to harass their child’s former pediatricians by writing letters blaming them for vaccinating and supposedly causing their children’s autism. Oh, and she does freestyle rap, too. Badly. Oh, so badly.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Bad science Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

The Dunning-Kruger effect, antivaxers, and the arrogance of ignorance

Thanks to the Dunning-Kruger effect, many antivaxers think they know more about vaccines than doctors, scientists, and other experts in infectious disease, immunology, and vaccines. It is this arrogance of ignorance that fuels their antivaccine activism and makes them resistant to disconfirming evidence.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Pseudoscience Quackery Science

A not-so-Thinking Mom loves a crooked antivaccine “theory” by Forrest Maready

Zoe O’Toole, aka “The Professor” at an antivaccine crank blog known as The Thinking Moms’ Revolution, likes to think she’s figured out this whole science thing. Her falling for “crooked theory,” an impressively daft piece of antivaccine pseudoscience by Forrest Maready, shows her self-delusion on that score.

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Antivaccine nonsense Cancer Computers and social media Medicine Popular culture Pseudoscience Quackery

IonCleanse foot baths: The confluence of antivaccine nonsense and cancer quackery

Antivax and cancer quackery go together, unfortunately. Here, Orac describes yet another example of this, as the (Not-So)-Thinking Moms promote a fundraiser to pay for quackery, including IonCleanse footpaths, for a young woman with cancer.

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Antivaccine nonsense Autism Complementary and alternative medicine Medicine Pseudoscience Skepticism/critical thinking Television

False balance in reporting the case of a local mother jailed for contempt of court for reneging on an agreement to vaccinate her child

Rachel Bredow is antivaccine and doesn’t want her children vaccinated. Her ex-husband disagrees. When Ms. Bredow violated a court order to vaccinate her child, she was thrown into jail for contempt of court. Unfortunately, our local media have not exactly covered themselves in glory covering this story.