1d ago

North Dakota House rejects bills to increase vaccine exemptions, ban fluoride in public water (

www.inforum.com North Dakota House rejects bills to increase vaccine exemptions, ban fluoride in public water

Those in favor of banning fluoride said the chemical makes people "dumber." Proponents of expanding vaccine exemptions said the action would preserve medical freedom.

10 comments

I don't expect the best and the brightest to hail from North Dakota, but it's scary watching full-grown adults bring this kind of stupidity into legislation. I'll never understand this anti-science movement but i firmly believe it's a product of people that can't grasp it and get frustrated because they don't understand it. Instead of trying harder or taking the L, they decide they hate the things they don't understand and the people that do understand and believe in those things are monsters trying to poison everyone around them.
To what end though? Vaccinating everyone to give the masses autism or something?! Lol
- I believe people who study public opinion about science have noted that confidence drops during outbreaks and epidemics... if that's the case, Covid does stand out to me as the first time in my life when laypeople began misusing and misunderstanding science at scale, loudly and as part of their proclaimed identity.
  makes sense that when a story of global 24/7 proportions eclipses all other news for 2+years straight, that it would become politicized and weaponized in the culture. our winner-takes-all first-past-the-post lesser-of-two-evils duopoly political system, combined with news as entertainment, and now we have folks that have made anti science their entire fucking identity.
  Carl Sagan refered to it as The Demon Haunted World (good book btw). Goya criticized it in his paintings. the Catholics burned people at the stakes because of it.
  History repeats; reactionary political/theological movements help ensure that it does.
- It's because they are protecting their wealth and power. Anyone that believes in "meritocracy" but also believes public education, Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, etc are government handouts is a fascist. They know they can afford to get their kids vaccinated, send them to private schools, and cover basic needs they a working double time to ensure the poors don't get the same opportunities.
  
  So much this. This is why I have some amount of sympathy for the R's voter base. There is a systemic war on education going on, and to some degree these people are victims of this class war being waged by the ultra-rich.
  They've been fooled to act against their own best interests, and I refuse to hold the sheep more responsible than the wolves who've tricked them.