(no subject)

[rivka]

I am so furious about having had to write this post that my hands are shaking.

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing the research and writing it.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

I understand your fury, but I for one am glad that you're here - with your credentials, your research skills and your well-informed outrage - to write it.

[pnh.livejournal.com]

I just linked to it from Electrolite. That was one hell of a post.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

I have been trying, and failing, to find reference to something I'm sure I recollect reading about relatively recently, concerning a BBC documentary on the MMR vaccine hoohah, which in the interests of 'balance' gave enormous amounts of time to the lone discredited proponent of the MMR-autism link and the individuals who are refusing to have their children vaccinated as a result of the scare, and thus presumably discouraged yet more from getting the immunisation done. But my feeling is that what you describe is not, alas, an entirely isolated phenomenon.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the MMR-autism scare. Another sterling example where hysteria overcame scientific rationality.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I recently read a journal article about vaccine information available online. Apparently, if you do a Google search for "vaccination," about half the sites that come up are anti-vaccination - including many of the top 10. So it really does give the false impression that the two viewpoints have equal weight and an equal number of adherents.

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

It's starting to look like you could fill an entire blog with debunking bad journalism and stupid blog entries about your various fields of expertise.

-J

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Well done.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I can see why you would be furious. It's a great piece of investigative reporting.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing it... I've linked to it, and I have seen a few other people do so as well. AIDS denialists are as dangerous in their way as Holocaust deniers are in theirs, with immediate tragic consequences, and it is a shame that they have been given a platform as prestigious as the BBC.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

It wasn't clear from my prior comment, but I thought your post was wonderful: well-written and informative. Great job.

Wow!

[zarq.livejournal.com]

I really hope you don't mind, but I metafiltered the original post on your respectfulofotters page. Considering how many upset lj and blog entries I've seen over this issue during the last few days, I think it's worth spreading your excellent research far and wide.

Heck, I'd scream it from the rooftops if I thought I could get more people to read it. :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this.

Re: Wow!

[zarq.livejournal.com]

Doh! Forgot to include a link... http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/37476

Re: Wow!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Now please help me sit on my hands so I don't get myself a metafilter login and start answering every single comment that impugns my motives or says something incorrect.

Re: Wow!

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

Let me help:

You are not too far out from delivering your kidlet and you have a convention to finalize.

See, that wasn't so bad.

Excellent research and writing, Dr. R.

Re: Wow!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I've now addressed some of the metafilter people's concerns here (http://respectfulofotters.blogspot.com/2004_12_01_respectfulofotters_archive.html#110216915212319531), in case you're interested.

[dafna]

yeah, the BBC isn't known for looking critically at sensational stuff. Exhibit #582: BBC admits Bhopal interview was a hoax.

The U.S. media isn't perfect, god knows, but I think it helps that we don't usually pay for interviews. The Europeans do routinely, and I think it makes them more vulnerable to this kind of stuff.

If you want to see if you can stir up mainstream media outrage, you might try sending a letter about the BBC documentary and its flaws to Romenesko (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45) which is a site that everyone in media reads. I mean, it aired in Britain, but a letter expressing outrage that it did so unchecked might get published, then seen, then followed up on. He likes letters from civilians and prints a lto of them.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

You are so good at this kind of thing, and it is so necessary. It must be very time consuming, though. Do you do anything like that for your job? I wonder if there is any appropriate way of getting paid for publishing that kind of critical analysis?

[boxofdelights]

But thank you for writing it. I appreciate knowing where those scare stories came from.

[tsjafo.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you took the time to set the record straight.

[fairoriana.livejournal.com]

Your fury didn't show. It sounded well-reasoned, thoughtful, and undisputable. As usual, wonderful work. Thank you.

[claire.livejournal.com]

You rock my socks. Y'know if I were wearing socks. I have linked to this from my own LJ, hope that is OK, if it's not let me know.

[fluffcthulhu.livejournal.com]

I hate to say "bwa ha ha" when I want to say hello. So. Hello.

[lisajulie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your thoughtful analysis from the informed researcher point of view. I really, really, value it.

You've done this before about the television/ADD/ADHD study and I found that of immense value.

I've pointed a number of people to that post and I suspect I'll point a number of people to this post.

Thank you, thank you.

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

You may be shaking, but your post is all pure fact, logic, and eloquence. Thank you for writing that!

[redbird]

I just whomped someone over on joedecker's journal who claimed to have read your entire post, but clearly hadn't understood it.

I don't have your specific expertise, but I do my bit, or try to.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

Thank you for researching and posting.

[ailbhe]

*hug*

Don't get a metafilter login.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

Thank you for doing it. I was happy to spread the word.

[bcholmes.livejournal.com]

Some days I get really depressed about how poor a job the mainstream media is doing about informing the public about things that matter.

And when I read things like your two posts on this topic, I feel better because I believe, for a time, that the forces of truth can win.

[aloha-moira.livejournal.com]

ugh. It's even over at _scientists_: Post here. I pointed them to your article, but if you want to come over and set him straight yourself you'd probably be much more effective than I. :)

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Boy howdy. That guy isn't even worth arguing with, is he?

If it makes you feel any better...

[(Anonymous)]

you've made a new friend.

Kudos to you.