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alex_antoninI was walking home today, which is always a great time for me to start thinking things through, and somehow I got on the subject of water fluoridation, and how my GF and I can't even discuss it without fighting, because she's opposed to it. I'll be honest and say I don't remember why she's against it, as the very fact of being against it fills me with incoherent rage most of the time. And it occurred to me to wonder *why* I'm so vehement about it. For most other things I'm vehement about, I know the reasons. So I examined it. And I figured out why, at last.
Let's start out with me mentioning that I do understand part of her point of view, there ARE an awful lot of contradictory scientific studies out there. But she seems to think this is an inherent flaw of science. It is not. Most of the studies you hear about in the news, that contradict one another all the time, are really BAD science mostly run by corporations with an agenda, who are deliberately fudging the results to say what they want the results to say. You may also have some genuine, unbiased studies in there, too, trying to shout over all the noise. So I understand being wary of believing something just because a scientist says so.
The problem she has, though, is that she's not applying that same wariness to the people whose "evidence" supports what she believes about water fluoridation. I'll admit I don't recall the reasons she gave for being against it, as I was basically so angry to find out that this normally very intelligent person who does seem to have a pretty good grasp of scientific method has a position that not only has NO objective evidence to support it, but actually has hundreds of studies by reputable sources that actively DISPROVE it.
Now see, that there is where we start to see where my vehemence comes from. I don't give a shit how illogical a belief is, if there's no way to either prove OR disprove it. Believe in God, believe in Zarflox the Magnificent, believe in the tooth fairy, whatever; I don't care. Just don't be an asshole about. Don't try to convert me, don't judge me for being a nonbeliever, and I'm cool with you. Hell, believe that Satan whispers secrets about the universe to you in your sleep for all I care. Unless you're being an asshole or trying to hurt somebody because of your beliefs, I don't care. (Which is why I despise the Scientologists, since that is a cult that sucks it's non-celebrity believers completely bankrupt, and is therefore harming people.)
However, when something has a fuckton of evidence actively disproving it, I start to get irritated. But this is still only part of my vehemence, because while I think flat-earthers, hollow earthers, concave hollow earthers, and other weirdos like that are crazy, I generally just roll my eyes at them.
So why do I get so mental with frustrated anger at the anti-fluoride bullshit? Well first of all, as I said, there is not a single study by any reputable scientist to support the anti-fluoridation movement. What's more, all supposed "evidence" that supports the anti-fluoridation movement has been proven time and time again to be complete bullshit made up by people who already had their minds made up before they made their "studies." Most of these people don't know the first fucking thing about science, and the ones that do are even more dangerous, because they know how to make complete bullshit look believable.
But why does this bother me so much? Well, I'll tell you why: because this is the exact kind of bullshit that started the whole anti-vaccine movement. ONE GUY, just ONE fucking guy, made up some fake "evidence" saying vaccines were bad for you, and now over 50 years later there are still a fuckton of gullable people out there who still believe it. Never mind the fact that that guy was sued AND went to prison for faking his results, the meme is out there and will apparently not die.
Oh yeah, and what's more is, the anti-vaccine people think vaccines cause autism. And they also think that autism is something to be cured. Never mind the fact that autistic people have existed since the dawn of time, never mind the fact that the rise in the number of people diagnosed is because there's more awareness of the condition and we're better able to diagnose it now. No, none of that matters to the anti-vaxxers. Because they have the (proven to be bullshit) studies of one scientist (who faked the results and went to prison for it) to support their claim. It's one of the biggest cases of "don't confuse me with the facts" ever.
And guess what? They use all this shit to get away with stuff like saying they wish their autistic kid was dead, since there's no cure. They even use this bullshit to *get away with murder* when they DO finally kill their autistic kids, and they use this shit to justify supporting people who murder their autistic children. In short, they use this shit to justify ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE.
So gee, who knows what kind of hateful, genocidal bullshit will some day be excused by invoking the pseudoscience the anti-fluoridation people keep touting as "evidence" despite the fact that the rest of the scientific community has proven time and again that they're full of shit?
That, there, is why I am so vehement against the anti-fluoridation movement; because it's fake studies done by fake scientists to justify something they've already made their mind up about, and goodness only knows what kind of hateful crap that pseudoscience will someday support.
PS: It's not like I'm completely unreasonable on this subject; if someone presents a valid, logical argument against water fluoridation, I will objectively consider it. In fact, I *have* heard one such argument, from a friend of mine whose teeth were stripped of their enamel by the fact that both the town she lived in AND the school were putting fluoride in the water, and *that* was a case of *too much* fluoride in the water. Which is a good point, but doesn't really refute the fact that in proper doses, fluoridated water is *good* for your teeth.
Let's start out with me mentioning that I do understand part of her point of view, there ARE an awful lot of contradictory scientific studies out there. But she seems to think this is an inherent flaw of science. It is not. Most of the studies you hear about in the news, that contradict one another all the time, are really BAD science mostly run by corporations with an agenda, who are deliberately fudging the results to say what they want the results to say. You may also have some genuine, unbiased studies in there, too, trying to shout over all the noise. So I understand being wary of believing something just because a scientist says so.
The problem she has, though, is that she's not applying that same wariness to the people whose "evidence" supports what she believes about water fluoridation. I'll admit I don't recall the reasons she gave for being against it, as I was basically so angry to find out that this normally very intelligent person who does seem to have a pretty good grasp of scientific method has a position that not only has NO objective evidence to support it, but actually has hundreds of studies by reputable sources that actively DISPROVE it.
Now see, that there is where we start to see where my vehemence comes from. I don't give a shit how illogical a belief is, if there's no way to either prove OR disprove it. Believe in God, believe in Zarflox the Magnificent, believe in the tooth fairy, whatever; I don't care. Just don't be an asshole about. Don't try to convert me, don't judge me for being a nonbeliever, and I'm cool with you. Hell, believe that Satan whispers secrets about the universe to you in your sleep for all I care. Unless you're being an asshole or trying to hurt somebody because of your beliefs, I don't care. (Which is why I despise the Scientologists, since that is a cult that sucks it's non-celebrity believers completely bankrupt, and is therefore harming people.)
However, when something has a fuckton of evidence actively disproving it, I start to get irritated. But this is still only part of my vehemence, because while I think flat-earthers, hollow earthers, concave hollow earthers, and other weirdos like that are crazy, I generally just roll my eyes at them.
So why do I get so mental with frustrated anger at the anti-fluoride bullshit? Well first of all, as I said, there is not a single study by any reputable scientist to support the anti-fluoridation movement. What's more, all supposed "evidence" that supports the anti-fluoridation movement has been proven time and time again to be complete bullshit made up by people who already had their minds made up before they made their "studies." Most of these people don't know the first fucking thing about science, and the ones that do are even more dangerous, because they know how to make complete bullshit look believable.
But why does this bother me so much? Well, I'll tell you why: because this is the exact kind of bullshit that started the whole anti-vaccine movement. ONE GUY, just ONE fucking guy, made up some fake "evidence" saying vaccines were bad for you, and now over 50 years later there are still a fuckton of gullable people out there who still believe it. Never mind the fact that that guy was sued AND went to prison for faking his results, the meme is out there and will apparently not die.
Oh yeah, and what's more is, the anti-vaccine people think vaccines cause autism. And they also think that autism is something to be cured. Never mind the fact that autistic people have existed since the dawn of time, never mind the fact that the rise in the number of people diagnosed is because there's more awareness of the condition and we're better able to diagnose it now. No, none of that matters to the anti-vaxxers. Because they have the (proven to be bullshit) studies of one scientist (who faked the results and went to prison for it) to support their claim. It's one of the biggest cases of "don't confuse me with the facts" ever.
And guess what? They use all this shit to get away with stuff like saying they wish their autistic kid was dead, since there's no cure. They even use this bullshit to *get away with murder* when they DO finally kill their autistic kids, and they use this shit to justify supporting people who murder their autistic children. In short, they use this shit to justify ATTEMPTED GENOCIDE.
So gee, who knows what kind of hateful, genocidal bullshit will some day be excused by invoking the pseudoscience the anti-fluoridation people keep touting as "evidence" despite the fact that the rest of the scientific community has proven time and again that they're full of shit?
That, there, is why I am so vehement against the anti-fluoridation movement; because it's fake studies done by fake scientists to justify something they've already made their mind up about, and goodness only knows what kind of hateful crap that pseudoscience will someday support.
PS: It's not like I'm completely unreasonable on this subject; if someone presents a valid, logical argument against water fluoridation, I will objectively consider it. In fact, I *have* heard one such argument, from a friend of mine whose teeth were stripped of their enamel by the fact that both the town she lived in AND the school were putting fluoride in the water, and *that* was a case of *too much* fluoride in the water. Which is a good point, but doesn't really refute the fact that in proper doses, fluoridated water is *good* for your teeth.
