I know the number 5 ugliest arguments we have on this forum has to do with Vaccines and Autism.
However the details of the plot that Dr. Wakefield was hatching with his theory have come to light. Dr. Wakefield and others associated with the Autism/Innoculation theory were starting their own company to A)produce a new--different type of vaccine, B)patent and offer expensive tests for law suits against the old vaccine companies, and C)Bill government and insurance companies for procedures that they create to diagnose people with this link.
All of these services would be demanded as soon as the big news conference hit that linked Autism to Vaccines , and as the sole prepared provider of them, they expected to clear $75.5 Million the 1st year.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Did this forum have a thimerosal conspiracist? Were these really the ugliest arguments on hatrack? I didn't even think the vaccine 'controversy' was even in the top ten here.
Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
#1--Evolution/Creationism #2--Global Climate Change #3--Abortion #4--Who should play Ender in the upcoming Movie #5--Does Autism come from Vaccinations.
Of course, this is based over 10+ years of Hatrackery. 3 and 5 have cooled down recently.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
SS marriage and proxy baptism should both be way higher than your #5. At the very least.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Or at least something Israel/Jewish vs. Muslim/Palestinians. We at least get bans (of some sort or another) out of those.
Edit to add: Going through lists of closed threads, I'd say "Blayne Bradley" would also be a potential contender that should outrank vaccines.
Posted by jebus202 (Member # 2524) on :
This thread is now about which topic generates the most asshatery on Hatrack.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
dont forget bush! and iraq!
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I think I'd put proxy baptism at #1 or close to it.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
And here I was wondering why we were holding another 'con when it's already well into the flu season, so many people would already be vaccinated.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
quote:Originally posted by Belle: I think I'd put proxy baptism at #1 or close to it.
Huh. I can't even *recall* a heated proxy baptism thread in the last few years.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
For number one conflict, I would vote Israel/Palestine. You can't mention either of those without someone ending up banned.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
there were a couple of good ones! it has great inherent potential for drama with this crowd and could bounce well off of notorious individuals.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
quote:Originally posted by CT: And here I was wondering why we were holding another 'con when it's already well into the flu season, so many people would already be vaccinated.
I thought it sounded like a pretty weird reason for a con, although...well, I clicked in to see if it would make sense.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Since I live in a liberal hive, there's plenty of naturopaths and people invested in alternate medicine and spirit crystal energies or whatever. Vaccine 'skepticism' used to be rampant here. It's creepy to watch it in person, because it's not like evolutionary 'skepticism' or other things people can feel free to be an idiot about without actively putting other people at risk. Anti-vaccine idiocy, though, results in parents not vaccinating their kids, putting not only those kids but other kids in their community at risk by disrupting herd immunity. I will flat-out berate someone in public and call them an idiot if they tell me their kids aren't vaccinated because of *insert vaccine autism slash conspiracy bs here* — it crosses a line where their idiocy and complacency with pseudoscience and lies is actively endangering.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
Wakefield is a fraud and it's time to just STOP LISTENING TO THAT GUY.
Dang.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Where does belief/nonbelief come in that list?
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
In what? Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
I think that kid from Home Alone should play Ender.
Wait...what are we talking about?
Posted by Juxtapose (Member # 8837) on :
You MEANT to say Home Alone 3. I can tell.
Posted by Drifter (Member # 11958) on :
quote:Originally posted by Belle: I think I'd put proxy baptism at #1 or close to it.
That was my first pick too.
Oh and Blayne Bradley is small potatoes compared to Balder Posted by Parkour (Member # 12078) on :
How could proxy baptism not cause controversy, now that I read about it? Its a perfect practice for it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Aaaand here we go again!
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:I will flat-out berate someone in public and call them an idiot if they tell me their kids aren't vaccinated because of *insert vaccine autism slash conspiracy bs here*
I'm sure this is an extremely effective method of convincing people that their beliefs about vaccination are in error.
[ January 13, 2011, 11:47 PM: Message edited by: Strider ]
Posted by Jon Boy (Member # 4284) on :
quote:Originally posted by Parkour: How could proxy baptism not cause controversy, now that I read about it? Its a perfect practice for it.
Don't. Just don't.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
There hasn't been a proxy baptism thread in years, but the old-timers remember them well. Heed those of us who say don't, please don't. I sincerely regret bringing it up.
On another note, I thought the kid in The Phantom Menace would make a good Ender. Posted by Darth_Mauve (Member # 4709) on :
Ok, ok... so its number 15--not number 5.
Can't I pull numbers out of my .... hat... like this doc Wakefield did?
Posted by Lisa (Member # 8384) on :
quote:Originally posted by Belle: There hasn't been a proxy baptism thread in years, but the old-timers remember them well. Heed those of us who say don't, please don't. I sincerely regret bringing it up.
I'm pretty sure I started the last one. Other than the ruckus here, the main result was that when I hear people complaining about it, I try and talk them down. Ironic.
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
Haley Joel Osment.
You know he'd be perfect.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
Darn tootin'. And the best part is that ya'd hafta use a time machine to get him at the right age... ...which means that ya'd save on production costs by getting a buncha spaceships and stuff from the future.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Ooo...you could go even further into the future and get used spaceships for cheap!
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
Wouldn't it be easier just to go into the future and bring back a finished print of the movie?
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by Sean Monahan: Wouldn't it be easier just to go into the future and bring back a finished print of the movie?
No, because they solve the problem of aging leading to death ten years from now, and so Mr. Card never dies, thus preventing studios from just throwing another piece of tripe at us.
Then Skynet becomes self aware, and all movies stop.
Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
quote: Wouldn't it be easier just to go into the future and bring back a finished print of the movie?
No, because then to avoid a paradox, the movie would have to essentially be 'remade' - after everyone had already seen it, leading to the great Critic-Wars of 2047, wherein no-one could decide whether the 'remake' of the film was as good as the original.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by Strider:
quote:I will flat-out berate someone in public and call them an idiot if they tell me their kids aren't vaccinated because of *insert vaccine autism slash conspiracy bs here*
I'm sure this is an extremely effective method of convincing people that their beliefs about vaccination are in error.
So far, yup!
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
I don't believe you.
Posted by Drifter (Member # 11958) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bella Bee:
quote: Wouldn't it be easier just to go into the future and bring back a finished print of the movie?
No, because then to avoid a paradox, the movie would have to essentially be 'remade' - after everyone had already seen it, leading to the great Critic-Wars of 2047, wherein no-one could decide whether the 'remake' of the film was as good as the original.
Which would in turn, lead to intense debate on hatrack, eventually becoming the #1 ugliest argument, as to whether the 2047 Critic Wars were worse than the 2042/2043 Critic Wars. Of course there would be two separate subset arguments, one defining the word 'Critic' and one whether it could truly be called a Critic War if only American critics were involved.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Pff, these hippies got cajoled into it with this whole idea that they aren't acting in their children's best interest if they participate in western medicine's ew bad ucky non-natural artificial thimerosal mercury unnecessary vaccines. So you just turn that right on its head and shame them for ending up doing exactly that. And, to boot, putting everyone else's kids in greater danger.
We have been rightfully criticized for our general vaccine idiocy. In a small way, we act as a cautionary tale. I treat this kind of ignorance the same way I like to treat homophobia and racism.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:I treat this kind of ignorance the same way I like to treat homophobia and racism.
This is precisely why I don't believe that it's been effective in convincing people.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
That's probably because you haven't actually seem me deal with any of those three subjects in person with a live, present human being, and you are inferring that it must essentially be identical enough to me mocking nutcases from a weird old forum on the internet for you to assume it simply could not be.
That's ok. People can believe what they want about things I bring up about my personal life. That I'm unfathomably capable of slapping sense into people and have done so on more than one occasion is hardly the most outlandishly impossible factoid from my travels.
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)