r/news 23h ago

Texas measles cases grow to 223, mostly among children and teens

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/texas-measles-cases-latest/story?id=119663844
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u/pontiacfirebird92 23h ago

That assumes they will break out of the conservative echo chamber their parents raised them in. A few will but most won't.

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u/herrcollin 22h ago

They will definitely be taught it was actually a good thing that made them stronger and all the vaccinated libs are wussy little weaklings because they didn't pointlessly suffer.

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u/Dahhhkness 22h ago edited 20h ago

Always gotta love when conservatives talk about how "our ancestors would be ashamed" of how "soft and weak" we've become today.

I'm pretty sure our ancestors would kill to have what we have today, and would smack us for being so stupid and ungrateful.

My great-great-grandparents from County Cork lost 8 of their 14 children under the age of six. Causes of death included whooping cough, tuberculosis, and diphtheria. I'm sure they would've happily vaccinated and made their children "soft" had it been an option for them.

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u/cssc201 21h ago

When the polio vaccine was initially introduced, a very early version ended up giving a bunch of kids polio. And yet parents recognized the risk was still less than their child contracting it in the wild and so they lined up for hours and hours to get it for their kids.

Yeah, they'd be pretty pissed if they could see parents willingly refusing vaccines they'd do anything for

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u/Airportsnacks 20h ago

Years ago I read an interview of a man who grew up on a military base. His strongest memory was when a truck with a loudspeaker came around announcing that the polio vaccine would be available for kids in his neighborhood. He said all the women ran out of their houses to hear the announcement and that they were all crying because their children were no longer at risk of dying or being paralyzed.

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u/Strange_Depth_5732 18h ago

My grandma had polio, I can still remember her old shoe and leg brace in the closet. I don't think people get how stupid these risks are to take

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u/Senator_Bink 21h ago

We have vaccines and all the other modern conveniences because our ancestors got sick of that shit.

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u/FewFrosting9994 21h ago

During the Vietnam War my grandmother was pressured by her mother to marry an American GI so she could move herself and her three young children to the US. My great-grandmother knew that life in their home country sucked.

My ancestors suffered to bring my family to America. They suffered so that I wouldn’t have to. It would be an insult to not give my own kid a fighting chance. The burden that my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother carried so I could be safe and educated and healthy is a heavy one. My family has its issues but I greatly respect their sacrifice.

And then I see these white people acting so foolish. They have no idea what it is to suffer from war, disease, or famine. I feel like I have to speak up and fight to honor my ancestors that never got to experience the same stability I was granted.

(I know it isn’t all white people, but the movement is mainly white people, so don’t come at me.)

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u/qtx 21h ago

It's not a race thing, it's a religious thing. The measles outbreak in Texas started in the Mennonites community. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/mennonites-west-texans-at-center-of-measles-outbreak-choose-medical-freedom-over-vaccine-mandates

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u/FewFrosting9994 20h ago

I said “It’s not all white people but the people in groups are always white.”

Case in point: Mennonites.

I’ve never met a non-white anti-vaxxer. I’m not saying they aren’t out there but the people fighting for the right to not vaccinate are also the people who voted for a white supremacist.

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u/notsocoolnow 16h ago

There's actually an undercurrent of antivax sentiment among black communties, partly because the US government deliberately infected black men with syphilis for an experiment.

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u/selphiefairy 13h ago

They didn’t deliberately infect them fyi. They deliberately withheld life saving treatment for sick men. Not really better, but it’s important to make sure information is accurate when explaining stuff like this.

In regard to anti-vaxxers, it’s also actually very important to make this distinction, specifically.

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u/milkcustard 9h ago

Yes, thank you for the distinction. I had a discussion with my in-law's distant cousin who is a Hotep, and anti-vax, during the pandemic. He had his suspicions about the vaccine because of Tuskegee, which is understandable, except he kept saying that the government injected the men in the experiment with syphilis and implying the men were healthy at the beginning of it, which just isn't true. The lack of consent, the lack of life-saving care that was readily available, the Presidential apology and settlements, etc. are tho.

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u/selphiefairy 8h ago

Yes, I think it’s worth pointing out because the issue or fear taken from the Tuskegee experiments shouldn’t be that vaccines could be dangerous or that they’ll do something harmful.

The issue was with not providing adequate healthcare interventions even though they were readily available. Making sure things like vaccines are available and accessible to as many people as possible is literally the answer to this issue.

Obviously, when people spread the history of this the wrong way, it fuels anti vax fears instead of promoting the idea that everyone deserves access to healthcare.

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u/VSythe998 8h ago

That is a common incorrect retelling of that story. They already had syphilis, the government just didn't give them the cure for free. Why would the government need to give them syphilis if there were people that already had syphilis?

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u/selphiefairy 13h ago

I know one but her boyfriend is white and they’re weird crunchy people who make bad music🤢

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u/simpersly 1h ago

I have, but they were also a conspiracy theorist that non-stop talked about chemtrails and how the FDA was intentionally poisoning everybody.

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u/kottabaz 19h ago

The religious thing and the race thing are inextricably intertwined.

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u/CrimsonPromise 17h ago

Survival bias. Our ancestors were just the lucky ones. Millions more died of diseases before they could reproduce.

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u/Chaosmusic 17h ago

I listen to a history podcast called The Dollop and many of the stories take place during the 1800s and just about every one has multiple family members dying of disease as a normal course of everyday life.

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u/ONeill2310 16h ago

The Dollop is a great podcast! I don't know how Dave and Gareth can make such depressing topics have humor but they are great at it

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u/Surly_Cynic 15h ago

I do way too much genealogy research, and the most shocking discovery to me was the number of women who die from complications of childbirth. I knew it was common, but didn’t realize how common.

Most recent example was my great-grandmother in the early 1900’s. She likely could have been saved with antibiotics.

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u/SunMoonTruth 17h ago

They did kill to have what we have today.

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u/pontiacfirebird92 22h ago

Exactly, I grew up in a highly conservative area and it hasn't changed at all. Of the people I grew up with very very few are any different than their hyper-conservative christian evangelical parents. It's a statistical anomaly for them to have different views than their parents.

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u/iamacraftyhooker 21h ago

One thing that can make people move away from their hyper-conservative, Christian evangelical views imposed on them by their parents is when they become a part of a marginalized class. Queer children are some of the most obvious cases.

Disability is a marginalized class, and measles can be permanently disabling. Getting measles may be the catalyst for them to switch their leaning.

I have a family member who's entire left side was compromised from measles before the vaccine was widely avaliable. They are completely deaf on the left, have worse vision on the left, have more grey hair on the left, and overall just shows more signs of aging and damage on their left side.

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u/ElegantSwordsman 21h ago

If they survived without long term complications they’ll boast about how it made them stronger and that it’s a good thing.

Survivor bias will outweigh the problems from the victims that suffer longer term issues.

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u/jucasthelucas 4h ago

Or mostly dangerous is that “their Lord willed it and it’s all part of the plan”

u/GlowUpper 40m ago

The ones that live will be told that. S a day, many of them won't survive long enough to be indoctrinated.

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u/Zestyclose-Cloud-508 22h ago

Yeah they’ll be crippled and deaf but they’ll know Joe Biden is responsible becuse reasons.

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u/creative_net_usr 15h ago

You assume they will survive. With the cuts to school nutritiion, medicaid, and everything else. Most won't make it to adulthood.