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The Way Roald Dahl Shut Down Anti-Vaxxers After Losing His Daughter To Measles Is Surprisingly Relevant Today
The Way Roald Dahl Shut Down Anti-Vaxxers After Losing His Daughter To Measles Is Surprisingly Relevant Today
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The Way Roald Dahl Shut Down Anti-Vaxxers After Losing His Daughter To Measles Is Surprisingly Relevant Today

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My favorite author as a child, Roald Dahl’s books filled my imagination with tales of wonder and adventure while teaching me important life lessons about kindness, independent thought, and humility. Nearly 20 years after his passing, this brilliantly insightful man is still inspiring the minds of people young and old, and his writing is just as relevant as ever.

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    Image credits: Shutterstock

    As well as whimsical classics such as The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda, Dahl penned a few essays in the interest of public health and safety. This heartbreaking letter about the tragic death of his daughter Olivia, who passed away in 1962 from complications of the measles virus, is essential reading for those of you in doubt about vaccinating your children.

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    Image credits: wikipedia

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    Here’s what people had to say about the powerful letter

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    anonymous

    anonymous

    Author, Community member

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    This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.

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    anonymous

    anonymous

    Author, Community member

    This lazy panda forgot to write something about itself.

    What do you think ?
    troufaki13
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    People, please, please, please vaccinate. You may not get sick, but you can still be a carrier for the disease, and (unwillingly) spread it around, especially to those who have a compromised immune system. And to those people, it can be fatal.

    Margareth Su
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    @fuggnuggins https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/do-vaccines-cause-autism#1 The research is clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism. So stfu.

    Load More Replies...
    Lizard Queen
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Antivaxxers have no credible medical reports upon which to base their decisions. It began with Wakefield's (now retracted) inaccurate paper, was spead by idiotic celebrities (much like herpes), and has been embraced by the portion of the US who believe everything celebs tell them. The children are the ones who suffer.

    Kristy P
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You're right. I just realized that the first time I heard about it was when Jenny McCarthy started talking about it!

    Load More Replies...
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    Daria B
    Community Member
    6 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I like it how he uses the word "immunisation". Language matters a lot, as particular words help shaping particular thoughts. "Vaccine" doesn't sound friendly indeed. If you know what it is, you'll percieve the term as merely "medicine". But it does bring cold images of laboratories, experiments, etc. "Immunisation", on the other hand, is very specific about its objective. It brings senses of trust and a positive curiosity, the one that makes you wanna try. Interesting, really. Maybe we should re-adopt this word into common speech.

    AnnaB
    Community Member
    Premium
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Daria B is referring to the use of the word 'immunisation (or immunization) as opposed to the word 'vaccination'...not the difference in spelling between the US and Britain.

    Load More Replies...
    maswartz
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Seriously how is refusing to vaccination your children NOT recognized as a form of child abuse by now?

    Karen Klinck
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    religion,mostly. Nobody wants to buck religion. If I said, the great god Jimmajanga came to me in a vision last night and told me to paint my child blue to protect him and not allow him to be vaccinated, school officials would give me a form to sign and my child would not be vaccinated. And worse,he could infect the entire school, and nothing would be done. There is a place for religion; the medical field isn't it!

    Load More Replies...
    Freya the Wanderer
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Here is a graphic I like to trot out whenever the anti-vax crowd rear their ugly heads. It shows a boy whose parents didn't have him vaccinated against polio, so he caught the disease, and now watches all his friends playing football. salkshots-...9842f1.jpg salkshots-5c4b78b9842f1.jpg

    Catpoker88
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The way I see it, you should only bother vaccinating your kids, if you want them to live.

    Emily Jones
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have a very old copy of "The Twits" which Mr. Dahl signed himself back in Oxford, England in the late 60's! Brilliant man!

    Mr. Re-in-act-ment
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Believe a medical professional, not the internet druggie that raves about how vaccines can develop autism.

    Karen Klinck
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Especially one that's promoting self-interest.

    Load More Replies...
    FatBaby
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I used to not want to be vaccinated when I was little (not knowing that I had already been vaccinated earlier in life) all because my hairstylist had a scar from one of her vaccinations. Now I see that it's better to have a scar and be vaccinated than die from such a disease as measles.

    Dorothy Parker
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The scars from smallpox vaccines from the early days were very large. By the 1950s they were much, much smaller.

    Load More Replies...
    Vicky Zar
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wonder.... he says that it is compulsory in the United States.... why isn't it nowadays? When and why did that change?

    Karen Dannenhauer
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    People claim religious objection even when their objection is not religious but actually pseudoscience.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
    troufaki13
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    People, please, please, please vaccinate. You may not get sick, but you can still be a carrier for the disease, and (unwillingly) spread it around, especially to those who have a compromised immune system. And to those people, it can be fatal.

    Margareth Su
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    @fuggnuggins https://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/do-vaccines-cause-autism#1 The research is clear: Vaccines don’t cause autism. So stfu.

    Load More Replies...
    Lizard Queen
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Antivaxxers have no credible medical reports upon which to base their decisions. It began with Wakefield's (now retracted) inaccurate paper, was spead by idiotic celebrities (much like herpes), and has been embraced by the portion of the US who believe everything celebs tell them. The children are the ones who suffer.

    Kristy P
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You're right. I just realized that the first time I heard about it was when Jenny McCarthy started talking about it!

    Load More Replies...
    ADVERTISEMENT
    Daria B
    Community Member
    6 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I like it how he uses the word "immunisation". Language matters a lot, as particular words help shaping particular thoughts. "Vaccine" doesn't sound friendly indeed. If you know what it is, you'll percieve the term as merely "medicine". But it does bring cold images of laboratories, experiments, etc. "Immunisation", on the other hand, is very specific about its objective. It brings senses of trust and a positive curiosity, the one that makes you wanna try. Interesting, really. Maybe we should re-adopt this word into common speech.

    AnnaB
    Community Member
    Premium
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Daria B is referring to the use of the word 'immunisation (or immunization) as opposed to the word 'vaccination'...not the difference in spelling between the US and Britain.

    Load More Replies...
    maswartz
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Seriously how is refusing to vaccination your children NOT recognized as a form of child abuse by now?

    Karen Klinck
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    religion,mostly. Nobody wants to buck religion. If I said, the great god Jimmajanga came to me in a vision last night and told me to paint my child blue to protect him and not allow him to be vaccinated, school officials would give me a form to sign and my child would not be vaccinated. And worse,he could infect the entire school, and nothing would be done. There is a place for religion; the medical field isn't it!

    Load More Replies...
    Freya the Wanderer
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Here is a graphic I like to trot out whenever the anti-vax crowd rear their ugly heads. It shows a boy whose parents didn't have him vaccinated against polio, so he caught the disease, and now watches all his friends playing football. salkshots-...9842f1.jpg salkshots-5c4b78b9842f1.jpg

    Catpoker88
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The way I see it, you should only bother vaccinating your kids, if you want them to live.

    Emily Jones
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I have a very old copy of "The Twits" which Mr. Dahl signed himself back in Oxford, England in the late 60's! Brilliant man!

    Mr. Re-in-act-ment
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Believe a medical professional, not the internet druggie that raves about how vaccines can develop autism.

    Karen Klinck
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Especially one that's promoting self-interest.

    Load More Replies...
    FatBaby
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I used to not want to be vaccinated when I was little (not knowing that I had already been vaccinated earlier in life) all because my hairstylist had a scar from one of her vaccinations. Now I see that it's better to have a scar and be vaccinated than die from such a disease as measles.

    Dorothy Parker
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The scars from smallpox vaccines from the early days were very large. By the 1950s they were much, much smaller.

    Load More Replies...
    Vicky Zar
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I wonder.... he says that it is compulsory in the United States.... why isn't it nowadays? When and why did that change?

    Karen Dannenhauer
    Community Member
    6 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    People claim religious objection even when their objection is not religious but actually pseudoscience.

    Load More Replies...
    Load More Comments
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