Why Talking To Anti-Vaxxers is so Hard
It’s Not Because They’re Crazy.
This past Christmas, I was given the book Viruses, Plagues, and History. I’m almost halfway through it, and so far it has been a phenomenal read. As a biology student, the book is particularly fascinating to me, but I would recommend that everyone read it in our pandemic-torn times.
I have been both awestruck and disturbed by the dazzling complexity and dark ingenuity of the pathogens that have plagued humanity throughout history.
Out of all the mind-boggling statements I have read in the book, the opening sentence of the chapter on smallpox still astounds me the most:
“Smallpox, which killed nearly 300 million people in the 20th century — three times more than all the wars in that century — has been eradicated.”
What?
This is easily the most stunning opener to a chapter I’ve ever read. I finished this section weeks ago and I’m still stuck on this first sentence.
A microscopic particle was able to snuff out more life than the two largest conflicts in human history combined.
But the really incredible part is the end of the sentence: “...has been eradicated."
The dreaded smallpox is no longer a scourge on humanity. The widespread use of vaccination to immunize individuals against the virus was so effective that the last case of naturally occurring smallpox was in the 1970s. A disease that was once the stuff of nightmares is now a detail in history textbooks.
Dr. Michael Oldstone, the author of the book, calls the elimination of smallpox “one of the greatest accomplishments undertaken and performed for the benefit of mankind anywhere or at any time.”
Reading about vaccine-preventable plagues like smallpox makes it hard not to be furious at the ever-growing anti-vaccine community. The knowledge that there are people who refuse to receive this protective medical care either because of distrust or misinformation or bad experiences can be infuriating. Their choice to remain unvaccinated often endangers not only them but those around him.
How could you ignore statistics like the one quoted above? How could a parent leave their child vulnerable to devastating diseases like tetanus, mumps, and measles?
If you’re like me and you have a respect for the practice of vaccination and a healthy fear of the diseases they prevent, just thinking about such individuals makes your blood boil a bit.
I feel your pain.
But recently, I’ve had to take a step back from my frustration and reevaluate my approach to the issue. I do not mean I am rethinking the value of vaccines — I have learned enough about infectious diseases to understand how much pain and suffering vaccinations have prevented — I mean I am reevaluating the way I think about and interact with the anti-vaccine community.
Because here’s the reality:
People who don’t get vaccines are not stupid.
As tempting as it is to believe sometimes, it’s not true. I know some anti-vaxxers, and they are intelligent people. I find myself agreeing with them on many issues. In fact, they are better informed than I on a multitude of topics.
At the same time, I believe they are terribly misguided in their choice not to vaccinate.
Although it’s challenging, I’ve had to resist my impulse to completely shut down people who hold this particular belief. I’m fairly certain I have enough knowledge to take a jackhammer to their arguments, but if I want to maintain my relationship with these friends, bulldozing their beliefs isn’t a good idea.
Even though I think they’re totally wrong, I shouldn’t treat them like unreasonable individuals who need to be bludgeoned with knowledge until they repent. If I hope to ever convince them of my viewpoint, I cannot start from a position of intellectual superiority. In my experience, that is the fastest way to get someone to ignore you entirely.
If you are not prepared to truly listen to someone’s beliefs — no matter how crazy you think they are — you can’t have a real discussion with them.
This is something I need to remember when I’m talking to people I disagree with, especially on issues that I feel strongly about, like vaccination.
So next time someone talks to me about the microchips in the flu vaccine, instead of immediately dismissing them as an idiot and hurling arguments at them, I’m going to try listening first.
