Antivaxers are crazy and wrong. Also, the sun rose in the east this morning.

So I'm currently writing a term paper (due at midnight) with a medico-anthropological perspective on the anti-vaccination movement. From a writing perspective, this is a sensible topic. There's a fair amount of research; the impact of the Internet provides some interesting areas to explore; it could technically be considered a form of alternative medicine, particularly since "pox parties" and "flu parties" have been receiving a lot of attention in the last year or so and it certainly goes against the teaching of Western biomedicine; and, perhaps more importantly, the exploration of all these topics will easily give me the requisite six to 10 pages of writing.

Why, then, do I have massive writer's block? The answer is simple, dear Amaryllis: It is very, very difficult to write this paper objectively and without at some point saying, "Look, I get that everyone is entitled to their opinions, but seriously - these people are wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, irresponsible, and most importantly, wrong!"

In the last few hours that I've been researching, I've read more crazy that I ever wanted to. Here is one example, courtesy of the ThinkTwice Global Vaccine Institute (warning: May induce massive facepalm):

Q. Dear Thinktwice, I love your website. Is there any way that the immunization shots can be flushed out of the system? Please email me if there is a way this can be done.

...

Q. What can parents do once they've already immunized their children? Our children did not experience any "noticeable" harmful effects, at least in the short term. Do you know of any remedies that can be administered to undo the harm we have already done in ignorance? What options do we have?

...

A. I have heard Dr. Viera Scheibner, author of "Vaccination: 100 Years..." recommend doses of vitamin C, just high enough to cause a mild case of diarrhea. However, some health specialists claim that viral vaccines probably remain in the system for life. We suggest feeding your children with healthy, wholesome, organic foods. Some naturopaths and homeopaths (check your local telephone book) may have other protocols. Our website also provides Alternatives and Solutions -- a list of organizations and practitioners that claim some success flushing vaccines from the system and/or reversing vaccine damage.

And that's just one of the FAQs. On one of the websites. "Use vitamin C to induce diarrhea and flush the toxins of vaccines from your baby's system!" Jonas Salk, give me strength!

Here's a sliver of my family's experience with vaccines. Take it for what you will. My parents had a dear friend when I was very young; his name was Lew, and he was one of the sweetest, funniest guys around. He was my introduction to "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and "Brazil" - two of my favorite movies to this day, though Brazil creeped me out when I was little. He was always bringing me and my brother presents; tractors for him, usually, and crayons or other toys for me.

Lew used crutches everywhere he went. One of my vividest early memories is tripping over them when he was sitting on our couch. When he was a kid, he just barely missed the age limit for getting the polio vaccine - he was just a year or two older than my parents. He contracted the virus and his legs were partly paralyzed. He died when I was still pretty young - six or seven, maybe - from complications associated with that childhood case of polio. His was the first funeral I remember attending. Now, this was a good few years ago, and I doubt that most of the parents now refusing to give their children the polio vaccine because it is "dangerous" understand the consequences of not doing so. No doubt they've heard some stories as tragic as Lew's. The main difference here is that mortality rates from illnesses like Lew's have been greatly reduced by the action antivaxers scorn, while childhood mortality rates have not increased with the use of vaccines.

On the other hand, my brother and I have both had all our shots. I've even had shots most people don't get because I went to Africa in 2006. Neither of us is autistic. Neither of us had SIDS. We both have solid immune systems and no epilepsy, no seizures, no neurological damage, nada. Not only that, but we've never had measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, smallpox, tetanus, yellow fever, polio, influenza or hepatitis. Neither of us will ever be paralyzed by the unseen the way Lew was, nor will we need an iron lung or be permanently pockmarked. True story. And you know why? Because my mom, who sees value in natural treatments - ginger tea for an upset stomach, echinicea for colds - also saw what those diseases did when she was growing up. When serious illness comes up, my mom treats it with real medicines, not orange juice and organic food.

Vaccines may have some associated risks, but those risks are far less serious than the diseases vaccines prevent. Not only that, but vaccines are based in science, not superstitious nonsense. Everyone is, of course, entitled to his or her opinion, but when your opinion is stupid and dangerous I have a really hard time pretending that it isn't. I know, I know - we're supposed to keep open minds and not be ethnocentric and use cultural relativism as a lens to understand beliefs without judging them and so on and so forth. But I'm sorry - these people grew up in the same culture I did. They are apparently incapable of rational thought.

The closer I get to graduation, the more I realize that I cannot handle academic life in this major. It's hard not to dismiss people based on their utter, utter ignorant wrongness. And I get that they probably feel about me the same way that I do about them - I really do. I just can't see what relevance that has when my beliefs are not based on word-of-mouth horror stories, bad science, and woo.

I totally feel like Penny in this QC comic right now.