Someone was wrong on the internet

Actually several someones were wrong on the internet. Allow me to share my latest encounters with people on the internet who were wrong.  They are both amusing and horrifying.

People periodically come in to my Facebook autism spectrum disorder group to post articles claiming that vaccines cause autism. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism but there is plenty of evidence that not vaccinating causes potentially devastating and fatal diseases such as polio and measles. Therefore I have little tolerance for people who refuse to vaccinate their children and who spread lies and misinformation about vaccines. I have even less tolerance for these people when the articles they post claim that Andrew Wakefield is a truth crusader (that doctor who lost his medical license after his study linking vaccines and autism was deemed to be a fraud) and that holistic foods cure autism.

When I told that person her article was crap she told me to get woke and see Vaxxed. I’m not sure what exactly ‘get woke’ means but I know that Vaxxed is some bullshit anti-vaccine propaganda documentary. I will not be seeing it. I was also told that if I knew my stuff I’d know that measles is caused by a lack of Vitamin A and was asked when the last time I’d heard of anyone having polio. She’s right, it has been a while since I’ve heard of anyone having polio. Do you think that could have anything to do with the fact that there’s a vaccine for it? When I took a research methods class in college one of the points that was frequently drilled in to our heads was that correlation does not equal causation. I cannot tell you how many times I want to shout CORRELATION DOES NOT EQUAL CAUSATION through the internet at all the morons whose inane arguments prove they do not grasp this concept.

My Facebook ECT support group is generally supportive and there are rarely fights there but the other day someone came in to the group to share links to his ECT group and blog. Since this was an ECT support group we all clicked on the links thinking they would be supportive of ECT but they were strongly anti-ECT. They claimed that ECT was traumatic, inhumane and caused brain damage. I’ve heard all of that before but the guy also said some things about ECT that I’d never heard before.

Apparently ECT causes a state of coffea.  I didn’t know what coffea was. I figured it had to do with coffee but I also wondered if it might have something to do with covfefe. The guy claims that ECT affects your body in a similar way to coffee and makes you like coffee less. It also makes you like bondage and 50 Shades of Grey less. I guess it’s a good thing I was never a fan of those things to begin with.

The restraints that are used to hold you down during ECT result in at least six invisible scars and the bite block that’s used results in dental problems such as bruxism. Is this guy trapped in 1952 or something? I’m proud to say that in addition to my six invisible scars from ECT, I also have a visible scar from it on my chest. This guy compared ECT to date rape and although he said the doctors who perform ECT inflict cruel punishment, he forgot to compare them to Hitler.

I’m pretty sure my brain sustained more trauma and damage trying to make sense of the nonsense that guy spewed on his blog than it did from ECT. He links to the blog of a woman named Alycia who underwent ECT. Even though she says ECT was helpful to her, that’s just because she’s ‘imprinted’ and is unable to recognize the trauma and damage it’s caused her. I kind of hope this guy finds my blogs on ECT and makes me the next Alycia. Regardless, to him I say ‘Bye Felicia.’

Now back to autism related assholery. Another guy claimed on his blog that all people on the autism spectrum are disqualified from being pilots and that there’s not a single flight organization in the world that gives clearance to fly to anyone with an ASD diagnosis. When I told him this was untrue, he said his personal experience showed it was true and that until I could provide a counterexample I needed to shut the fuck up. Then he called me a fucking bitch and said if I wanted to play hardball we would play hardball. To him hardball involved citing FAA regulations that referenced personality disorders. I pointed out that autism is not a personality disorder but that since he’d responded to me telling him he had his facts wrong by calling me a fucking bitch, he might have a personality disorder in addition to autism.

I decided to take him up on his challenge and link to counterexamples showing that people on the autism spectrum could obtain their pilot’s license. He said that the chance of anyone on the autism spectrum obtaining a pilot’s license was less than 1% and he was doing everyone a favor by claiming there was a categorical ban on piloting with an ASD diagnosis.

After deleting my comments and threatening to ‘blacklist’ me, he wrote a blog saying that due to the verbal abuse I’d directed at him, he would now be moderating his blog comments. That’s right, the guy who called me a fucking bitch accused me of being verbally abusive. Apparently self awareness is as rare a commodity on the internet as subtlety. This guy went on to say that he can handle people disagreeing with his opinions. It’s too bad he can’t also handle people saying he hasn’t got his facts straight. Maybe they were alternative facts.

For our final example of someone being wrong on the internet, let us turn to the Philando Castile case. My friend posted a Facebook status about what a travesty the verdict that acquitted the cop who shot and killed Castile was. This friend of hers comes in to say that the cop had a tough decision to make and was afraid for his life after Castile told him he had a gun that he was licensed to carry. According to him there was no reason for him to say he had a gun and once he did say it he should have allowed the police officer to reach in to his pocket and retrieve it for him.

I said that sounded like victim blaming. Castile was following the officer’s instructions when he reached for his ID. He couldn’t have been expected to know that the proper protocol was to let the officer retrieve his ID if that even is proper protocol. He obviously told the officer he was licensed to carry so that the officer wouldn’t freak out and think he was a dangerous criminal when he saw the firearm.  If someone was intent on shooting you it’s unlikely they would tell you they had a gun. It seems you just can’t win when you’re black.

This guy responded that if you’re going to possess something as dangerous as a gun you need to educate yourself on the proper precautions to take. He then added “By the way, I’m part black.” This guy was white as paste.

So those were my most recent encounters with people on the internet who were wrong.  There is no shortage of people on the internet who are wrong so I’m sure I will have many more encounters of the idiotic kind. I know you’re never supposed to argue with an idiot because they’ll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience but there’s a part of me that kind of enjoys arguing with idiots. It’s true that most of them are too stupid to realize how stupid they’re being and they rarely if ever admit they’re wrong or change their mind as a result of anything you say.  In many ways arguing with idiots is a frustrating and futile sport but there is fun to be had in it. I’m rather proud of some of the zingers I shot at the idiots. I’m amused by the memes my friends posted in response to the idiots and arguing against the idiots has been a bonding experience for us. My encounters with people on the internet who were wrong has also made for an interesting blog.