Anti-vax rant by the Kennedies?

[Koshka]

One of my relatives says she read a piece, supposedly authored by one of the Kennedy family (as in JFK's relatives), that not only pulled out the standard anti-vaccination rhetoric but said that doctors who gave children vaccines should be jailed. Unfortunately, she doesn't remember where she read this, and since I don't Facebook the obvious source isn't available to me. Has anyone else run across this?

Odds are against her making this up, since if I tried quoting her opinion of the anti-vax movement here I'd get mod-hammered for language violations.

[Lainie]

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has is an anti-vaxer. That's just one Kennedy, though, and are there are a lot of them. I know I wouldn't want to be held responsible for every stupid thing one of my cousins says. :-)

[Plurabelle]

The Kennedys are prolific enough that we can assume there is a Kennedy out there who fits any characteristic under the sun.

Usually, someone who is famous and has a cause can't shut up about said cause, so I can't imagine there is any sort of famous person who has a platform we haven't heard about. I went to college with a Kennedy and unfortunately while I was an undergrad, said K pissed on something in public and was arrested for this. I was the night editor of our paper and declined to carry the various stories about whether he was circumcised or magically had two dicks or a secret piss-spitting vagina or I don't even know. Fortunately this was in the early naughties and I wasn't punished for my choice.

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Koshka

Unfortunately, she doesn't remember where she read this, and since I don't Facebook the obvious source isn't available to me.

FWIW, I found the article I linked to above (and a bunch of others) by Googling rfk jr anti-vaccine.

[rockland6674]

When people say "Vaccines cause autism," I say "Preventable diseases kill."

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by rockland6674

When people say "Vaccines cause autism," I say "Preventable diseases kill."

The problem is many anti-vaxers don't believe this, they think they are just minor diseases that cause a fever and a slight rash; or that their brand of woo alturnative medicine cures it is or (in the extreme) losing a child too a preventable disease is better then a child with autism.

From the article

In the Washington Post profile, Kennedy complains about the trouble he’s having getting his anti-vaccine message across. “I’m completely f***ing alone on this,” he gripes. Well, good. He deserves to be alone, and if fewer people than he hoped are listening to him, that’s a positive sign.

Exactly, that is a positive sign. If he is pushing bs thanks be to what ever God you believe in that he is alone. Note to Robert jnr, if everyone else is saying something different to you, it may be becasue you are wrong, not them.

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has is an anti-vaxer. That's just one Kennedy, though, and are there are a lot of them. I know I wouldn't want to be held responsible for every stupid thing one of my cousins says. :-)

I have heard the Kennedy's described as "America's Royal Family" and most royal families have membered with wacky idea's. No need to listen to their wacky ideas any more then the wacky idea's of Joe Bloggs that lives next door.

[Ali Infree]

Well, I was worried that the title of this thread referred to the band, the Dead Kennedys. I thought that Jello Biafra had gone off the deep end.

Seriously, with a large family like the Kennedys, the entire range of off-the-wall opinions on one subject or another must exist. To quote a different band "I don't wanna know what the rich are doing..."


Ali

[Nick Theodorakis]

The Respectful Insolence blog has a lot posts on RFK Jr and you can find some of them here:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/?s=kennedy

Nick

[Koshka]

Sorry for the reply-lag, plumbing issues in my apartment building. Thanks for the links!

[Elkhound]

Originally Posted by Dasla

I have heard the Kennedy's described as "America's Royal Family" and most royal families have membered with wacky idea's. No need to listen to their wacky ideas any more then the wacky idea's of Joe Bloggs that lives next door.

Any large, extended family has at least one member with whacky ideas. (If you can't think of which member of yours is that one, it is probably you.)

[Dasla]

Originally Posted by Elkhound

Any large, extended family has at least one member with whacky ideas. (If you can't think of which member of yours is that one, it is probably you.)

Well cause that is also true. In ours it is second cousin Jethro, we don't talk about second cousin Jethro.

[Mouse]

In all honesty, given what I've heard about the Kennedy family, I'm surprised that whenever a new one is born, they don't just immediately enroll them in either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. And I shall thwack myself for that insensitive remark.