Do Skeptics really understand how undemocratic and wrong they are?
Below is a letter from an obvious supporter of the skeptics and opponent to free speech (by his own admission).
I am posting this message here for a few reasons.
1- To show you the sorts of ad hominem (a Skeptic favourite accusation against anyone who opposes them and an expression that much more appropriately describes the Skeptics themselves – meaning an argument that appeals to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect; attacking the person rather than the ideas) accusations made against myself. The skeptics love to attack me because quite honestly, they have no grounds to attack the information provided by the AVN.
2- This letter is a perfect example of someone trying to sound reasonable about a very unreasonable idea – the notion that they support open information – so long as it’s information they agree with. By stating that I am pushing ‘an agenda that, at best, is misguided and misinformed’ without providing any information about why this is so, the writer throws stones without any specific target – a waste of time and energy and an action intended to besmirch my reputation but which instead, seems to do much more to describe the ethics of the attacker.
3- The writer states that I am presenting opinion. I would guess that he or she has never been to one of my seminars so one has to wonder how they have come to this conclusion. Anyone who has seen me speak or any of the others parents and health professionals who have spoken at AVN-sponsored events, would realise that opinion has no place in our lectures. References are mandatory. It’s a shame we cannot say the same for much of the information put out by the government and the medical community!
4- Last point I will make is that when the writer states that the information the AVN disseminates at our seminars can have a noticeable affect on the health of the community, I have to agree with them. It is because of the AVN’s constant, dogged attempts to ensure that parents have access to both sides of this very important issue that more and more Australian parents are now choosing to make informed decisions about vaccination. Some of them are choosing to vaccinate; some opt for partial vaccination and some are not vaccinating at all. But these decisions are all valid and most importantly, they are free and informed choices. Something which would not happen if the writer had their way and the AVN was restricted from speaking freely, I’m afraid.
By urging the library to cancel our seminar, the writer and all of the other supporters of the Australian Skeptics are making a couple of incorrect assumptions:
1- That the AVN’s information is not correct, balanced or based in science – when it obviously is all three of those things.
2- That parents are too stupid to be allowed to take the information from both the AVN and the medical community, process it and look at both sides to make their own choices.
I disagree strongly with both of those assertions and believe that stifling the debate on any medical issue will benefit nobody except for those who profit financially from the sale of drugs and vaccines.
Meryl Dorey
Hello Mrs Allen,
It's recently been brought to my attention by Meryl Dorey of the Living Wisdom newsletter that the AVN are hosting a seminar at the State Library of Western Australia.
While I understand, from Meryl herself, that this venue is accustomed to hosting events that may be of a "controversial" nature (her word) I would like to encourage you to not host the event. Not because the nature of the talk is controversial, because it's not. But because Meryl tends to push an agenda that, at best, is misguided and misinformed either through fear or willful ignorance.
Due to this, or possibly as a result of it, the mis-information Meryl disseminates at
these seminars can have a noticeable [affect] on the health of the community at large.
I believe it was Michael Specter that said it best; "Everyone's entitled to their opinion... but you're not entitled to your own facts. Sorry, you're not."
What Meryl promotes is opinion. What that opinion is based on I can only speculate at. Unfortunately her opinion is not reflected in the real world. It is not supported by the scientific or medical community at large. It is not reflected in the facts (and you don't have a right to your own facts).
In closing, allowing this seminar to go ahead would be the wrong thing to do.
What Meryl and the AVN promote is tantamount to a health hazard and allowing this to happen at a State Library gives it the impression of State support.
Please cancel the seminar.
In accordance with Meryl's request in the Living Wisdom e-newsletter,
I have CC'd this to her also.