Summary

A father whose unvaccinated six-year-old daughter became the first U.S. measles death in 10 years remains steadfast in his anti-vaccine beliefs.

The Mennonite man from Seminole, Texas told The Atlantic, “The vaccination has stuff we don’t trust,” maintaining that measles is normal despite its near-eradication through vaccination.

His stance echoes claims by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who initially downplayed the current North American outbreak before changing his position under scrutiny.

Despite his daughter’s death, the father stated, “Everybody has to die.”

  • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    “I don’t trust science so I will choose death instead”

    Fucking brilliant people. No doubt they are Trump supporters.

    • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      … he’s a Mennonite, lot of them won’t even use the internal combustion engine. It’s one of those low-tech sects of Christianity like Amish.

        • alcibiades@lemm.ee
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          19 days ago

          Ehh, mennonites just want to keep to themselves and their communities. Obviously they’ve got some problematic beliefs, but they would never force them upon anyone or go out and try to be missionaries. Typically they don’t vote or participate in local government.

          Found this interesting article about OH and PA mennonites and their opinions on the 2016 presidential election

          • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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            19 days ago

            Ya they all sound like selfish assholes who don’t want to contribute to society.

            I say fuck em.

            • alcibiades@lemm.ee
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              18 days ago

              They’re anything but selfish lol. Firstly, there are sects of Mennonites that are integrated into modern society. Secondly, the communities they live in are founded on the idea of everyone helping each other. The extreme sects are allowed to waive their right to social security since their church already provides them a safety net. They don’t take gov benefits. Also, all of them have jobs, they’re not sealed off from the world. I live in Ohio and the Mennonites and Amish are frequently working on home repairs, building garages or barns, and sell a lot of goods from their little towns. These are honestly some of the nicest and hardest working people around.

              American society is founded on the idea of religious freedom. If anything they’re contributing in a more positive way since they don’t seek to combine their religion and the wider world (as compared to a MAGA “Christian”)

                • alcibiades@lemm.ee
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                  18 days ago

                  Why does that matter 😭 you just instantly went to assuming my beliefs instead of saying something constructive.

                  All I’m trying to say is that the Mennonites aren’t as evil as you think. Please research them to form an actual opinion instead of reading one measles article and then attempting to debate me.

                  If you’re trying to go after religions for being a blight on society, Mennonites are the last and least influential place to look

  • evergreen@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    So basically he’d rather they just die than live with “stuff we don’t trust”. If “everybody has to die”, then why care about what’s in a vaccine in the first place? Extreme cognitive dissonance to support an ideology.

    • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      If “everybody has to die”, then why care about what’s in a vaccine in the first place?

      Yeah, couldn’t the vaccine side effects be “God’s will” as well?

  • Capt. Wolf@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    Yeah… You totally can’t trust a vaccine with 97% efficacy and a negligible mortality rate that’s existed for over 80 years versus an extremely infectious virus with a 40% mortality rate and no effective treatment or cure… If only there were extensive scientific studies on these things that were easily and freely accessible to the public! Why do we have to live in such a dark and uninformed time!?

    • Mbourgon everywhere@lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      One small correction. 20-25% require hospitalization, In the third world 1% to 3% mortality rate, in the first world typically 1-in-1000, but note that at least two have died of that initial group that was infected (125?).

      Go get vaxxed, dammit.

  • MehBlah@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    You can only hope one day the asshole realizes he killed his kid and can’t live with his failure.

  • flop_leash_973@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    Despite his daughter’s death, the father stated, “Everybody has to die.”

    Jesus, I can’t imagine being so into cult beliefs that I would have that attitude about my own kids, and actively work to make it happen sooner to boot.

    I mean sure, we all will die, but it goes against the most basic biological imperative of all living things to make sure their kids outlive them. Must be some strong Koolaid. Dude needs to fuck off with that Jonestown-isque mindset.

    • TheBeege@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      I mean, in Judeo-Christian tradition, there’s the story of Abraham willingly sacrificing his son to Yahweh until Yahweh stops him last-second. This kind of behavior is explicitly taught: nothing is more important than sky-daddy’s whims.

  • CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    The conundrum here is that admitting his stance was wind would take a level of intelligence that would have had him vaccinate his child in the first place.

    I know that’s oversimplifying it, but the point still stands.

  • danglybits23@lemm.ee
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    20 days ago

    Makes sense, what if she took the vaccine and it killed her? Oh, wait…

    These people should be in prison for murder and forcibly sterilized.

  • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    19 days ago

    Sadly now that she’s dead he has no choice but to defend his stance, because admitting the truth would mean being left with the knowledge that he killed his own daughter.

    • TheTurner@lemm.ee
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      19 days ago

      He’s Mennonite. They don’t believe in any English medicine/science. If someone dies, it’s God’s will.

  • Subtracty@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    “Stuff in it that we don’t trust.”

    Better to be dead than injected with chemicals that might make you autistic? Gay? A liberal? What could possibly be in the vaccines that would be worse than your child no longer existing?

    As a parent, I am so angry. How can you look at your child and be more afraid of the lesser outcomes (not that they even exist, but still) and choose death? What a failure of the parents. And shame on every single person in the media that let this bullshit spiral out of control. That poor girl.

  • MuskyMelon@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    If you can accept the will of God that your child dies without vaccination, you can accept the will of God that your child survived vaccination, even it it caused something unexpected.