Age of Autism redesign

Anyone had a look at the dog's dinner that is the Age of Autism redesign?

Fuck me it's shit.

Is it up to me to put their muddle headed design thinking alongside their muddle headed thoughts about vaccines, and then go "FUCK ME, YOU'RE FUCKING MORONS!!"??

I dunno - maybe some people like it.

From a design point of view, it stinks.

Age of Autism tells more lies

Not content with trying to smear Brian Deer over his exposing of Andrew Wakefield's fraud and failed money-grubbing schemes, Age of Autism has today put up a willfully egregious blog post about an article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The title of this post reads:

NEJM Article Perpetuates Distrust by Mislabeling Victims of Vaccine Adverse Reactions "Antivaccinationists"

Oh, the cruelty - the NEJM clearly has no compassion for the parents!!

Actually, that's not what the article says at all:

Today, the spectrum of antivaccinationists ranges from people who are simply ignorant about science (or “innumerate” — unable to understand and incorporate concepts of risk and probability into science-grounded decision making) to a radical fringe element who use deliberate mistruths, intimidation, falsified data, and threats of violence in efforts to prevent the use of vaccines and to silence critics.

So, what the title really ought to say is:

NEJM accurately labels antivaccinationists as "antivaccionationists", while AoA perpetuates fear by mislabelling autism as "vaccine damage".

There, "Nancy Hokkanen" - I've fixed it for you.

John Stone admits Wakefield is a liar and a fraud

Anti-vaccine wingnut John Stone

John "Cock" Stone has tacitly agreed that Wakefield is a liar and a fraud.

If you're a reader of vaccine / anti-vaccine blogs, you'll no doubt be aware that the British Medical Journal has published an excellent piece by Brian Deer about how Andrew Wakefield faked his results, pre-decided his results, didn't declare massive financial conflicts of interests, etc etc. It's a long read, but you can read it here: http://www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c5347.full, and it's well worth it.

It's a fascinating read, explaining how Wakefield endangered the health of the nation's (and the world's) children in pursuit of hard cash, from taxpayers (via the legal aid fund) and via private enterprise (through his applications for alternative patents on vaccines).

As you might expect, the anti-vax loons have been all over this, screaming that all Wakefield (or to give him his full medical title, "Wakefield") did was "care for the children"…

Infamous anti-vaxer and internationally regarded halfwit John "Cock" Stone, writing on the anti-vax blog "Age Of Autism" has dribbled a green ink screed, foaming at the mouth, and trying to dismiss Mr Deer's story. Except…

Stone's entire piece is based on his belief that Mr Deer shouldn't have the data, the information about the children involved in the study that he has.

OK, I don't pretend to know how Brian Deer got the information on all the children involved in Wakefield's fraud, and whether it's all entirely legit - although he's spoken to the parents,and I don't see them making complaints about his access - but isn't this a little strange? Let's have a little think…

Stone has written a great long piece rubbishing Brian Deer's article (which demonstrates, with references, the evil that Wakefield did), and - and this is the important bit - doesn't try and refute a single point of fact that Mr Deer made in his article.

John Stone is trying to smear Brian Deer - which we expect, he's tried the same tactic many times over. However, he no longer tries to argue that anything Mr Deer writes is inaccurate.

Conclusion?

John Stone is tacitly agreeing that Wakefield is a liar and a fraud. That's the headline.



Edit: Fixed the link to Age of Stupidity Autism. Thanks to CVB for pointing that out!