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Courtesy: The Greater Good
The Greater Good: Another Inconvenient Truth
"A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest."
Paul Simon
Where do you stand on childhood vaccinations? Are you for them? Are you against them? Either way you’ve missed the point. Neither of the two stances are based in science.
“The Greater Good” is a documentary about childhood vaccinations that addresses the mid-point between the two above absolutist approaches. Instead, we learn that there is, of course, a strong place and need for vaccinations, and that there are serious problems with them.
The inconvenient conclusion is that parents need to know beforehand what vaccines are to be given to their children and, based on that information, parents need to make informed decisions as to whether or not their children are to receive any one particular vaccine—and they need the freedom to do so.
The film’s website provides a cornucopia of resources parents—and health care providers—may use to make those informed decisions.
If you are an absolutist on the pro-side, you will probably disregard this film. If you do watch it, you may find yourself softening your epistemological approach to vaccinations.
If you are an absolutist on the anti-side, you will find strong opinions and evidence that support your concerns, but may be disappointed to find that the idea of vaccinations is not damned.
If you are in the middle, you may respond like me—horrified at the quantity of vaccines our children are receiving now, the rate at which they are given, and the questionable ways our government determines the safety and effectiveness of childhood and infant vaccinations. You may also discover the extent to which the public dialogue about childhood vaccinations has been stilted, stifled, and manipulated by powerful forces to affect public opinion. And, you will take advantage of the valuable information this film provides.
“The Greater Good” is the vaccination statement I’ve been waiting for. It is a powerful must-see film which calls for a much more open public conversation about our use and misuse of vaccines. If I was a mogul I’d have this film sent to every Senator, Representative, and cabinet member in Washington, D.C