> In that world, they feel believed and valued, and are encouraged to think of themselves as brave instead of scared. Medical culture, in contrast, tends to approach preventable tragedies as teachable moments. This is a mistake. Crises are opportunities to show people what you can do for them, not to ask them to change their minds.
No, it's not a mistake. What's a mistake is the cultural path that has gotten us to where we see some kind of equivalence between scientific fact and "feeling believed and valued". The proliferation of anti-vax nonsense is one of the things that makes me think the hardest about whether we need to rein in the first amendment. In my view telling someone it is okay to not vaccinate their child because it might cause autism is one step up from telling them to hit the kid on the head with a baseball bat. It's wrong and carries quite clear harmful consequences.
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