Sir, – I write regarding the article "The three anti-vaccine types – egoists, paranoiacs and fascists" by Fintan O'Toole (Opinion, December 11th).
At a time when the people of Ireland are frightened, weary, uncertain of what the future holds, and in need of journalism which is rational, reasonable, and objective, this is what you, our most esteemed newspaper, serves up. A piece of writing which was crude, simplistic, and highly offensive to many thinking people who are perfectly entitled to give due consideration to what medication they or their children take and how the Government they elected manages a crisis.
While Fintan O’Toole is entitled to his opinions, surely The Irish Times can do better? – Yours, etc,
CATHERINE MONAGHAN,
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Ashford,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – There’s a hint of the famous headline from The Simpsons “Old man shouts at clouds” about Fintan O’Toole’s recent fevered opinion piece on vaccination.
Yet in truth it is far from amusing to see a once-respected liberal journalist denounce people as actual fascists for the crime of making individual health decisions.
According to the World Health Organisation, up to 77 per cent of the disease burden on European health systems is related to lifestyle choices. These include obesity, physical inactivity and alcohol intake. Using Fintan O’Toole’s rationale, every single overweight person in Ireland risks being termed a fascist for making poor health choices that lead to their causing a disproportionate burden on our shared health system.
I don’t know about Fintan, but as an old-fashioned lefty, I am appalled at the vista this approach opens.
I would like to put on the record that I am in favour of universal healthcare for my fellow citizens, whatever their previous health choices, and without judgment. – Yours, etc,
DIANE FORSYTH,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
A chara, – Anti-vaccine misinformation thrives in the “anti-expert” culture which we saw promoted in Trump’s America and also to a certain extent by Brexiteers.
The demeaning of expertise promotes the dangerous idea that prejudiced opinions and imaginary fears are more important than evidence-based facts and reality. Ironically, it can convince people that by rejecting the opinions of those qualified to gather and interpret data that they are somehow “thinking for themselves”.
My heart sinks when I read online that someone has done “their own research”. Invariably they come up with a conclusion which is at odds with the expert consensus but miraculously confirms their own suspicions. – Is mise,
KAY CHALMERS,
Douglas,
Cork.
Sir, – Fintan O’Toole explains for us the three kinds of “anti-vaxxers”: egotists, paranoiacs and right-wing fanatics.
I wonder whether he thinks that these three kinds of people are, in the main, those we see on the streets of Austria, campaigning against the mandatory vaccination which the government has imposed there? In Austria, refusal to be vaccinated is met with two fines of up to €3,600 each and, with a failure to pay these, of imprisonment of up to one month.
Would only an egotist, paranoic or right-wing fanatic be concerned with such a government’s actions?
This kind of oppression is real, and not driven by a paranoid imagination.
Protesting against it requires courage more than egotism and, the last time I checked, such protests for liberty, individual freedom and bodily autonomy are hardly the mainstays of fascist politics.
Such a simplistic reductionism of what supposedly constitutes an “anti-vaxxer” blinds us to the very real medical authoritarianism that is developing in many countries and quickly becoming normalised.
Its development is arguably a far greater threat to humanity’s future than the question of whether or not someone is vaccinated.– Yours, etc,
PATRICK USSHER,
Gers,
France.