More than half the world will be at a “high or very high risk” of measles outbreaks by the end of 2024, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Earlier this week, the global group warned that the viral infection — which is also known as rubeola — has been increasing across the globe due to a high amount of vaccinations missed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we are worried about is this year, 2024, we’ve got these big gaps in our immunization programs, and if we don’t fill them really quickly with the vaccine, measles will just jump into that gap,” Natasha Crowcroft, a Senior Technical Adviser on Measles and Rubella with the WHO, said during a press briefing in Geneva.
“We can see, from data that’s produced with WHO data by the CDC, that more than half of all the countries in the world are going to be at high or very high risk of outbreaks by the end of this year,” she added.
Unfortunately acting in the manner you suggested will only serve to make things worse. Ridiculing a non rational actor only drives them further into their belief structure. This is literally cult deprogramming and every thing I have heard and read on cult deprogramming says the very worst thing you can do is ridicule the person.
On an individual basis, you are correct.
Collectively , ridicule and humor has its function in mitigating the spread of a cult. Humor and ridicule of the Catholic church has played a significant role in preventing generational transfer of the mental illness.
We need to make sure they understand that they are the abnormal ones, shunned by society, so that they are less socially engaged about it. Most of them are probably beyond deprogramming until they get betrayed by their movement in some catastrophic way.
They need a bit of the ol’ Good Cop/Bad Cop (misnomer ofc because ACAB). Us bad cops shun them, make fun of them, curse their existence, tell 'em to go fuck themselves. The good cops do the deprogramming work, let them know “Hey…I get it…you’re scared” arm-around-the-shoulder thing.
I wish I could be the good cop…I really, really do. But as a polyamorous, autistic, non-binary academic who lives in a world where bigoted, anti-science cunts make life absolutely fucking unbearable on the daily for me and mine, well…I’m just fresh out of the feel-goods, nothing but vitriol and middle fingers left in stock 'til the end of the century.