6.22.2006

Holy Cow! The World Just Turned Upside Down!

The conservative religious right chicks makes an argument for choice while the liberal left NOW chicks argue against it? Unbelievable. Who would have thought?

And all it took was a new vaccine, Gardasil, for the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) to expose the hypocrisy in both extreme political points of view.

You just can't buy entertainment like this.

The back story: HPV is a virus similar to the Herpes simplex virus that produces cold sores. Most sexually active people have the virus but it usually lies dormant in the body. It is thought to be the major contributor to cervical cancer. Now there is a vaccine for HPV. The only problem is that most sexually active adults already have been exposed to HPV. So, for the vaccine to work, the thought is to vaccinate underage girls to protect them from contracting HPV thereby eliminating the risk of a future HPV/cervical cancer link. The thought is to vaccinate 12 year old girls for a disease that is only transmitted sexually. Of course, this has thrown both political sides into an uproar and in a mad dash to take opposite positions, both liberal and conservative women have exposed their true hypocrisies and prove that it is always better to think things through independently to achieve rational solutions. These groups have been polar opposite so long, they've forgotten to let the old noodle do some work.

The liberal women initially wanted the vaccine to be mandatory in order to protect all women from HPV causing cervical cancer.

The conservative women stated that vaccinating girls against a sexually transmitted disease was morally wrong since abstinence should be stressed.

In other words, The conservatives were arguing for "choice" while the liberals were arguing against it. Liberals were arguing that preaching abstinence was folly and that the vaccine should be mandatory, leaving a nation of 12 year olds, capable of choosing an abortion but not the choice of whether they wanted the HPV vaccine or not. HPV has been linked to cervical cancer causation but in no way has been irrefutably proven to actually cause it. Conservatives were so hung up on the moral question, that they felt that immunizing girls for HPV was going to give them a license to go out and become sexually active under the pretense of the vaccine's protection.

I could just see the dialogue between a 12 year old girl and boy.

"I just got back from the doctors office, Billy. They immunized me for some sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer of the cervix."

"What's a cervix?", asks Billy.

"Hell if I know. Want to fuck?"

"Sure Sally."

Unfortunately, what conservatives forgot is that everyone eventually becomes sexually active. If 75% of the population has been exposed to HPV, women better make sure that their future husbands are virgins in order to prevent infection.

Liberals seem to miss the fact that if 75% of women are exposed to HPV, why then do only a very small percentage get cervical cancer. And of these cases, how many are fatal? Does this warrant mass immunization and a preclusion of basic rights, which normally they claim is their first priority?

Do these two political groups think that we are that stupid that we have to blindly follow one or the other and their misguided logic? Do parents have no roles in raising their kids at all or are we just going to let these mindless village idiots raise our kids?

As a scientist and a father of three daughters, there is only a few questions that I need answered.

Is the vaccine safe?

What are possible side effects?

Will there be more research to absolutely prove the HPV/cervical cancer link?

Why do few women with HPV get cervical cancer and most do not?

Is the benefit of mass immunization worth the possible individual risks?

Let's leave the morality and rights arguments to those who aren't smart enough to be asking the right questions. They are only interested in pushing their agenda, no matter how hypocritical.

I never meant this blog to ever get political, but I will say this.

Don't be a slave to your party line, no matter which party you belong to. Use the brain in your head in every instance and don't entrust political groups, organized religions or politicians to spoon feed your positions. They may not purposefully try to be hypocritical, but they all have an agenda to serve. Unfortunately, the truth and the logical reasonable solution are victims to the battle.

Whether you believe God gave you the brain in your head or that it has evolved from primates, please don't forget to use it. I was shaking my head in disbelief as CNBC showed a panel discussion that argued the morality and rights issue of the HPV vaccine, when they should have been tackling questions that really mattered.

Conservatives preaching choice, while liberals were arguing against an individuals' right to choose. Now, I think I've seen it all.

That's what I call "Must See TV".

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