I’m writing this post on the fly, so excuse any lack of elegance in my writing (espcially the title…).
I just had a lengthy exchange with an anti-vaccine, anti-GMO, anti-science nutter all the way from the UK. The exchange ended up with her calling me a “misinformed twat who believes in fairytales”. Now – for those who don’t know me or haven’t read my bio – I hold a Masters degree in biotechnology and currently work in a virology research laboratory. So while I’m no PhD, Nobel prize-winning scientist, I do know my genes from my Levis and my science from my quackery.
Below a tweet-by-tweet account of my exchange with the quack. It started with my tweeting of a link about the new HPV vaccine finishing up its clinical trial.
I received this reply (I do not follow this woman at all and I’m quite unsure as to where she found me on the Twittersphere) The cretin in question is @ursulariches if you want to go look for her on Twitter. I’m pretty sure she just blocked me. I also think she deleted the tweets directed at me. But too late, I have them all right here…
Admittedly, I was more annoyed towards the end of the exchange than I should have been. The woman is clearly a loon and a troll. Her lack of sensible reply or willingness to discuss anything rationally coupled with her insulting and blocking me really tells me all I need to know. And I know I shouldn’t waste my energy on these idiots.
But the problem is, these idiots are everywhere.
The make me feel so very, very tired. They may very well be the end of us one day.
Confiture 
[…] few weeks ago (after a particularly distasteful incident with what can only be described as an anti-science nutcase) I wrote a post relaying the incident. I […]
I had to save this on Instapaper as I didn’t have time to read it when you posted this as I was part of a very similar discussion around chemotherapy. And although I do agree with everything you say, I try to keep a constructive position here and that brings me to the question, how do we deal with this. Because as much as I’m a fan of scientists (and I hope you know I am), I do have to admit that the way you guys as a group communicate is hard for the outsiders. Even my friends and family who are all well educated have hardly a clue what I do and I only market products that you guys use. So I can only imagine what it would take to help them understand the real science stuff.
Now I know you personally are very keen on communicating science, so have a think about the question and let me know if you agree that that’s probably the best way to deal with these discussions and people.
Kurt