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Anti-vaxxer bets scientists over existence of measles

by whateverpedia
19 replies
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A vocal (and apparently very wealthy) biologist and outspoken “vaccination skeptic” was so confident that not only do vaccinations not work, but the measles wasn’t even real, that he made a public bet with the world’s scientists that if they could prove the measles virus exists, he’d pay them.
Calling his bluff, a German doctor David Barden gathered the most up-to-date and comprehensive research on the study of the measles virus and sent the evidence to Lanka’s house. Predictably, Lanka took one look at the combined effort of thousands of scientists, decades of research and the reams of data compiled and declared none of it valid. He reportedly refused to pay Dr. Barden – who then took the "biologist" to court.
Unfortunately for our intrepid anti-vaxxer, a German judge reviewed the research and – like most rational people – decided that the existence of the measles was fairly obvious. The doctor had fulfilled all the requirements Lanka had demanded (which in this case was probably not that difficult). Lanka was ordered by law to pay out the $106,000 he had promised.
BBC News - Germany court orders measles sceptic to pay 100,000 euros


Addicting Info – Anti-Vaxxer Bets Scientists $100,000 They Can’t Prove Measles Exists; Anti-Vaxxer Loses $100,000


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  • Profile picture of the author butters
    That's just a silly bet to offer out
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    lol ... a fool and their money are soon parted
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    MAN! Measles WAS OBVIOUSLY real! People had PARTIES to get kids infected EARLY, because it is WORSE when you are older. The kids got SICK, the sickness followed the measles pattern, and was diagnosed as such. So it DID exist! THAT is a GIVEN! As to the eradication? That is UNLIKELY! It was a relatively minor disease, so few had reasons to eradicate it. So I think THAT was the substance of the bet, and a bet on those terms is DUMB!

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    you can sue people if they don't honor their bets?
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    • Profile picture of the author butters
      Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

      you can sue people if they don't honor their bets?
      Why do you have a few mates who o you a few bucks ?
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Of course, the Anti-Vaxer...moron gambler, is appealing. Does anyone know if he actually paid? I would be shocked if he did.

        If evidence actually persuaded him, he wouldn't have made the bet in the first place.

        Anyone have news about him paying?
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        • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          Anyone have news about him paying?
          I'd imagine he'll do everything he can to squirm his way out of it. He's got a court order to pay up, but I've no idea how the German system works and whether they can enforce it.

          It's definitely worth keeping an eye out to see what eventuates.
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          • Profile picture of the author HeySal
            Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

            I'd imagine he'll do everything he can to squirm his way out of it. He's got a court order to pay up, but I've no idea how the German system works and whether they can enforce it.

            It's definitely worth keeping an eye out to see what eventuates.
            Well, I just pointed out that I had not only regular, but also the German measles. Since they have their very own strain named for them, I'd say the dude's kinda cooked.
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by socialentry View Post

      you can sue people if they don't honor their bets?
      He published his "bet" online (offer). Someone took him up on it (acceptance). Therefore both parts necessary to form a contract were completed, so yeah they can. Once again, I'm not sure how things work in Germany, but that'd be accepatble in a lot of jurisdictions.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        He published his "bet" online (offer). Someone took him up on it (acceptance). Therefore both parts necessary to form a contract were completed, so yeah they can. Once again, I'm not sure how things work in Germany, but that'd be accepatble in a lot of jurisdictions.
        Yeah, I think the germans tend to be sticklers for such things. As I understand it, you can get in severe trouble if you even simply say you have a doctorate and don't!

        Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author Kurt
        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        He published his "bet" online (offer). Someone took him up on it (acceptance). Therefore both parts necessary to form a contract were completed, so yeah they can. Once again, I'm not sure how things work in Germany, but that'd be accepatble in a lot of jurisdictions.
        In the US you also need "consideration" for a contract to be valid. Since a judge decided against the anti-vaxxer, we can assume that the elements of a contract were met.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

    Well we all know I don't believe in vaxing for very many things - small pox, yeah, polio - okay. Measles - no.

    However - do they exist? Uh.......if they don't, I had both German and regular measles, and if that's not what they were, I'd really love to have someone tell me exactly what it was. My bets on the guys that can prove they exist.

    I know - it's very un-conspiratorial of me and I just ruined my rep. Sigh.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Well we all know I don't believe in vaxing for very many things - small pox, yeah, polio - okay. Measles - no.

      However - do they exist? Uh.......if they don't, I had both German and regular measles, and if that's not what they were, I'd really love to have someone tell me exactly what it was. My bets on the guys that can prove they exist.

      I know - it's very un-conspiratorial of me and I just ruined my rep. Sigh.
      Well, as I said, that is one disease you can't doubt! Polio and smallpox are two others.

      As for your "conspiracy" bent? The biggest conspiracy around is that every "conspiracy theory" is ridiculous twaddle. Nothing can be further from the truth. How can ANYONE live in a world DRIVEN by once were laughed at theories, and laugh at people that once believed in them while using them. HECK, FAMOUS planes are now viewable even on manufacturers sites even though the existence of some of the manufacturers was laughed at. Area 51 was a myth. The atom bomb was once practically a myth. I almost WISH such things were just crazy imagined hysteria.

      HECK, there are things now that I have so much trouble believing, I question whether it is a nightmare of mine. Alas, If I question a dream, I will often wake up, so I guess this is "real". HECK, parts of the bible I thought were ridiculous we are actually LIVING THROUGH NOW! I WOULD detail it but, you know..... POLITICAL! NOPE, NOT RELIGIOUS! POLITICAL! And even THAT was in the bible!

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    This dude isn't an anti-vaxxer -- he's actually denying the disease exists. There's a big difference and it steams me to hear this dude talked about in a way that makes people think that people that don't want a vaccine are nuts in the same vein as this guy is. He's more aptly a "disease denier" than an anti-vaxxer. I know a lot of people that are against all but a few vacs. I've never known anyone who believed that the diseases don't even exist.
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    • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      This dude isn't an anti-vaxxer -- he's actually denying the disease exists. There's a big difference and it steams me to hear this dude talked about in a way that makes people think that people that don't want a vaccine are nuts in the same vein as this guy is. He's more aptly a "disease denier" than an anti-vaxxer. I know a lot of people that are against all but a few vacs. I've never known anyone who believed that the diseases don't even exist.
      No, his disbelief in the efficacy of vaccines led him to believe that the diseases they're meant to eliminate were non existent.

      He just took his disbelief to extreme and incredibly stupid levels.

      He is to anti-vaxxers what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity.
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        No, his disbelief in the efficacy of vaccines led him to believe that the diseases they're meant to eliminate were non existent.

        He just took his disbelief to extreme and incredibly stupid levels.

        He is to anti-vaxxers what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity.

        LOL. Still, he's a disease denier. Wonder what he does when he starts coming down with something?? I figure vaxxers see if there's a vac or pharm. I'm a non-vaxer, and I look a few natural elements to clear it up. WTF does this guy do if he comes down with something if nothing exists? Uh........ Seriously - what would go through his head when his body does a trip on him and he finds himself in the john not knowing which end needs to be pointed to the porcelain first? Christ on a pogo stick - I know you guys think I'm a mess sometimes but if anyone ever equates my reverse skepticism with something on that level -- I'll find out where you live and one day you'll answer the door and find me there just so I can bitchslap you for it.
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        • Profile picture of the author whateverpedia
          Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

          LOL. Still, he's a disease denier. Wonder what he does when he starts coming down with something?? I figure vaxxers see if there's a vac or pharm. I'm a non-vaxer, and I look a few natural elements to clear it up. WTF does this guy do if he comes down with something if nothing exists? Uh........ Seriously - what would go through his head when his body does a trip on him and he finds himself in the john not knowing which end needs to be pointed to the porcelain first? Christ on a pogo stick - I know you guys think I'm a mess sometimes but if anyone ever equates my reverse skepticism with something on that level -- I'll find out where you live and one day you'll answer the door and find me there just so I can bitchslap you for it.
          LOL. I think it was on the Addicting Info link in the OP that he is described as being a biologist .

          I can only assume he got his degree (if he does actually have one) online from Buttcrack University in Zimbabwe.
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          • Profile picture of the author HeySal
            Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

            LOL. I think it was on the Addicting Info link in the OP that he is described as being a biologist .

            I can only assume he got his degree (if he does actually have one) online from Buttcrack University in Zimbabwe.
            Biologist huh? Must be a new branch of the field. All the biologists I've ever known or known of, and I would assume most others, believe in microbes.

            I'm thinking that he might have been at one of the top Ivy league. Illegally volunteered and unaware lab experiment.
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by whateverpedia View Post

        No, his disbelief in the efficacy of vaccines led him to believe that the diseases they're meant to eliminate were non existent.

        He just took his disbelief to extreme and incredibly stupid levels.

        He is to anti-vaxxers what the Westboro Baptist Church is to Christianity.
        Well, you never know. Historically, the FIRST to benefit from the theory had NO idea that the nuisance they dealt with made them immune against such a horrible thing. The FIRST to benefit from a modern day vaccine may have had no idea, and all was in doubt. So believing the vaccines couldn't work is just DUMB.

        As for the WBC? Apparently nearly all have the same career! QUICK QUESTION! WHAT is that career? You probably guessed wrong! OK! Here is a HINT! He even pushed the certification firm for HIS profession too far! STILL don't get it? OK, from Wikipedia!

        Fred Waldron Phelps, Sr. (November 13, 1929 - March 19, 2014) was an American pastor who headed the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), an independent Baptist church based in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps attained notoriety primarily from his vehemently anti-gay activism and his picketing of funerals of homosexuals and soldiers.

        Phelps was a disbarred lawyer, founder of the Phelps Chartered law firm, and a former civil rights activist. He sought public office four times as a member of the Democratic Party. In the election for United States Senator for Kansas in 1992, he received 49,416 votes (30.8%), coming in second after Gloria O'Dell (who subsequently lost to later presidential candidate Bob Dole).
        So it seems they want to create a lot of business for themselves!

        Steve
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