Wow, HN, I can't help myself; why on Earth is this flagged? My post, even in the most critical light, says four things:

* Kids are getting sick in my state, from the measles, because parents refuse to vaccine kids that are perfectly capable of receiving the vaccination.

* Kids, across the country, in and near anti-vax communities, are contracting whooping cough. ITS A FACT. SORRY.

* Whooping cough is "violent". Maybe one of you can show me a video of a child with whooping chough that you wouldn't call "violent". How about one that you don't call "horrificly violent", even?

* That I could be misreading, though the parent commenter has indeed confirmed that my comment is an accurate read.

So? We just don't like having it pointed out, or what?

Also, big shoutout to HN for "rate-limiting" me from being able to reply to the undoubtedly good-faith commenter who is openly suggesting we let the children of anti-vaxxers just die; the one commenting in a subthread about herd immunity who clearly has no idea what herd immunity is. My comment remains positive, and there are no rule violation.

I engaged in good faith (I certainly didn't think they were going to openly call for the deaths of anti-vax kids or act like it was a serious position to hold).

But hey, it's HN, so I should know that being offended at implicitly violent attitudes or calling out people's bullshit here would automatically land me in trouble.

What you have said is indeed the direct implication of what I said. And I did mean to say what I said.

I've got to wonder if the sensationalist panic of our times isn't simply due to people not being able to accept mild sarcasm in written form. Humor is a coping mechanism - read some horrible less-mediated truth, shake your head, sigh, and build some consensus based around calming rather than outrage.

What I am plainly sure of is that getting more and more worked up ("take this more seriously") about the actions of people I can't control isn't going to solve the problem either.

Wooping cough vaccines have full effect for about 10 years. Adults get it, but a lot don't consider wooping cough since they assume the vaccines last forever.