Unassisted brake repair. Supportive comments only. No scaremongering.
Sounds stupid, right?
What conclusions could we draw about an internet forum with that description?
- The people who created the forum have no interest is hearing anything other than what they already believe.
- The people who created and use the forum understand that the evidence against their choice is very persuasive, so they won’t allow anyone to present it.
- The people who created and use the forum know that their choice is very dangerous and that the truth about it is scary.
- The people who use the forum have doubts about their decision, so they are anxious for “support.”
- The people who use the forum want to promote their choice and therefore have to suppress the truth about the dangers of their choice.
- The people who created and use the forum lack the most basic knowledge about brakes and have convinced themselves that nothing can go wrong if they do it themselves.
Simply put, the people who created and use the forum know that their choice is dangerous and unsupported by evidence, but are looking for those who will cheer them on as they blithely risk their lives and those of anyone who drives with them.
The same thing applies to the choices of unassisted childbirth, homebirth and vaccine rejection. That’s why there are so many blogs, forums and message board that cannot manage to support the choices unless they suppress the truth.
So, for example, the Mothering.com forum I’m Not Vaccinating, has the following rule:
I’m Not Vaccinating … [is a] support-only [forum]. Posts to these forums should be out of sincere interest for the forum’s support topic and not to argue or debate, nor to criticize, make fun of, or make negative generalizations about others.
Anyone who violates the rules by posting accurate scientific information, will have the post removed. Repeatedly posting accurate scientific information may lead to a permanent ban.
Many homebirth and unassisted birth forums, message boards and blogs have similar rules.
Even the Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) has a similar community policy, hastily put into place when it became apparently that not everyone was going to accept the lies that MANA feels are necessary to support homebirth midwifery:
Our goal in launching the blog and all of our online communications is to create a safe space for those who want to discuss evidence-based information about midwifery (and related topics)…
Safe from what? Safe from the truth, of course. More than most homebirth advocates, MANA is well aware that homebirth kills babies, and therefore has to hide their own data and lie about what the scientific actually shows, because homebirth with an American homebirth midwife (CPM) makes about as much sense as unassisted brake repair. It is dangerous; the scientific evidence shows that it is dangerous; and the people who promote and profit from it are uneducated, untrained fools.
There is one good thing to come from these policies: when you see such a policy, you can be sure that the choice being promoted by the forum or blog is both dangerous and scientifically indefensible.
