I see where children and young adults at one of our old stomping grounds have been placed at serious risk because ignorance is not bliss. In fact it can be dangerously contagious, putting others at risk.

Clark County officials identify 3 more measles exposure sites, rule out 2 suspected cases

Anti-vax is not the consequence of critically thought out and logically applied thinking. It is in fact a first cousin to the destructive parental religious faith notion that doctors and hospitals should be avoided when human beings fall ill.

Like “thoughts and prayers” as knee-jerk reactions to gun violence in this country, avoidance of medical treatment in the name of ignorant God-talk piety harms more innocents than it does self-styled faith-promoting preachers.

This from the World Health Organization:

Vaccine hesitancy
Vaccine hesitancy or the anti-vaccination movement, includes people who are reluctant to vaccinate themselves or children, even if they have the resources to do so.

The WHO noted this threatens progress made towards tackling some vaccine-preventable diseases, and vaccination continues to be one of the most cost-effective ways to avoid disease.

Fleming added this is a concern because there is a resurgence of certain diseases. Measles, for example, has seen a 30 per cent increase worldwide and although not all cases can be connected to the anti-vaccination movement, the WHO stressed countries that were close to eliminating the disease have seen a rise again.

READ MORE: Why this mom chose not to vaccinate her kids — and why she changed her mind

“We haven’t seen a lot of measles and other things for many, many years… I think we’ve gotten comfortable that these are things we don’t need to worry about anymore and partly, we’ve become complacent,” Fleming explained.

There is also a lot of misinformation about vaccines on the internet, and Fleming says anyone who wants credible information should talk to a health provider.

Where do most toxic false notions and other fake news spread like viruses? Facebook  and other social media sites,

The Effect of Social Media on the Anti-Vaccine Movement

Social media—the use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to communicate and share content—has made our world feel smaller and more connected. However, these technologies also have made it easier create, consume, and share unverified, anecdotal information posing as facts.

The anti-vaccine movement has proliferated over recent years, in part because of its most vocal proponents using social media to churn out often misleading information.

Anti-vacciners have demonstrated little credibility to passing scientific judgments based on propagandized notions created by composers of ideas based on how well they might sell and generate profits.

Such arrogant ignorance reflects non-thinkers who are pretending to know better than everyone else when is best for the common good.

In that regard anti-vax talking points are both mere and silly in that they reflect assumptions of a reality that most in this country know doesn’t exist. Yet here we are because a few take poorly thought out actions that leave the majority at risk.

In fact, as a citizen, and in the tradition of American free-market sharing of ideas and concepts, I see it not unreasonable to invite those blowing the hardest to tell me more about why science should not be trusted and folk-notions are the way of the future.

I invite anti-vaccine advocates to speak plainly here because when you guys imply that it’s so, those who think you’re smarter than they are will conform to you.  Responsibility comes with that.

Accountability comes with that.

Until we understand such things, anti-vax propagandists  and their sheep remain a  principle cause of risk for epidemic, lack of social harmony, lack of social conscience and absence of real moral outrage in this country.

When it comes to moral outrage, hypocrisy and failure to reflect social conscience on a comprehensive and all-inclusive level generates condemnation of those who play with fire.

Anti-vaccination propagandists are proposing a false drama.

Their sheep do it with an ignorant arrogance that certainly does not lead to bliss.