this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
884 points (99.3% liked)

News

27358 readers
5677 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Summary

A father whose unvaccinated six-year-old daughter became the first U.S. measles death in 10 years remains steadfast in his anti-vaccine beliefs.

The Mennonite man from Seminole, Texas told The Atlantic, "The vaccination has stuff we don't trust," maintaining that measles is normal despite its near-eradication through vaccination.

His stance echoes claims by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who initially downplayed the current North American outbreak before changing his position under scrutiny.

Despite his daughter's death, the father stated, "Everybody has to die."

(page 2) 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] thingAmaBob@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] TheTurner@lemm.ee 37 points 1 day ago (20 children)

He's Mennonite. They don't believe in any English medicine/science. If someone dies, it's God's will.

[–] iceonfire1@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There are many kinds of Mennonites. Most that I know are pretty scientific and well-educated.

[–] cool@lemmings.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Most that I know are pretty scientific and well-educated.

Then why are they mennonites?

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (19 replies)
[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 130 points 1 day ago (1 children)

“I don’t trust science so I will choose death instead”

Fucking brilliant people. No doubt they are Trump supporters.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 37 points 1 day ago (8 children)

... he's a Mennonite, lot of them won't even use the internal combustion engine. It's one of those low-tech sects of Christianity like Amish.

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 262 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

It takes a special kind of crazy to say vaccines have untrustworthy ingredients over the dead body of your unvaccinated child.

Mennonite man

Ah... right okay.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 106 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Ah yes, the Electric Amish.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Ha, I got interested in researching what exactly Mennonites are, and funnily, the German Wikipedia article has, in its very introduction, this disclaimer:

In den Medien gibt es immer wieder Berichte über Mennoniten in Nord- oder Südamerika, die einen sehr konservativen bis weltabgewandten Lebensstil pflegen und die in der Regel einen deutschen Hintergrund haben. Diese Gruppen stellen jedoch nur einen kleinen Ausschnitt aus dem mennonitischen Spektrum dar, in dem es auch viele modernere, angepasstere und liberalere Gemeinschaften sowie viele andere ethnische Zugehörigkeiten gibt.

Translation by me:

"In the media, there are regular reports about Mennonites in North- or South America, who have a very conservative or even withdrawn lifestyle, who usually have German ancestry. These groups are, however, only a small section of the whole Mennonite spectrum, in which there are also many more modern, more adjusted and more liberal communities, as well as many other ethnicities."

Seems like your American Mennonite exiles are making the rest of the Mennonite world defensive.

[–] CompostMaterial@lemmy.world 59 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I mean, that's just the history of the US anyway. Remember, the puritans were "escaping" "persecution" for there religious beliefs from Europe. Those beliefs were so incredibly strict, conservative, and restrictive that no one wanted those nut jobs around. Oh, look, 250 years later and their descendants are still afraid of a nipple.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Everybody has do die

Maybe we make one codfin size S and one XL in this case

[–] imvii@lemmy.ca 65 points 1 day ago

You know what else has stuff I don't trust? The fucking measles.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 41 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

He should have died too

Actually no, instead of.

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I bet he was given the measles vaccine.

He's a Mennonite, so probably not

[–] brezel@piefed.social 32 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Obviously his god didn't want him to procreate.

[–] ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

He must have been a sinner, in that case. Mennonites tend to have enough children to tend to a farm, then they have enough children to attend to those children.

It's not so bad if one is taken by disease, you just make another one and hope it's less weak.

Women love bearing children, so it is they who are blessed in the end.

/S

[–] cool@lemmings.world 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (2 children)

Texans are a whole 'nother breed of stupidity.

It's impressive how proud they are of it. And scary.

[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

They fought a war to keep slavery. TWICE. The only state in the union to do so

Everything is bigger in Texas, including my middle finger to Texas twice

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] curiousPJ@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

I wonder what the wife thinks.

[–] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 43 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The conundrum here is that admitting his stance was wind would take a level of intelligence that would have had him vaccinate his child in the first place.

I know that's oversimplifying it, but the point still stands.

[–] Bread@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

At this point, I can't say I would blame him for still refusing to accept it on an emotional level despite all evidence otherwise. As stupid as it is, how might you cope with knowing you are the sole reason that your daughter is dead? That if it weren't for your arrogance, you would still have a child?

I don't agree with it, but I understand. I don't think I could live with myself if I accepted reality if I were in his situation. Shutting down might be his method of coping. It is a sad situation that was easily preventable.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 52 points 1 day ago (7 children)

You can only hope one day the asshole realizes he killed his kid and can't live with his failure.

[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 28 points 1 day ago (2 children)

do you understand how much this would destroy someone to acknowledge? that's why they're doing this. they need support to dismantle modern medicine, and that support will be built from tiny little coffins.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] evergreen@lemmy.world 98 points 1 day ago (4 children)

So basically he'd rather they just die than live with "stuff we don't trust". If "everybody has to die", then why care about what's in a vaccine in the first place? Extreme cognitive dissonance to support an ideology.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 71 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Yeah... You totally can't trust a vaccine with 97% efficacy and a negligible mortality rate that's existed for over 80 years versus an extremely infectious virus with a 40% mortality rate and no effective treatment or cure... If only there were extensive scientific studies on these things that were easily and freely accessible to the public! Why do we have to live in such a dark and uninformed time!?

[–] andyburke@fedia.io 24 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Because conservatives have been gutting education every chance they get throughout history. 🤷‍♂️

load more comments (6 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] person1@lemm.ee 0 points 14 hours ago

Follow the god that failed...

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Yeah, this fucker should be arrested, kids taken away and he should be housed in a care facility where he slowly can be weaned off the conspiracy theories until he's normal again

Yes, I'm advocating for forced treatments of these fuckers. Hell, I'd deport and quarantine them in a remote island where they can slowly die of diseases and what not, I don't care.

If in 2025 you still need to believe in dumb shit like unicorns, skydaddies, and conspiracy theories like a 5 year old then you don't have the right to live liek any other healthy adult, you should be considered mentally deficient and treated as such. Sorry, you are not competent to raise children, these poor kids deserve better.

Lock em um

I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. These people habe been ruining this world since forever and it has to stop. I'm out of are, I'm out of mercy, I'm out of patience

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Downvotes from people who don't like this authoritarian stance.

Fuck em, this is one authoritarian stance I share. If your kid dies because you made the active decision to feed them nothing but fruit, you get arrested. If your kid dies because you made the active decision to leave them in a hot car, you get arrested. If your kid dies because you made the active decision to not get them vaccines, you should be arrested.

[–] cool@lemmings.world 5 points 1 day ago

I see those few downvotes, but I agree with you.

Unchecked stupidity is dangerous, and even deadly as we see evident right here.

These people should not be allowed to make decisions for others.

[–] ZeffSyde@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Once Cheeto-Christ is allowed to rampage his way down his list of enemies, I'm sure the Amish and Mennonites are hovering just after 'gypsies' (Romani) in the Purge Order.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 57 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Stuff, you say. I'd wager this fool knows nothing at all about this supposed stuff.

[–] somehacker@lemmy.world 45 points 1 day ago

He’s a Mennonite. He’s intentionally ignorant of the modern world and murdered his daughter.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 41 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Ah yes, the "everybody dies so who gives a shit" defense...

He says he doesn't trust it, but he's lying. If he actually cared about what's in the vaccines, he would get educated on the ingredients, the process of manufacture, the data and studies that have been done, etc.

But he won't do that, because he is a religious fundamentalist. He doesn't care about being logical, or reasonable, or understanding anything. He heard a certain viewpoint that he vibes with and stubbornly and fanatically holds to it.

Same as radical Islamists, or the Crusaders, or conspiracy theory nuts. They didn't reason themselves into their worldview. It wasn't carefully and methodically researched, it isn't something they are willing to change or adapt or be wrong on.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is just so horrifying. Don't trust? Holy shit, his child is dead!

And what is this "stuff" that he's talking about? Midi-chlorians?

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] trslim@pawb.social 49 points 1 day ago

Fucking deathcult of america.

[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Can't fix stupid

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›