Don’t Perpetuate Binary Divisions

Belief systems vary; vaccination is a partial example

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

There is a tendency for humans to become evangelical. For any topic, you’ll find extremists at both ends, and both proclaim you must fully agree with them, otherwise you are obviously on the “opposite” side and are the enemy. You will also then find yourself accused of being “stupid,” to boot. It is assumed your views are not considered, but are the result of gullibility. Whereas your accuser basks in the belief that their own views are founded on their superior intelligence.

There is an element of misunderstanding here, especially when claiming anyone with a different view is just stupid.

Science is a belief system, just like any other. It isn’t that firmly established, having been the mostly dominant one for a few hundred years, far less than many other belief systems. And as with any belief system that achieves dominance and becomes part of official discourse and education, it leads to many people believing it without understanding the basics or its assumptions, or flaws, or even recognising it as a belief system.

This is similar to the way that bigots and racists say “keep politics out of entertainment” when they actually mean everything should be full of politics but only those matching their privileged world view, and therefore invisible to them. I wrote about that here.

When materialists say that anyone with another belief system is stupid “because of the evidence they don’t understand,” it is a huge mistake. The “evidence” is always from within the belief system. If science is not my world view, then you’re not going to persuade me of some element of it using science, any more than you can convert me to fundamental Christianity by quoting the bible and how it tells us the world was created in seven days, or that I was descended from Adam and Eve. To think arguments from within a belief system apply to people outside of it is, itself, a lack of comprehension. And yet, materialists do this all the time.

I’m not anti-vaccination. I don’t care what other people do. I am against any system of enforced vaccination, because of my core belief, which is as follows.

“The only law that applies across this world, which underlies every injustice, is this: living beings have autonomy over their own bodies.”

That is absolute. No rape, no murder, no torture, no violence, no kidnap, no forced procedures: our bodies are the only thing we ever truly own.

We all know a large element of the medical industry is about profit, me-too pharmaceuticals, patents, legal pressure and so on. It’s why you can’t sue a company if a vaccination injures or kills you (or someone you love, in the latter case), even if you didn’t consent to it, even if it was harmful. It’s why so much money is spent persuading people to adopt a system that is an endless (and growing) source of revenue. It’s a system connected to many injustices, including speciesism and vivisection.

I’ve never had any kind of vaccination, for a variety of personal reasons. I don’t think it is lack of intelligence or understanding, though. I studied the philosophy of science and astrophysics as an undergraduate (first class honours). I went on to get an MSc (Master of Science) postgrad degree. I worked within science. But the more I knew, the more I realised it wasn’t my belief system, just something I’d been pushed towards. I began to question the assumptions on which the belief system is based.

Hand-wringing about “how can we make these stupid people understand the basics of our belief system?” is beginning from a point of error, and an attempt to create binary divisions (us/them) while applying favourable characteristics to the group you belong to and denigrating people whose culture is different (smart/stupid; considered/stubborn). It’s the same flaw in humanity which has led to thousands of years of aggression, violence, lack of consideration, and victimisation.

When you meet someone whose starting point is “I am right, you are wrong!” that does not foster engagement, that fosters resistance. If they add “And we are dominant so can enforce our beliefs on you” it escalates to another level. To then complain that more and more people disagree, and question that approach, is to have a mote in one’s eye.

That’s all I wanted to say.

---

PS I’m also an author. You can buy my books, or subscribe to my newsletter, which sometimes includes articles such as my goal of leaving big tech companies.