The tinny voice on the radio

Swords up, y'all

At the front of my third grade class was a small speaker that connected our class to a little girl who’d had polio and could not attend school with the rest of us. Every day, the teacher included the girl in class discussions. It was the only year the student dialed in with technology that was considered cutting edge at the time.

I don’t remember the girl’s name. I don’t know what happened to her, and why she didn’t dial in during subsequent years. I do remember listening carefully as she talked and wondering what her life was like.

I am old enough to have gone to school — and worked with — people whose lives were significantly affected by polio — kids and adults in leg braces, kids and adults who lived (in my mind) in a speaker.

According to David M. Oshinsky, a professor of medicine at NYU, people took seriously polio’s 1937 outbreak:

"The public was horribly and understandably frightened by polio. There was no prevention and no cure. Everyone was at risk, especially children. There was nothing a parent could do to protect the family. I grew up in this era. Each summer, polio would come like The Plague. Beaches and pools would close due to the fear that the poliovirus was waterborne. Children had to stay away from crowds, leading to bans on movie theaters, bowling alleys, and similar places. My mother gave us all a 'polio test' each day: Could we touch our toes and put our chins to our chest? Every stomach ache or stiffness caused a panic. Was it polio? I remember the awful photos of children on crutches, in wheelchairs, and iron lungs. And returning to school in September, seeing the empty desks where the children hadn't returned."

I do not remember getting a polio shot — which had been on the market just a few years when I would have been lined up for one — but I know I did. There was no question that we would do everything possible to avoid polio, but even then, vaccination deniers were among us. Weirdly, chiropractors — who were still adhering to the notion that maladies start in the spine — were among the loudest critics. Some of them still oppose vaccines, favoring, instead, the application of leeches.

OK. I made that last part up, but c’mon.

The pattern for science deniers is fairly predictable, and Sean B. Carroll, a University of Maryland biology professor, created a denialists’ playbook (which can also be found in one of the linked articles above):

It’s that No. 5 that pisses me off the most, and I’m not sure why Maybe I get offended when words get twisted so tragically.

We are seeing a rise in COVID cases that’s probably worse than the numbers reveal. The deniers are revving up to discount the threats, to avoid wearing masks, to disparage COVID vaccines again (or still).

Don’t let them. Call them on it. Ask them for their sources. And stay safe.