A Drunken Madman

This little tweet popped up in one of my tweetdeck columns related to the ongoing Stop The AVN campaign.

There are several problems with this. For one thing, Meryl Dorey herself ignores the harm caused by infectious disease and denies that those children hurt could have been saved by science-based medicine, instead callously claiming that diseases such as whooping cough are trivial, treatable with witchcraft and probably not even real, what with all that talk of germs and all. Germ theory is bunk, apparently.

Aside from all that, though, the immediate, glaring problem I had was "what the fuck is a social sociopath?"

So I asked. And I got a response

Wow. I'm clearly awesomely important, to have received a twitter reply from the queen ant herself. But the thing is, my question was serious. I'd never heard the term before.

Anyway, I did a bit of searching, and I found lots of content about the "anti-social sociopath", but I did also find this pop-psychology book in which a PhD author outlines a description of a detached and manipulative relationship-driver in what is essentially an abusive relationship. I quote:

"a 'sociopathic relationship' that involved lies, cheating, manipulation, verbal and even physical abuse"

Who do we know that manipulates others for personal gain, lying, cheating, manipulating and occasionally verbally abusing others? Who smothers her favoured acolytes with fawning praise on the one hand while fleecing them for any dime they can give with the other? Who spreads known and provable lies about vaccination and science-based medicine while simultaneously maintaining the bland face of the concerned mother? Who folds her hands under her chin, spouts nonsense about autism, then asks for money which you know won't go to the stated cause, contrary to Australian law? Who's the cat that won't cop out, when there's danger all about?

No, wait, not Shaft.

Oh yeah, Meryl Dorey.

Can you dig it?

As far as I know, she's never stooped to physical abuse, unless you count witholding evidence-based treatment in favour of vitamin C when her dog was bitten by a snake - resulting, unsurprisingly, in the inevitable death of the dog. I certainly have evidence of all the other factors, as do many SAVNers who monitor her cynical operations day-in, day-out.

Putting that aside, I find much to be recommended in the description of a social sociopath in our favourite* frootloop antivaccination activist.

But apparently it's me. Because Dorey is nothing if not opportunist, even in the field of schoolyard digs.

Epic Win.

* not favourite

Yes, a rare political post from me, but on a topic which really bears examination. As we all know, Iran's nuclear programme has been a cause of international concern for a number of years now. There are fears among Western powers that Iran's nuclear programme may bring to fruition several serious concerns

• Attainment of nuclear weaponry, thus tipping the balance of military power in the region
• Possiblity of nuclear acccidents due an unstable government's inability to properly maintain facilities
• Possiblity of sabotage due to the volatile political situation in the area
• Accidental (or deliberate) loss of nuclear material, which may subsequently find its way into the hands of terrorists

The IAEA has laid out these concerns in great detail, but I feel that there is an aspect that has been missed in the drive towards a a controlled policy for Iranian nuclear development.

To outline this serious concern in detail, one must digress momentarily into the field of entomology.

Iran has around 160 species of the family Formicidae, consisting of six subfamilies and thirty-four genera. The arid and semi-arid environments in the region have formed a habitat to which these species are extremely well-suited, and they are successful and widespread. The colony lifestyle and efficient resource-gathering nature of these hardy creatures are a testament to the success of evolution under stressful conditions, and the family has shown its dominance of the niche. It's not unfair to say that, in Iran, you can't heave a brick without it coming down somewhere near a colony of Cataglyphis, Messor, Camponotus or Monomorium.

In short, Iran is crawling with ants.

"What has this to do with Iran's nuclear ambitions, though?" I hear you say.

Well, let me tell you.

During the 1940s and 50s, Nuclear testing wrought destruction over large tracts of arid and semi-arid land in the Western United States. We are all aware of the Trinity test which started it all, but above-ground and underground testing continued for many years afterwards, and a little-publicised, in fact supressed, fact about these tests is that aside from creating new materials such as trinitite, they created mutations in local animal populations. Mutations of a strange and terrible nature.

Mutations such as those described in the 1954 documentary "Them!"

So, I appeal to President Ahmadinejad, please... Stop this senseless march toward destruction. For the sake of Iran, and the world. Do not unleash formic destruction upon us all. I for one do not welcome these new insect overlords, and neither should you.