While I was traveling, I found out via social media that Chili's, the restaurant chain, was supporting an autism awareness group that supported the anti-vaccination movement. Since I am, ahem, virulently opposed to the anti-vaxxers, I was most disappointed to see that the only fast food restaurant at my terminal in Calgary was Chili's. I tweeted my frustration
annoyed the only fast food past security at YYC is anti-vax @Chilis I guess I will buy the overpriced meh stuff on the plane #antivaxkillsand eventually Chili's tweeted back at me, so I responded thusly:
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) April 6, 2014
.@Chilis @texasinafrica @DaveedGR problem is you are still supporting an anti-vax charity http://t.co/MQXxeu9IfQ so no support from me 1/2
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) April 6, 2014
.@Chilis @texasinafrica @DaveedGR basic reality is if you give to their good works, it means they can use others to support anti-vax 2/2and then a friend tweeted me the news:
— Stephen Saideman (@smsaideman) April 6, 2014
When @smsaideman refuses to buy airport Chili's, big corporations back down: http://t.co/eBuECfTRmU
— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) April 7, 2014
Looks like the voices of pro-vaccine Americans are stronger than those of misguided antivax orgs. @Chilis cancels. http://t.co/eBuECfTRmUClearly, I was not the only one upset at Chili's and I am sure others were tweeting at/about the food chain. Sure, they might not have known better. The reality is that if you give money to a group that supports a conspiracy theory that is leading people to undermine the collective good of having a vaccinated population, those folks who tend to buy into this thing we call science are going to get upset. Companies have a hard time these days dancing between different motivated opponents who can tweet/facebook/blog/whatever their various concerns. A good rule of thumb might be to stick with science?
— Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) April 7, 2014
Anyhow, I jokingly took credit for the change, as Laura was just teasing. The folks who deserve the credit are those who got out the news, as it is easy to tweet and retweet. It is harder to keep track of all these companies and the questionable charities that some support.
I'm seeing more public push-back against the anti-vaccination crowd. Too many folks have seen mumps, whooping cough, and others come back in recent years. In our neck of the woods there's been a serious whooping cough problem, and Ohio State has been the center of a Mumps resurgence. That tends to get people's attention. Go science!
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