海角大神

Amid the firestorm of media reports about the recent measles outbreak that began in Southern California and the debate over vaccination, Eula Biss鈥檚 book, 鈥淥n Immunity鈥� 鈥� which came out in September 鈥� is particularly timely. In the book, she explores historical and contemporary attitudes to immunity and vaccination through scientific, cultural, and personal lenses. Ardently pro-vaccination herself, she empathizes with parents who opt out, and examines the fears that may drive their decisions. And she sees the "us versus them" mentality driving much of the discussion as counterproductive.

In a recent interview with the Monitor, she addressed the anger about vaccination that has taken over much of the current debate, how to bridge the divide between groups, and the pervasiveness of fear in our culture. Here are some excerpts from that interview.

What do you think is being missed in the current coverage of the measles outbreak and vaccination?

I鈥檓 heartened by some things that aren鈥檛 getting missed鈥� I saw less of the conversation about vaccinations being a social duty [in the 2010 pertussis outbreak in California], and I鈥檓 seeing more of that now.

But what I鈥檓 worried about as I watch this conversation play out in the news 鈥� this is already a very polarized issue, and it seems like it鈥檚 getting even more polarized. [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie can say something I didn鈥檛 think was outrageous about vaccinations, and get jumped on for it. It鈥檚 getting very us and them, and those of us who vaccinate are the good guys and those who don鈥檛 are the bad guys. We need to have a real hard look at the factors contributing to people鈥檚 mistrust of the medical establishment and mistrust of the government鈥�. I do think vaccines are much better regulated than just about any other pharmaceutical out there, but it鈥檚 also fair for people who know how poor our regulation is to be skeptical or fearful.

You鈥檙e pro-vaccination, but in your book you wrote very compassionately about those who choose not to vaccinate. Are there ways to break out of that 'us versus them' mentality?

Part of how I bridged it is that I鈥檝e occupied both traditions. That鈥檚 where a lot of that empathy came from. All the fears I wrote about were fears I held. I worked myself out of them, but I knew what it felt like to have them.

Maybe part of the way to bridge the "us and them" mentality is to work from a place where we assume people have legitimate reasons for their fears even if we don鈥檛 like how they act on that fear. [In my case], I acknowledged this fear, saw there were fairly good reasons for it in some areas, then decided my fear was not a good enough reason to 鈥� forgo something essential for other people鈥檚 health.

This is one of those rare issues where we really do need community consensus and we鈥檙e not used to operating that way. We鈥檝e got this very pluralistic society, and the community we need consensus among is huge, it鈥檚 the world.

Instead of calling people dumb or ignorant, I think we could focus on a conversation about what other people need from us, and how we鈥檙e going to live together as an international community.

The more I鈥檝e talked to people, the more I鈥檝e realized this can be very personal, and there鈥檚 a lot of life history feeding this. I wrote about a woman whose parents were Vietnamese refugees, and were exposed to Agent Orange. It鈥檚 not hard to understand someone like that鈥檚 extreme chemical sensitivity 鈥� in a psychological sense 鈥� and reluctance to trust the government. For a lot of people this is a political or philosophical position, but it鈥檚 informed by life experiences, and some of those are really difficult life experiences, and that difficulty needs to be honored.

You write in the book about the degree to which we鈥檙e governed by fear. It seems like fears are pervasive right now, both about vaccinations and about the measles outbreak.

The writer Marilynne Robinson had a quote in The New York Times recently about how our culture gives fear so much respect. [The exact quote is that 鈥渇ear has, in this moment, a respectability I鈥檝e never seen in my life.鈥漖 I think that鈥檚 so true. If another parent says they鈥檙e afraid of something, you almost can鈥檛 answer that. We鈥檙e in a weird unproductive place around our own fear.

Part of my book was about how oppressive I found this parenting culture which is very fear-promoting and fear-encouraging.

I don鈥檛 know [if we鈥檝e become more fearful as a country] but I do think at least the rhetoric around fear has changed. I have a hard time imagining a politician right now saying all we have to fear is fear itself. Or a politician saying we should be most afraid of what our fear of terrorism has made us do鈥�. Something has shifted, and we鈥檙e honoring fear in a way I don鈥檛 think it should be honored.

Why do you think there is so much anger right now about non-vaccinators, and fear of the measles outbreak which seems disproportionate to the actual numbers, with just over 100 cases?

I think this is a serious issue, serious enough to have spent six years writing about it, but I also think some of the responses are completely overblown. I鈥檝e been trying to figure out what is this about. It鈥檚 starting to seem like this anger is about something else.

Is it about us not being able to handle our own fear or think about risk in a way that gives it some proportion? Maybe that has something to do with it. But also 鈥� I have an overblown anger response when I see other people being bad at sharing their space鈥�.

Statistically, the risk, even if you鈥檙e living in Southern California, is quite minimal. But it鈥檚 also another cultural weak point. We鈥檙e not that great at shared spaces.

[Non-vaccinators] aren鈥檛 sharing. They鈥檙e not sharing the burden 鈥� and there is a burden that goes with vaccination, because there is a risk that everyone takes. So part of it is, I鈥檓 sharing, and you鈥檙e not.

That, I get. But I think the anger can be felt, but I鈥檓 not sure it鈥檚 productive to express it.