this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2025
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Summary

A father whose unvaccinated six-year-old daughter became the first U.S. measles death in 10 years remains steadfast in his anti-vaccine beliefs.

The Mennonite man from Seminole, Texas told The Atlantic, "The vaccination has stuff we don't trust," maintaining that measles is normal despite its near-eradication through vaccination.

His stance echoes claims by HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who initially downplayed the current North American outbreak before changing his position under scrutiny.

Despite his daughter's death, the father stated, "Everybody has to die."

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[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 247 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

It takes a special kind of crazy to say vaccines have untrustworthy ingredients over the dead body of your unvaccinated child.

Mennonite man

Ah... right okay.

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 99 points 23 hours ago (6 children)

Ah yes, the Electric Amish.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 28 points 23 hours ago

That was funny. I'll have to reuse that one 🙂

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[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 47 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Ha, I got interested in researching what exactly Mennonites are, and funnily, the German Wikipedia article has, in its very introduction, this disclaimer:

In den Medien gibt es immer wieder Berichte über Mennoniten in Nord- oder Südamerika, die einen sehr konservativen bis weltabgewandten Lebensstil pflegen und die in der Regel einen deutschen Hintergrund haben. Diese Gruppen stellen jedoch nur einen kleinen Ausschnitt aus dem mennonitischen Spektrum dar, in dem es auch viele modernere, angepasstere und liberalere Gemeinschaften sowie viele andere ethnische Zugehörigkeiten gibt.

Translation by me:

"In the media, there are regular reports about Mennonites in North- or South America, who have a very conservative or even withdrawn lifestyle, who usually have German ancestry. These groups are, however, only a small section of the whole Mennonite spectrum, in which there are also many more modern, more adjusted and more liberal communities, as well as many other ethnicities."

Seems like your American Mennonite exiles are making the rest of the Mennonite world defensive.

[–] CompostMaterial@lemmy.world 59 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

I mean, that's just the history of the US anyway. Remember, the puritans were "escaping" "persecution" for there religious beliefs from Europe. Those beliefs were so incredibly strict, conservative, and restrictive that no one wanted those nut jobs around. Oh, look, 250 years later and their descendants are still afraid of a nipple.

[–] normanwall@lemmy.world 33 points 23 hours ago

Well yes, if she took the vaccine she might have died.

Oh...

[–] rusticus@lemm.ee 15 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Untrustworthy ingredients:

The measles virus, but very slightly modified so it won’t kill you.

The uneducated will kill us all.

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[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 123 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

“I don’t trust science so I will choose death instead”

Fucking brilliant people. No doubt they are Trump supporters.

[–] Carrolade@lemmy.world 35 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

... he's a Mennonite, lot of them won't even use the internal combustion engine. It's one of those low-tech sects of Christianity like Amish.

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[–] evergreen@lemmy.world 94 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

So basically he'd rather they just die than live with "stuff we don't trust". If "everybody has to die", then why care about what's in a vaccine in the first place? Extreme cognitive dissonance to support an ideology.

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[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 70 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (3 children)

Yeah... You totally can't trust a vaccine with 97% efficacy and a negligible mortality rate that's existed for over 80 years versus an extremely infectious virus with a 40% mortality rate and no effective treatment or cure... If only there were extensive scientific studies on these things that were easily and freely accessible to the public! Why do we have to live in such a dark and uninformed time!?

[–] andyburke@fedia.io 23 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Because conservatives have been gutting education every chance they get throughout history. 🤷‍♂️

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 15 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

What better way to control the masses than have them all fat, exhausted, stupid, and sick?

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[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 68 points 14 hours ago

Hope he told his daughter she had to die to make liberals cry

[–] imvii@lemmy.ca 63 points 17 hours ago

You know what else has stuff I don't trust? The fucking measles.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 54 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Stuff, you say. I'd wager this fool knows nothing at all about this supposed stuff.

[–] somehacker@lemmy.world 41 points 21 hours ago

He’s a Mennonite. He’s intentionally ignorant of the modern world and murdered his daughter.

[–] trslim@pawb.social 48 points 22 hours ago

Fucking deathcult of america.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 48 points 18 hours ago (7 children)

You can only hope one day the asshole realizes he killed his kid and can't live with his failure.

[–] melpomenesclevage@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

do you understand how much this would destroy someone to acknowledge? that's why they're doing this. they need support to dismantle modern medicine, and that support will be built from tiny little coffins.

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[–] Huschke@lemmy.world 15 points 16 hours ago

My favorite quote for situations like this is. "You're never the enemy in your own story."

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[–] danglybits23@lemm.ee 46 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Makes sense, what if she took the vaccine and it killed her? Oh, wait..

These people should be in prison for murder and forcibly sterilized.

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[–] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 44 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The conundrum here is that admitting his stance was wind would take a level of intelligence that would have had him vaccinate his child in the first place.

I know that's oversimplifying it, but the point still stands.

[–] Bread@sh.itjust.works 19 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

At this point, I can't say I would blame him for still refusing to accept it on an emotional level despite all evidence otherwise. As stupid as it is, how might you cope with knowing you are the sole reason that your daughter is dead? That if it weren't for your arrogance, you would still have a child?

I don't agree with it, but I understand. I don't think I could live with myself if I accepted reality if I were in his situation. Shutting down might be his method of coping. It is a sad situation that was easily preventable.

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 42 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Ah yes, the "everybody dies so who gives a shit" defense...

He says he doesn't trust it, but he's lying. If he actually cared about what's in the vaccines, he would get educated on the ingredients, the process of manufacture, the data and studies that have been done, etc.

But he won't do that, because he is a religious fundamentalist. He doesn't care about being logical, or reasonable, or understanding anything. He heard a certain viewpoint that he vibes with and stubbornly and fanatically holds to it.

Same as radical Islamists, or the Crusaders, or conspiracy theory nuts. They didn't reason themselves into their worldview. It wasn't carefully and methodically researched, it isn't something they are willing to change or adapt or be wrong on.

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[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 41 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

He should have died too

Actually no, instead of.

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 16 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

I bet he was given the measles vaccine.

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 39 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Translation: my beliefs mean more to me than my dead child ever could.

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[–] CptCosmicMoron@lemmy.ca 37 points 23 hours ago

So basically, he's saying he'd rather have a dead child than a child with autism or whatever malady he thinks vaccines cause. Holy hell.

[–] npcknapsack@lemmy.ca 37 points 5 hours ago

This shit ought to be considered negligence and reason to at least remove any other kids from the home. Poor six year old was failed by her family and the state.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 35 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

If you can accept the will of God that your child dies without vaccination, you can accept the will of God that your child survived vaccination, even it it caused something unexpected.

[–] GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 43 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

Or accept that God sent the scientists that developed the vaccine. The whole "will of God" argument is always so full of holes - logic doesn't come into it.

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[–] thingAmaBob@lemmy.world 33 points 13 hours ago (1 children)
[–] TheTurner@lemm.ee 35 points 12 hours ago (15 children)

He's Mennonite. They don't believe in any English medicine/science. If someone dies, it's God's will.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 20 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

I'll never understand the position. If a deadly disease is God's will, then so is the vaccine which prevents it.

Mennonites have no problem using blades to cut their hair, wearing glasses when their vision is faulty, or using soap after wiping their ass. Why are they against medicine?

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 18 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Because they don't like it, and like all religious groups... if They don't like it, then its against gods will. And if they like it, then it is gods will.

Which is why god hates vaccines, but loves child rape and wife beating, at least for these Amish-type religious communities. (and probably most of the republican party....)

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[–] brezel@piefed.social 33 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Obviously his god didn't want him to procreate.

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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 31 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Sadly now that she's dead he has no choice but to defend his stance, because admitting the truth would mean being left with the knowledge that he killed his own daughter.

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[–] mkhopper@lemmy.world 26 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Made even more sad given that, as a child, he likely received the MMR vaccine.

These fools never seem to think about that part.

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[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 25 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

This is just so horrifying. Don't trust? Holy shit, his child is dead!

And what is this "stuff" that he's talking about? Midi-chlorians?

[–] mint_tamas@lemmy.world 18 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Of course he’s not changing his stance. Doing so would be admitting that his child died as a direct consequence of his own actions. He will forever be anti-vax from now on, even if his life depends on it.

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[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 22 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Sounds like a negligent homicide charge.

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[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 20 points 20 hours ago

She died because of their willful ignorance.

Welcome to the anti-intellectual American experience.

[–] ubergeek@lemmy.today 19 points 1 hour ago

What a fucking idiot. He should be locked up for murder.

[–] Doctor_Satan@lemmy.world 18 points 4 hours ago (4 children)

"The vaccination has stuff we don’t trust"

I would bet money this man could not name a single ingredient in a measles vaccine.

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[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 18 points 21 hours ago

Of course he does. He's desperate to justify his actions, because the alternative is to admit to himself that his choices killed his daughter.

[–] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 17 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

Yeah, this fucker should be arrested, kids taken away and he should be housed in a care facility where he slowly can be weaned off the conspiracy theories until he's normal again

Yes, I'm advocating for forced treatments of these fuckers. Hell, I'd deport and quarantine them in a remote island where they can slowly die of diseases and what not, I don't care.

If in 2025 you still need to believe in dumb shit like unicorns, skydaddies, and conspiracy theories like a 5 year old then you don't have the right to live liek any other healthy adult, you should be considered mentally deficient and treated as such. Sorry, you are not competent to raise children, these poor kids deserve better.

Lock em um

I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. These people habe been ruining this world since forever and it has to stop. I'm out of are, I'm out of mercy, I'm out of patience

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[–] DogEarBookmark@reddthat.com 15 points 3 hours ago

Just fuckin chuggin that koolaid

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