Irish Examiner View: Lost, dangerous, and bewildered

Anti-vaccine protests and rejection of science show a bizarre disdain for the facts of our world

Protesters during an anti-restriction and anti-vaccine protest march over O'Connell Street bridge last month.

The anti-vaccine movement’s rejection of science shows a bizarre disdain for the facts of our world. It is not surprising, so, that the movement has a feeble understanding of geography and events too. 

In London on Monday, anti-vaccine protesters scuffled with police as they stormed what they thought was a major BBC building, though the corporation largely left it almost a decade ago. Tempting as it is, and justified too, to scoff at another layer of ignorance, a far more important reaction would be to ask why a public service broadcaster might be targeted in such a way? It is also important to point out that attacks on trusted media can be an opening gambit on the road to something like autocracy. In that light, Downing Street’s reaction will be interesting.