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 270 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (6 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 108 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

Ah yes, the Electric Amish.

[–] ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org 30 points 2 weeks ago

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

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[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 47 points 2 weeks 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the media, there are regular reports about Mennonites in North- or South America, who have a very conservative or even withdrawn lifestyle, who usually have German ancestry.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 60 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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.

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[–] Coreidan@lemmy.world 132 points 2 weeks 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 37 points 2 weeks ago (8 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 102 points 2 weeks ago (3 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 71 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks 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 24 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

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

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[–] Tronn4@lemmy.world 70 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] imvii@lemmy.ca 67 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 58 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] somehacker@lemmy.world 47 points 2 weeks ago

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

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 58 points 1 week ago

Dude has to cope this hard to justify how he and his family killed their daughter.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 53 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

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

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[–] trslim@pawb.social 50 points 2 weeks ago

Fucking deathcult of america.

[–] danglybits23@lemm.ee 48 points 2 weeks 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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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 48 points 1 week ago (4 children)

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

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[–] ubergeek@lemmy.today 46 points 1 week ago (2 children)

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

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[–] CeeBee_Eh@lemmy.world 45 points 2 weeks 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 20 points 2 weeks ago

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.

[–] npcknapsack@lemmy.ca 42 points 1 week 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.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 42 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

He should have died too

Actually no, instead of.

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[–] wildcardology@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago

everybody has to die >

But not that young and not from a preventable disease.

[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 40 points 2 weeks 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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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 38 points 1 week 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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[–] CptCosmicMoron@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 35 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago (5 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 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] TheTurner@lemm.ee 37 points 2 weeks ago (17 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 21 points 1 week ago (1 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 1 week 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 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Obviously his god didn't want him to procreate.

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[–] Subtracty@lemmy.world 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Stuff in it that we don't trust."

Better to be dead than injected with chemicals that might make you autistic? Gay? A liberal? What could possibly be in the vaccines that would be worse than your child no longer existing?

As a parent, I am so angry. How can you look at your child and be more afraid of the lesser outcomes (not that they even exist, but still) and choose death? What a failure of the parents. And shame on every single person in the media that let this bullshit spiral out of control. That poor girl.

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 week ago

What could possibly be in the vaccines that would be worse than your child no longer existing?

The article says the man is a Mennonite, which means he probably believes in an afterlife. In his mind his child still exists and he'll get to see her again when he passes and spends eternity there.

I pretty firmly believe that afterlife beliefs account for a pretty significant distortion of values in people and helps explain a large number of frankly insane behaviours. Preventing deaths becomes much less important when there's an eternal paradise waiting for you and the "real" risk is doing something that bars you from going there.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Despite his daughter’s death, the father stated, “Everybody has to die.”

Jesus, I can't imagine being so into cult beliefs that I would have that attitude about my own kids, and actively work to make it happen sooner to boot.

I mean sure, we all will die, but it goes against the most basic biological imperative of all living things to make sure their kids outlive them. Must be some strong Koolaid. Dude needs to fuck off with that Jonestown-isque mindset.

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[–] lorski@sopuli.xyz 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He does not deserve to have kids.

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[–] mkhopper@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks 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 2 weeks 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 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week 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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[–] Doctor_Satan@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago (5 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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[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Sounds like a negligent homicide charge.

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[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 20 points 2 weeks ago

She died because of their willful ignorance.

Welcome to the anti-intellectual American experience.

[–] bus_factor@lemmy.world 18 points 2 weeks 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.

[–] DogEarBookmark@reddthat.com 17 points 1 week ago

Just fuckin chuggin that koolaid

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