People are getting dumber because of Putin.

[applegrove]

Support for vaccinating kids against infectious diseases dropped from 81% in 1991 to 51% last year


We are getting dumber as a society

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2025-09-04T14:05:40.881Z

Applegrove:

* Putin put vaccine quackery front and center on the right wing

[Norrrm]

1. "Go to an old cemetery. See all the baby graves from before the 50s & 60s? After that, hardly any. That's when people st

"Go to an old cemetery. See all the baby graves from before the 50s & 60s? After that, hardly any. That's when people started vaccinating their children. If you're unsure what to do to protect your kids, the answer is literally written in stone" - Michael Okuda

[harumph]

2. I'm inclined not to believe that number.

[applegrove]

3. Remember that there is a group on the left who don't trust vaccines.

Plus anyone who has family or friends of people who have an autistic child. The community is very anti- vax. So it is a left and a right wing thing.

[RockRaven]

4. People are making themselves dumber.

Putin is just harnessing that self-inflicted wound. And so is Trump.

[JI7]

5. Anti vaccine bs has existed before Putin and seemed to be more common on the left

but usually others on the left would treat them as a joke.

With the right wing they all just fell in line to oppose it.

[applegrove]

6. But Putin made it a wedge/freedom issue on the right.

[JI7]

7. Putin took advantage of the ignorance and hatred that already existed on the right wing

Yes, Putin exploited it but he didn't create it.