Autism Wars: NAA vs. LB/RB (Round 2)

The Contenders:

The NAA (National Autism Association) vs LB/RB (Left Brain / Right Brain). For more detailed information on the contenders, see Autism Wars: NAA vs. LB/RB Round 1.

Article vs Article

• The National Autism Association’s embarrassing spitefulness , which is rebuttal to the Age of Autism piece Offit’s Failure to Disclose Jeopardizes Swine Flu Vaccine Program (NAA Press Release). Another key article in this one is Age of Autism: Voting Himself Rich: CDC Vaccine Adviser Made $29 Million Or More After Using Role to Create Market.
  

I am not going to touch the underlying vaccine issue here (NBC Dateline: A Dose of Controversy) , but the claim made by LB/RB that the NAA has their facts wrong. So, did Ofitt make $29 to $50 million on the Rotateq vaccine as the NAA states (original source for thus number looks to be the AoA article) or closer to the $6 million estimated by LB/RB? It would certainly appear that the NAA based their number on the AofA blog, which does look to be a little confused on this issue.

LB/RB states ...

The real honorable thing to do is to not only correct their error, but to correct the error wherever it has propagated.

I do think the NAA has a good point about the level of disclosure by Mr. Ofitt that made it to the NBC broadcast. However, the point is lost by the fact that the NAA has the appearance of their own conflict in relying on the AoA numbers considering they sponsor the AoA site. If the numbers are wrong, issuing a correction is the honorable thing to do. Not doing so, just gives the opposition more ammunition.

Short of a rebuttal by the NAA, I am chalking this one up as a LB/RB win. That puts LB/RB leading this series at 1 win, 0 Loses, and 1 tie.

Autism Wars: NAA vs. LB/RB

The Contenders:

The NAA vs the Left Brain / Right Brain blog. These two are pretty much polar opposites. Both of these think the other is fucking crazy. There is very little middle ground here for debate. While, I like and support the NAA, and do think the DTAP vaccine contributed to my daughter's autism, I am often just as confused on this issue. Everyone thinks they are right and if you don't agree with them, you're an evil prick. Don't hold your breath for any empathy or open mindedness between these two.

NAA (National Autism Association)

The mission of the National Autism Association is to educate and empower families affected by autism and other neurological disorders, while advocating on behalf of those who cannot fight for their own rights. We will educate society that autism is not a lifelong incurable genetic disorder but one that is biomedically definable and treatable. We will raise public and professional awareness of environmental toxins as causative factors in neurological damage that often results in an autism or related diagnosis. We will encourage those in the autism community to never give up in their search to help their loved ones reach their full potential, funding efforts toward this end through appropriate research for finding a cure for the neurological damage from which so many affected by autism suffer.

LB/RB (Left Brain / Right Brain)

First of all, this site has by far one of the coolest web designs. While I often disagree with a lot of the content, I am in awe of how great their site looks. The site owners describe their site's core content and interest as "always been autism and the news, science – and bad science – associated with it". More info at About LB/RB. LB/RB is based in the U.K. and pushes the "neurodiversity" concept. I have said before and will say again, I would love for my daughter to grow up, advocate for herself, and run a condescending smart ass autism blog.

Article vs Article

• LB/RB: How Much Longer? - LB/RB's style is on display in this piece. Basically, you are wrong, you are an idiot, shut the fuck up and act right. For example, "How much longer, NAA, before you act like a reasonable member of the autism communities? (substitute Generation Rescue or SafeMinds for NAA, they are all basically the same group)."
• NAA's How Much Longer Campaign discussed in a recent Autism Wars post, Autism Wars: How Much Longer: Parents vs Government and can be found on NAA's website here.

I am not going to declare a winner in this one, because there is clearly no winner when a civil debate is not possible. I like both of these organizations / blogs even though they are polar opposites. We should be able to disagree without World War III on a lot of these issues. My problem with the LB/RB is that they often have the Chris Mooney mentality that "scientists are smart, they must be right" (See: Autism Wars: Chris Mooney vs. Ginger Taylor). They often come across with the "we're smart, they're dumb asses" tone. Here's a few examples of their recent work. We're Right, your are a fucking idiot and/or brainwashed by "anti-vaxers".

• California schools with high vaccine exemption rates
• Is the rate of autism recovery going down with time?
• Dr. Bernadine Healy talks about vaccines and autism…or does she?

LB/RB once stated that "And, just as we need to respect each other even though we come from diverse gender, racial, ethnic, cultural, and other backgrounds, we need to respect each other even though we think in different ways. That’s not so hard a concept, is it?" and yet the whole site doesn't show any respect for people who don't agree with them. Just like Chris Mooney, LB/RB is guilty of the exact thing they despise and accuse others of doing. Their site has the potential to be great if they actually put their creed in their deed and showed a little respect to dissenters.

Related:

• Left Brain/Right Brain: tries again
• Autism Blog lbrb: Left Brain, Right Brain Maybe But Not an Ounce of Common Sense