Review of the Article "Outbreak of the Irrational"

Review of the Article: Outbreak of the Irrational
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Review of the Article: Outbreak of the Irrational
Introduction
The historical record of vaccination and its effects in eradicating life-threatening diseases endorses its effectiveness and usefulness for human health. However, even in the modern world, educated and affluent people from developed countries go against vaccination based on their obsolete and insufficient knowledge about its side effects. In doing so, they inadvertently thwart global healthcare endeavors that aim to improve general public health, as their lack of understanding of the significance of vaccination leads to the re-emergence of once-eradicated diseases. However, based on factual data, scientific information, and trends in global health, one can make a logical conclusion that vaccination is imperative for the greater good of humankind as it safeguards the human population from the destruction caused by the emergence of epidemics. For the same reason, Sarah Dzubay’s article An Outbreak of Irrational provides a brief but compelling and logical argument in favor of using vaccines. This article highlights and exposes the fakery of the claim made against artificial vaccination using the pros and cons of vaccination and authentic medical evidence supporting vaccination. The following discussion makes a critical evaluation of her essay to assess the credibility and weightage of her arguments.
Summary
The author uses practical examples of the re-emergence of diseases like measles in wealthy, educated, and developed countries, people’s baseless fear about vaccination, and the lack of credible scientific information against vaccination to make a point in favor of vaccination. Granting credence to people’s fear regarding injecting a foreign substance, the author highlights the historical record of the usefulness of vaccination against pathogens. To convince her readers logically, Sarah explains how vaccination has increased the average lifespan of humans by protecting them against pathogens. The author briefly explains the scientific concept of “herd immunity” and its work to provide scientific backing to her argument. The author discusses why even educated and wealthy people avoid vaccination, explains that they consider vaccination the cause of problems like autism and seizure, and provides details of scholarly backing behind this argument. She also highlights how people avoid vaccination since they consider it a means of earning profit devised by medicine companies in unison with politicians. Nevertheless, she explains why underlying genetic causes, not the vaccination itself, are the primary causes of these problems. Sarah concludes her argument by emphasizing the need for a rational debate over the issue of vaccination for the greater of the whole society and an individual.
Evidence Used by the Author
The author uses factual evidence of the re-emergence of measles as a case in point to lay stress on the significance of vaccination. She uses a rhetorical question to put forward her evidence in the following way: measles, as well as a disease like polio and pertussis, are believed to be the plague of the past………………….. so why have they reemerged………… developed, wealthy, and educated countries in the world (Dzubay, 2019). The author also uses scientific evidence of herd immunity to substantiate that vaccination develops herd immunity, even protecting people who are not vaccinated. Moreover, the author uses skeptic people’s lack of knowledge of their child’s genetic problems like seizures and autism as evidence to make an argument in favor of vaccination. Thus, she provides biological evidence that genetic abnormality and not vaccination cause diseases like seizure and autism (Dzubay, 2019). However, she provides a logical and scientific argument to dispel this impression; Dzubay uses real-life examples of parents who, after consultation with medical experts and researchers, changed their perception about vaccines as the cause of epilepsy and autism and understood that these conditions have genetic causes. These examples from everyday life provide a substantial argument and assist her in advancing her argument in favor of vaccination. Additionally, the author provides empirical evidence by proving that vaccination is not an economically viable option for pharmaceutical companies.
Author’s Rhetorical Mode
In this essay, Sarah uses an effective combination of ethos, pathos, and logos to advance her argument in favor of vaccination as she draws emotional appeal to her argument by acknowledging the opposite view in the following way: “The fear of vaccination is not unwarranted.” (Dzubay, 2019). Her use of compare and contrast techniques of persuasion is evident in the article as she provides both pros and cons of vaccination rationally and logically to win the reader’s confidence. Moreover, by acknowledging their fears regarding vaccination, Sarah gains their trust and stimulates their emotions; she makes her argument credible and believable to her reader. In the same way, when she discusses how the disuse of vaccination contributes to deteriorating ...