I typed up a whole rant and then accidentally closed out of my browser so now I'm salty. Here we go. Some back story: my maternal family is quite large, and composed of all walks of life. Healthcare and related fields are prominent in the family though - I have family that are doctors, nurses, pharmacists, researchers, etc. Okay. My sister posted an article about recent measles outbreaks in the KC area. We happen to have a cousin who is vehemently anti-vaccination. Her kids are great, but her youngest is low-functioning autistic, which I assume is the source of her extremism. Much of the family expresses distress at the measles outbreak. Anti-vax cousin mentions "measles isn't deadly." That's pretty much where it begins. Many give her various reputable sources of information that measles is not only absolutely deadly, but easily avoidable with vaccines that are fucking effective and fucking safe. End result - she cuts off her family that is apparently not supporting her and her struggle with her autistic child. I want to point out that she has referred to all of her kids as "damaged." I hope to whatever higher power that those kids don't ever find any of her various posts, because this wasn't the first time. This isn't the first time I've had a relationship cut off for something stupid. It's tough the first time, but ultimately, it's a two way street. And in this case, as long as she keeps her plague-ridden children away from my elderly grandmother and my organ-transplant uncle, I don't honestly think I give a shit. Like I said, her kids are good kids, and I don't blame them at all for any of this. I hope that someday they come of age and right their wrongs. I was talking to my mother about this, and apparently my anti-vax cousin had already cut off the entirety of her husband's family for opposing her "opinion" about vaccinations. Ugh. I can't say I'm too upset about the end result of the whole thing. It was a long time coming.