Nazi march in Madison shows historical ignorance abounds. This is a red-flag. | Letters

Two headlines in the Nov. 20 Journal Sentinel were of concern. The first reported that fewer children are being vaccinated against communicable diseases. The second spoke of a neo-Nazi group proudly marching while spewing their hatred about people they do not know nor have done them any harm ("Children not getting vaccinations” and “Neo-Nazi group marches on state capital”).

As a child, the only vaccinations available to me were for the dreaded lockjaw and smallpox. Just about every child in the neighborhood came down with measles, rubella, chickenpox, mumps and whooping cough. One neighbor contracted polio, putting him in an iron lung. We were quite ill during each episode. The development of vaccines prevented a lot of those illnesses in the following generation.

As for the neo-Nazi marchers, I recall an old history textbook where the author wrote that the reason we study history is so that we do not repeat our mistakes. So much for that. Historical and scientific ignorance still abounds.

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Dorothy Molling, Greenfield

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Falling vaccine rates, Nazi march show we haven't learned from past