MSD

Oprah's New Protg: Jenny McCarthy
I sat back and rolled my eyes when Oprah was promoting Dr. Phil, and Sylvia Browne (who apparently does not like Oprah anymore,) but this is in a league of its own. I could deal with Phil's horrendous pop psychology and Browne's fraud, but I cannot keep quiet about the anti-vaccination movement.

Medicine needs to be evidence-based and evidence-based alone. The Wakefield study relied on falsified results and an invented bowel disorder to get Dr. Wakefield's desired results. Studies of thousands of children across the world have shown no correlation between childhood vaccines and autism. The only problems caused by Thimerosal were rare allergic reactions. Through widespread childhood vaccination, we have all but eradicated diseases like smallpox and polio. In the cases of others like measles, mumps, and rubella that can have lasting effects like sterility in adulthood, we have minimized infection rates.

Vaccination is not just about the individual being immunized. Widespread vaccination produces herd immunity, which stops the spread of preventable diseases. In recent years, the hubris of the anti-vaccination movement has not only harmed the children of parents who have been conned into refusing vaccinations, it has led to outbreaks of these preventable diseases. Since June of 2007, over 18800 children have been infected with these preventable illnesses and over 160 have died.

People like Jenny McCarthy are spreading lies and misinformation, and now one of the most influential people in media has given her a bigger soapbox and a louder voice. I can't compete on that kind of scale, but hopefully things like posting this will help to generate outrage and opposition.

This isn't your typical pseudoscience that hits the wallets of its victims, this is a tangible thread to public health. Its proponents make money writing books and appearing on TV, they have their followers. They have an almost religious zeal driving them.

They also have a body count.

The_Jazz

This thread is useless without pictures.


That said, I'm sure that the show will have more to offer than pseudoscience. After all, she's dating Jim Carrey, and he'll have another movie to shill soon enough.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Willravel

She's pissed about her kid, but someone needs to set her straight.

MSD

It's been tried. I guess we just don't have the right "mommy instinct"

Willravel

The "mommy instinct" is just an excuse. This is hubris of the worst kind. I should know, I used to be ignorant about immunizations (specifically the flu shot, but still).

MSD

You can count me among the people who used to believe you could get the flu from a flu shot. The important thing is being willing to accept new information and look into it yourself so you don't stay ignorant.

The_Jazz

Or just get yourself a talk show. Case in point: Nancy Grace.

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

FuglyStick

Everything associated with Winfrey has a religious zeal. How that woman has developed such a fanatical following is beyond me. When people complain about the "dumbing down" of America, Winfrey's name should be at the top of the list of culprits.

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AZIZ! LIGHT!

MSD

I really dislike Oprah, but Nancy Grace is in a different league. The world will be a better place when she dies.

The_Jazz

Oprah's just a minor anoyance for me. Nancy Grace should be killed with fire then have her ashes stuffed into a cannon and fired at a toxic waste dump.

I'd say that Jenny McCarthy would fall somewhere in between except for 2 things: I've seen her vagina and after graduating from Mother McCauley High School she worked in one of the "lingerie shows" on the South Side and gave a friend of mine a blowjob (that he paid for).

__________________
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

Poppinjay

Let me know when Debbie Deb has an issue. She's more relevant because I've never seen her posed in a catholic girls uniform with her naughty bits exposed.

__________________
I think the Apocalypse is happening all around us. We go on eating desserts and watching TV. I know I do. I wish we were more capable of sustained passion and sustained resistance. We should be screaming and what we do is gossip. -Lydia Millet

percy

[QUOTE=The_Jazz;2632938] Nancy Grace should be killed with fire then have her ashes stuffed into a cannon and fired at a toxic waste dump.

[QUOTE]

But then Gloria Allred would get a show and be worse than Nancy Grace could ever think of being. Or that woman on Nancy Grace,...you know one of the expert's on the panel,..sigh,...I think she is a lawyer, very tanned, big white teeth, possibly Hispanic, who looks something between a monkey and a chipmunk. Wouldn't be good.

Reese

Are you talking about Jane Velez Mitchell? Ugh..

Oprah's Cult scares me. That woman has too much power over media.

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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry