# Jenny McCarthy gets a talk show (and the antivax movement) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 18, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833 "2009-05-18T07:28:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/61 "2009-05-19T14:03:25Z")
She only accepts oral from guys who don’t have mercury fillings - just to be extra careful. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/62 "2009-05-19T14:27:06Z")
Fuck Jenny McCarthy? Should have offered me this ten years ago. I used to work with a guy whose kid’s babysitter was a young high schooler from Mother Mac named Jenny McCarthy. She was a much hotter high school girl than she is as a used up, nipple sucking skank. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/63 "2009-05-19T14:31:58Z")
\ As someone who used to work on the VAX family of computers, the title of this thread had me scratching my head for a while. \ ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/64 "2009-05-19T15:00:31Z")
> [@Scruff](#): > > \ > As someone who used to work on the VAX family of computers, the title of this thread had me scratching my head for a while. > \ As a former victim of the VAX system, I could get behind an anti-VAX movement. I was a Cyber, Cray, and SGI man myself. Gawd I loved those systems. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/65 "2009-05-19T15:01:54Z")
The VAX’s make good boat anchors I’ve noticed… -XT ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/66 "2009-05-19T15:13:04Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I wouldn’t say “too much,” but when [the big G](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87974932) agrees that “vaccines can cause autism-like conditions,” that certainly gives these wackos some ammo. The Hannah Poling case to which you refer has been badly misreported. It involved a child with a rare mitochondrial disorder (of the kind where _infectious diseases themselves_ can badly injure or kill victims - vaccination is typically important to protect these kids). Not only did the government not concede a link between vaccination and autism, the special “vaccine court” recently found such a link [does not exist](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/12/AR2009021201391.html). _“A special federal court ruled yesterday that vaccines do not cause autism and that thousands of families with autistic children are not entitled to compensation, delivering a major blow to an international movement that has tried for years to link childhood immunizations with the devastating disorder.”_ By any rational measure the alleged vaccine-autism link _has_ been thoroughly debunked. The problem is that rationality is not a significant part of the equation for dedicated anti-vaxers, which Jenny McCarthy has become. She has a video out now in which she calls for the “mercury, aluminum, ether, antifreeze and human aborted fetal tissue” to be removed from vaccines. This is [standard antivaxer drivel](http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/jenny_mccarthy_shows_off_her_knowledge_o.php), as noted here. As I’ve mentioned on this board before, I think it unfortunately will take some resurgence in preventable infectious diseases to completely restore faith in vaccines and reduce the loony contingent and their semi/pseudo-respectable enablers to the level of background noise. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/67 "2009-05-19T16:17:36Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > … > > She claims that she cured her son with diet, vitamins, chelation, shoving a unicorn horn up his ass, and sprinkling him with fairy dust. I don’t know much about her kid specifically - it’s not terribly relevant to the damage she’s causing in general. But from perusing various sources, it seems that there’s some disagreement whether or not her kid is actually autistic - he may be afflicted with other disorders that have autistic-like symptoms. … I keep hearing how autistic kids are being cured by diet. I am going to take this anecdotal evidence and conclude that food is the cause of autism. We must stop giving our kids food! > [@SenorBeef](#): > > So she latched onto the idea that evil pharmaceutical corporations are poisoning our kids (how this benefits them, I don’t know). It gave her a cause to fight against. It to some degree took away her powerlessness. > > But the problem is - once you buy into this conspiracy mindset - and this happens with any True Believers - then you’re unwilling to consider contrary evidence. You build an entire psychological house of cards on this premise and you can’t risk letting anything knock it over. So when you see scientific studies that prove that there’s no link between vaccines and autism, you decide that any evidence that contradicts your view point is part of the conspiracy. You set up this shield of stubbornness and irrationality that protects your beliefs from scrutiny. > > … Obviously Big Pharm wants to cause autism so they can make more money on all those autism drugs! > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Not only does the media give her plenty of totally unjustified coverage (why? because she’s a D-list celebrity and former porn star?)… Don’t forget, she’s also fucking Jim Carrey, that has to mess with your brain, too. Hmm, Jim hasn’t had a hit in years, I’m no expert but I think that leads me to conclude that Jenny McCarthy will lead to destroying one’s movie career. Can we hook her up with Matthew McConaughey? > [@Washoe](#): > > Meh. My wife can do that with one hand tied behind her back. She’s 51, BTW, and her skin looks GREAT. Now _that’s_ something you can justifiably brag about! 🙂 I’m a few years away but I think I can manage that, too, once they get a little saggier. Oh, yeah, excellent rant Senor Beef. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/68 "2009-05-19T23:44:33Z")
> [@Scruff](#): > > \ > As someone who used to work on the VAX family of computers, the title of this thread had me scratching my head for a while. > \ [Nothing sucks like a VAX!](http://catb.org/jargon/html/V/VAX.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/69 "2009-05-20T01:43:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > Have I mentioned yet that I’d totally do Jenny McCarthy? Because I would. I wouldn’t, not with someone else’s dick. [http://www.stopjenny.com/](http://www.stopjenny.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/70 "2009-05-20T01:46:47Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > I wouldn’t, not with someone else’s dick. > > [http://www.stopjenny.com/](http://www.stopjenny.com/) Think about it. If she had a dick in her mouth, she wouldn’t be spewing all that nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/71 "2009-05-20T01:55:02Z")
Fair enough. Let’s set up a rotation. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/72 "2009-05-20T02:04:07Z")
I’m willing to take a bite for the team and go first. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/73 "2009-05-20T02:25:01Z")
> [@Mr Bus Guy](#): > > Fuck Jenny McCarthy? Should have offered me this ten years ago. > > I used to work with a guy whose kid’s babysitter was a young high schooler from Mother Mac named Jenny McCarthy. She was a much hotter high school girl than she is as a used up, nipple sucking skank. [aside] Heh. She worked as a cashier at a corner grocery store not far from my house called 7-9-11 when we were about 14 or 15. (She was two grades ahead of us, I think–I went to McAuley’s brother school, Brother Rice.) My friends would insist that she was hot and we would go in after our pick up games of baseball to buy Gatorade, Clearly Canadian (remember that drink?) and surreptitiously leer at her. I was all like, nah, she ain’t all that,not being into the buxom, blonde American-girl type at the time. Then she got her Miss October spread. Then she got playmate of the year. I had to admit I was mistaken in my assessment of her not being all that. Very sweet and friendly young lady. [/aside] ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/74 "2009-05-20T02:28:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m willing to take a bite for the team and go first. No way, man. I called dibs. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/75 "2009-05-20T09:07:32Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > No way, man. I called dibs. Make sure that you let **Boyo Jim** know if you start feeling any symptoms of colds, flus, anthrax, black death, grey death, mummy rot, smallpox or lycanthropy. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/76 "2009-05-20T10:53:11Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > No way, man. I called dibs. Nyeh, nyeh! You said you would do her. A blow job is not doing her, it’s more like her doing you. Nobody had dibs on that – well, until me! ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/77 "2009-05-20T11:36:15Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > Make sure that you let **Boyo Jim** know if you start feeling any symptoms of colds, flus, anthrax, black death, grey death, mummy rot, smallpox or lycanthropy. Porn-star Pestilence is a nasty beast. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/78 "2009-05-20T12:06:56Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Porn-star Pestilence is a nasty beast. We have a name and an album title, who wants to form a metal band? ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/79 "2009-05-20T13:43:34Z")
> [@](#): > > There is nothing to support the idea that there is a link between autism and vaccines. The one small, flawed, manipulated study that was funded by litigants suing a vaccine manufacturer was designed to show some weak correlation, but multiple legitimate studies later showed no correlation. Even then, Thiomersal, the agent that the antivax movement blamed, was removed from vaccines (with predictably no change in autism rates) and they still weren’t happy, still advocating that people not use vaccines. What about side effects, surely you are not saying there are no side effects, some serious in the population of vaccinated children? SOme side effects may be lasting and triggered by a whole host of interrelated factors including vaccines. We take that risk as a population to protect us. We accept the risk of side effects and hope it doesnt happen to us. But there is more information we should be considering and we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833/80 "2009-05-20T14:56:47Z")
It’s people like her spreading lies like she does that made me doubt myself as a parent. My little girl was diagnosed with autism at age three by an experienced skilled psychiatrist. I have no doubt, I was there while he tested her. She had many symptoms and at the time was functioning at the level of an eighteen month old. I even started a thread here I believe, when we got the diagnosis. I was scared and looking for reasons. I knew she stopped advancing at eighteen months, and she was very ill for a few weeks after she got her scheduled vaccinations. So I hear this chick and think WHAT HAVE I DONE TO MY BABY? For me though hearing this supersecret information wasn’t enough. I did my research and realized she’s using this to gain attention. That’s all I can figure. She’s not a stupid woman, I don’t think. She just found a way to get herself some attention and she’s not going to let it go. My daughter was “cured” of autism too. At her last eval she showed few signs of autism anymore! So it’s like a miracle right? And the amazing thing is her last eval was six months after I radically altered her diet. No sugar, no simple carbs, low gluten (not gluten free). So it’s gotta be the diet right? Carbs must be evil right? My girl could be a poster child for diet cured autism. Except the truth is my daughter never HAD autism. She has a severe case of mixed expressive receptive speech disorder. She has auditory sensory integration disfunction. She has panic disorder. And she MAY have ADHD, but it’s going to take further testing. She doesn’t have autism though. And she’s getting better because she goes to speech and occupational therapy three times a week, and I work with her every single day. We got it all here. Every tool and game and toy we find. We have learned workarounds for the sensory processing issues. She still tests overall quite low with anything language related and she is very nervous and high strung. We had our first IEP meeting and they put her in CDC pre-school classes for this fall. My daughter has issues. BUT SHE DOESN’T HAVE AUTISM. I suspect this is what happened with Jenny McCarthy’s son too, and it would be awesome if she could admit to this instead of spouting off about how she’s cured her son. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jenny-mccarthy-gets-a-talk-show-and-the-antivax-movement/496833.md?page=5)