No, before you pit me, read this through. It’s something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for awhile.
First, let me say that Ms. McCarthy is a moron and that she has done more to mobilize the antivaccine crowd than any other celebrity. However, I have followed her idiocy for a long time and actually read one of her books (a patient gave it to me and there was nothing else in the bathroom-sue me). Her ideas on autism are dead wrong and harmful. She has little to no critical judgement. However… I have seen her speak and read her book and I have to say that the message I heard had been consistent and it isn’t “don’t vaccinate”. She has rather consistently blamed her child’s autism on getting too many vaccines at once and suggests giving the vaccines but spreading them out more in time as well as removing thiomerosol etc…
Again, antivaxxers have taken her up as their champion and set her as an example of a mother who does not vaccinate-which is wrong and which she has not made enough effort to stop.
She has stated that she thinks vaccines contributed to her son’s autism-which is wrong.
She think autism is curable-which is wrong.
She advocates restrictive diets and chelation for autosm-which is wrong and dangerous.
So-in summary, she certainly has encouraged the antivaccine crowd. She certainly has hampered advances in studying and treating autism. She certainly is an idiot. But I keep seeing her name used as a synonym for those who do not vaccinate at all and in this little instance I think that she should not be as culpable as those who do not vaccinate at all (Alicia Silverstone, Kristan Cavilleri), because as much as she has become the face for not vaccinating, what she actually advocates is spreading out the vaccine schedule.
Now I feel dirty-so feel free to have at me while I amputate my fingers so that I never type something like this again.
P.S. Vaccinate your children AND the adults! If you haven’t had the pertussis vaccine since childhood you need a TDaP. Pertussis is on the rise.
You’re right. She is not an idiot. She’s a buffoon. She’s also a fairly good comedian from what I recall, watching her on SNL years ago. Missed her calling.
I am with the OP. If out side is “We tell the truth and the other guy lies,” it behooves us to be very particular with the truth.
“It may not be entirely accurate, but it’s based on truth and for a good cause” is exactly what the bad guys do. I know it’s fun to make fun of a former playboy bunny, but it lowers us.
I’m seeing it more as an issue where our side is telling the truth and the other side is telling a variety of lies. The fact that Jenny McCarthy’s lie (vaccines too close together cause autism) is slightly different than other lies (vaccines cause autism) really doesn’t seem too significant.
Her position is based on the notion that vaccines are harmful. Whether she believes they are harmful in themselves or only if they’re administered too quickly is largely irrelevant, because the underlying notion is wrong and dangerous. She has done more than anyone else to publicize the antivaccination point of view, and in my point of view, hundreds, possibly thousands, of children have sickened, died, or at least been left unprotected as a direct result of her actions. Whether she belongs in the eight or ninth circle of hell is a nitpick I’m not terribly interested in worrying about.
Smeghead nailed it. She became the face of the antiVaccination movement, used her fame as a bully pulpit, and gave it a form of legitimacy. She caused harm.
After reading the OP, what can be said that’s good about McCarthy? The OP is a major list of damning negatives, and you want us to go easy on her because she’s only 99% anti-vax? Gimme a break.
I don’t care enough about JM to quibble with your other points, but this strikes me as…wrong. It is true that we haven’t cured autism spectrum disorders yet (though there some people who have shed their diagnosis later in life, whether it be because of early intervention, misdiagnosis or something else.) But I am uncomfortable with the idea notion that anything is “incurable”. A cure may not come in a magic pill. It may come in brain stimulation or something other kind of treatment. Despite what you may believe, it may indeed come with a prescriptive diet for some as researchers continue explore the inflammation/auto-immune disorder angle. It likely will not be a one-size-fits-all thing, but nothing ever is. Neuroscience is still quite young. Please give it more some time.
Or at the very least, she allowed herself to become the face of the anti-vax movement. If her views are more nuanced and moderate, then she has a responsibility to separate herself from those crazier people. It doesn’t seem to me that she’s done this, though I admit to not paying close attention.
She sought the publicity out when she announced her son had autism that was caused by vaccines. She wrote a forward to Andrew Wakefield’s book. She wrote her own book, which in part targets vaccines for causing her son’s autism, which she claims she cured. She went on public speaking events to promote her ideas and books.
Her view is not nuanced and no one made her the face of the antivax movement. She helped create it.