# Jon Stewart tackled America's ongoing vaccine debate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 5, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888 "2015-02-05T14:14:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/61 "2015-02-07T00:07:39Z")
If you want to rail against a lib comedian who bases his material around the news and spouts medical non-sense I’d go with Bill Maher, since he actively promotes it instead of passively watching a guest do it. It’s funny when the crowd is all riled up while Maher goes on his diatribe about the government, the corporations, and everyone is cheering, then he start talking about his goofy pet causes and you can hear him losing the audience. The funniest is when there’s a big pause, everyone has a collective “whatever, dude’s on a roll” moment and cheers anyway. As for Stewart, he’s never been particularly combative in interviews. The more famous the guest, the more he just lets them just say whatever they want. He’ll question some bureaucrat, but a Kennedy? Yeah, right. Speaking of the Daily Show comedy vs. great cause issue, this was most crystallized when the whole rally to restore insanity was a big stunt instead of the beginning of the revolution. There are still true believers who are mad at Stewart and Colbert for that. ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/62 "2015-02-07T10:24:32Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > There is no reason for a show to get a pass just because it’s satire. Yet Jon Stewart’s go-to excuse when he gets called on something inaccurate is “hey, we’re just a comedy show”. No, you’re not just a comedy show, you’re intended as influential and serious satire. Actually Stewart has made this exact same point. He very much takes exception to the claim that he is “_just_ a comedian”, which he argued greatly diminishes what he actually does. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/63 "2015-02-07T16:16:37Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I think the way Jon pulls out this “we’re just a comedy show” thing is monumentally disingenuous. > > The show presents facts and makes very clear which facts are a joke and which are intended to have veracity. It presents opinions which are clearly intended to make sense. > > The mere fact that the show presents facts and opinions in a way that is funny is no reason whatsoever for it to be held to a standard any lower than other shows that do the same without making jokes. Jon should just drop the pretense, in my view. Stewart wants it both ways. He sure as hell has one big-ass soap box and he’ll climb up on it and blow hard. But when he gets called on some old bullshit, he’ll drop the old, “'Ah, shucks! We’re just a comedy show” routine. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/64 "2015-02-07T18:59:16Z")
You can watch the clip yourself as pasted in one of the first posts: [Jon Stewart DESTROYS Noted Republican Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. | The Daily Caller](http://dailycaller.com/2015/02/04/jon-stewart-destroys-noted-republican-anti-vaxxer-robert-f-kennedy-jr/) RFK from about 1:00 goes into a long monologue on factoids on thimersal and mental affect on kids including thimersal, autism rates in china, etc. His focus was on the Thimersal in vaccines and mercury (he has a book on industrial mercury pollution) and not vaccines per say. My transcription for those that want a verbatim highlight of part of the segment: RFK Jr (end of monologue): The science is overwhelming that there is a the link between thimersal and autism. JS: So where then is the controversy? There are certain issues, if true, if validated, do boggle your mind with the sense of humanity if these vaccine makers or if the FDA or other people are allowing a compound into these vaccinations causing autism and they now know it. why are they fighting so hard? Is it purely to save their asses? Or are they concerned about people rejecting vaccines in general and the public health suffers. YMMV. Celebrity on the talk show circuit plugging his book is allowed to make his pitch to a friendly talk show. Non combative “if true, then…” interview response. Check Could Jon Stewart have eviscerated JFK Jr in 2005 (I believe that was when this originally aired)? Probably. Note the different Daily Show approaches to guest interviews versus the rest of the format. Again, IMHO having watched probably a hundred daily shows, generally the approach for every guest is a lightweight chance to promote their talk show whatever or positively highlight a cause. Daily Show isn’t generally the barbeque pit when it comes to guests even when someone like Rush Limbaugh is on. When Jon Stewart wants to go after something in a segment, he sure does. But I’m not thinking of examples of where he does it with guests. That said, I hadn’t yet been personally exposed to autism at that point, but it is worth noting that Lancet only retracted the Wakefield study in 2010. And there is yet to be any medically reviewed and accepted research showing causation between either thimersal and/or vaccines. And of course, “rates” of autism completely ignore changes in definition, improved diagnosis, etc over the time frame that JFK Jr and the anti vaccination crowd use as evidence. As my daughter’s Autism Center Neurologist is constantly reminding everyone that “correlation does not prove causation.” ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/65 "2015-02-07T23:04:35Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Stewart wants it both ways. He sure as hell has one big-ass soap box and he’ll climb up on it and blow hard. But when he gets called on some old bullshit, he’ll drop the old, “'Ah, shucks! We’re just a comedy show” routine. What’s wrong with being both? Even old Laugh-In had serious moments of discussion of meaningful issues. Then they’d switch over to incontinence jokes. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/66 "2015-02-07T23:33:21Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Stewart wants it both ways. He sure as hell has one big-ass soap box and he’ll climb up on it and blow hard. But when he gets called on some old bullshit, he’ll drop the old, “'Ah, shucks! We’re just a comedy show” routine. Isn’t the premise of the show ‘Jon Stewart gets to satirically rant about things’? I’m not sure where the problem is. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/67 "2015-02-08T00:02:39Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Stewart wants it both ways. He sure as hell has one big-ass soap box and he’ll climb up on it and blow hard. But when he gets called on some old bullshit, he’ll drop the old, “'Ah, shucks! We’re just a comedy show” routine. I believe that I’ve already asked for examples of this happening. Got any? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/68 "2015-02-08T01:06:59Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > … it is worth noting that Lancet only retracted the Wakefield study in 2010. This. Simply this. > [@](#): > > As my daughter’s Autism Center Neurologist is constantly reminding everyone that “correlation does not prove causation.” I introduce my daughter to that this morning. The whole anti-anti-vax movement has been introducing the world to it. Maybe it will sink in eventually. ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/69 "2015-02-08T18:01:01Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > If you want to rail against a lib comedian who bases his material around the news and spouts medical non-sense I’d go with Bill Maher, since he actively promotes it instead of passively watching a guest do it. It’s funny when the crowd is all riled up while Maher goes on his diatribe about the government, the corporations, and everyone is cheering, then he start talking about his goofy pet causes and you can hear him losing the audience. The funniest is when there’s a big pause, everyone has a collective “whatever, dude’s on a roll” moment and cheers anyway. On his most recent show, Maher claimed not to be an anti-vaxxer before going on a lengthy rant about how suspicious and untrustworthy the medical establishment is. Not really helping the cause there, Bill. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888/70 "2015-02-09T01:22:51Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > I don’t believe you speak for “all of us”. just sayin’ I believe I speak for all of us when I say yes, I really do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jon-stewart-tackled-americas-ongoing-vaccine-debate/711888.md?page=3)