Jenny McCarthy can suck it

Well, here's something everyone but the chick from Singled Out already knew...

Turns out that whole "vaccinations give your kids autism" thing was, officially, a senseless ruse that most likely endangered far too many children than anyone would like to admit. The fact that this claim was apparently able to be de-bunked after one (yes, one) study's findings were redacted not only evidences the implausibility of actually believing the association between vaccinations and autism, but the serious manipulation that many individuals carried out to convince parents (albeit, uninformed ones) not to protect their children from infectious diseases. So how did a theory almost completely baseless (now, completely baseless) in the medical community get so much attention for so long? The answer...Jenny McCarthy.

It almost seems ridiculous that our dear old Jenny of MTV game show ilk would became an advocate for a hair-brained effort to desperately grasp at straws when met with what is a very difficult reality as a parent. That she would manipulate her very real and somewhat tragic dismay at her own child's medical diagnosis and look for an answer, any answer, that would make it all go away. Ok, so maybe there was a method to her aloof mayhem. But the point here is that it was the wrong answer, and it cost a lot of people a lot more than they bargained for. So who is to blame?

It would be easy to say Jenny, but in reality, it's all the people who let her yap yap yap on television and wink saucily on the cover of magazines while propping up unsupported theories that could have caused serious danger for kids. Of course, her theory was diluted as "controversial" on morning talk shows, but if we let every big boobed blonde with one medical study in her hands fight for some kind of legitimacy, telling people how to protect their kids (think Carrie Prejean here), then where would we be? Publishers, editors, and producers let Jenny run her mouth with abandon, and let her keep on doing it, even if she wasn't exactly in the right. It's shoddy journalism, it's poor judgment, and it's tough nuggies for all those parents who turned all Twilight Zone paranoid around needles for no good reason.

Nonetheless, Jenny doesn't get a free pass here. She went ahead and wrote her book, went on the promotional tours, and gave parents hope that she had no right to give them. And that is downright sad. I don't care how much she wanted to believe it. So next time, anonymous and not so anonymous people of the world, let's stop deciding how to protect kids from sickness and harm because the pretty lady with book deal and a moving story told you so.

Oprah, I'm looking at you too. Cut it out already. You know what I'm talking about.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/health/research/03lancet.html