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# a wink, a smile and a quack…
- URL: https://www.cyberpunksurvivalguide.com/p/a-wink-a-smile-and-a-quack/
- Published: 2009-08-18T20:05:53.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-28T16:27:18.000Z
- Description: "Sure she's a public health menace, and sure she's an ignoramus. But isn't she so pretty and outspoken?"
- Author: Greg Fish
- Tags: health, #neutronfish, medicine, vaccination, #Migrated-1775679248896, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-04-08 13:15

You don't need to have credentials, medical training or even a good grasp of how science works to have an effect on pediatric care in the United States. All you need is good looks, a big smile and seem to be really, really passionate and caring. That's the lesson in the fluff pieces we get about Jenny McCarthy who went from [Indigo Mom](http://www.childrenofthenewearth.com/free.php?page=articles%5Ffree/mccarthy%5Fjenny/article1) to anti-vaccine crusader. Consider [a snippet from Yahoo's gossip site](http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/from-cookie-mag-jenny-mccarthy-is-on-a-mission-about-the-realities-of-mothering-romance-and-of-course-vaccinations-496759/).

> … For that, I adore Jenny McCarthy. And even though our opinions on vaccinations differ, I love the way she speaks her mind because she is — as *Cookie* also says — “wickedly funny” and hardcore and very real.

Now it's great that she speaks her mind so well, but when her public assaults a pivotal form of defense against childhood diseases are being glossed over just because she has a pretty face, we've got a problem. Being attractive isn't a skill.

It's the result of a genetic lottery. Her passion and a steady stream of fawning doled out by celebrity reporters are no substitute for real scientific knowledge and rather than be raised on a pedestal and admired for her activism, she should be questioned and put up against someone who actually went to med school rather than a DIY doctor like herself…

> We're the generation of parents who are saying, ‘Listen to us. We are the bosses of our children.' I want parents to realize that, and not get pushed around by doctors who say, ‘Oh that's 100 percent safe.'

Just being a parent doesn't magically bestow a decade of training and practice upon you. Doctors should and will listen to your concerns but when you form a very strong opinion about things you know very little about, all you're doing is complicating the expert's job and endangering yourself and your kids. I can understand an anti-establishment attitude, but not when it comes to talking out of your depth.

Doctors can't say that any medicine or vaccine is 100% safe. However there are plenty of quacks who rush to administer unproven, New Age "treatments" for autism and make a fortune at it, and I noticed that this boss of her child hasn't made a peep about these questionable methods. In fact, she wrote a book with a doctor who peddles them for a living.