a wink, a smile and a quack…
"Sure she's a public health menace, and sure she's an ignoramus. But isn't she so pretty and outspoken?"
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 to anti-vaccine crusader. Consider a snippet from Yahoo's gossip site.
… 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.
