Okay, what do Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, Charlie Sheen, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Schneider, Mayim Bialik, Michele Bachmann, Alex Jones, Holly Robinson Peete, Aiden Quinn, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Lisa Bonet, Jenna Elfman, Kirstie Alley, Erin Brockovich, Juliette Lewis, Bill Maher, Esai Morales, and Don Trump all have in common?
Each and everyone of them, in one way, or another, have spoken against vaccines such as the one which prevents measles, mumps, and rubella in children (MMR).
Some of them, like Brockovich and Bialik claim they aren't actually against vaccines, but oppose any government bill, or plan to make children get them before they're allowed in school. It's known as the personal choice argument. Maher also admits vaccines work, but feels our over use of them has caused a wide spread weakening of the natural human immune system which has led to the spread of other maladies.
To put it mildly, Morales doesn't trust the trifecta of big pharma, the medical industry, and the government to have our best interests at heart. Carrey on the other hand believes they are polluted with toxic chemicals and metals, as does Sheen. The former, "Two and a Half Men," star went so far as to take his ex wife, Denise Richards to court in order to stop her from vaccinating their kids. After he lost the suit, he reportedly paid the pediatrician in nickels.
Alex Jones, of course, believes everything is a conspiracy, including school shootings, the moon landings, and perhaps even his own existence. As for Trump, well we know he'll say he believes anything so long as he thinks it will get him some votes from the fringe, no matter what that fringe might be.
Finally there are people such as Jenny McCarthy, Aiden Quinn, and Holly Robinson Peete. They all fervently believe vaccines caused autism in their children. Robert Kennedy Jr is on record saying he not only believes the same thing, but the government is covering up evidence which proves it.
The vaccine/autism connection is, in fact, the most common argument used by anti-vaxxers. It was born in 1998 thanks to an English physician, Andrew Wakefield. That year he published a paper in the British medical Journal, The Lancet.
The paper linked the MMR vaccine to not just autism, but chronic bowel disease. In 2004 it was discovered Wakefield had failed to disclose he had financial interests which would profit from his conclusions. Additionally, by that time, no other researchers in the world had been able to duplicate his findings. In other words the whole thing was a fraud.
In January, 2010 Wakefield was found guilty of 36 charges, including four counts of dishonesty and 12 counts of abusing developmentally delayed children by the British General Medical Council. Within weeks The Lancet retracted the paper, claiming it had been deceived and the Wakefield's findings were, "utterly false." Shortly afterward the General Medical Council pulled his license to practice. Since then numerous studies have shown there is no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, or toxic metal poisoning.
It doesn't matter though. Once a conspiracy takes hold in the minds of many, there is no disproving it. Indeed, even when you present evidence to the hard core they are wrong, no matter how incontrovertible your proof is, they'll simply shrug their shoulders and say you too are part of the conspiracy.
Think not? Just go on line and challenge any of the vile loons who to this day claim all the kids murdered in Newtown, CT never existed. I have more than once. My favorite response was, "Are you the best they could send?"
Listen, I am deeply sorry for the pain felt by Jenny McCarthy, Aiden Quinn, Holly Robinson Peete, and others. However their beliefs and the campaign against vaccinations flies foul in the face of proven science. It has also put millions of kids at risk of contracting possibly fatal diseases, all of which were on the verge of complete eradication, but now are making a preventable comeback.
And, in the end, that sort of thinking puts them in the same company as birthers, truthers, deniers, Alex Jones, and Donald John Trump.
sic vita est
3-29-19
Nothing is perfect. We have a terrible mindset in our society, the tendency to always point out the negatives or abuses in useful programs and then push to do away with them.
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