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The View: a good place to debunk Jenny McCarthy's autism quackery The View: a good place to debunk Jenny McCarthy's autism quackery
(2 months later)
Is Jenny McCarthy's ascent to The View, ABC's mid-morning chat show, a threat to America's children?Is Jenny McCarthy's ascent to The View, ABC's mid-morning chat show, a threat to America's children?
That's the snap reaction to the network’s announcement Monday that McCarthy will replace Elisabeth Hasselbeck, off to Fox. McCarthy [no relation] is possibly the world's best-known proponent of the idea that childhood vaccinations can cause autism. The idea is unsupported by scientific evidence, denounced by the entire medical world and ascribing to it could be deadly. So why give McCarthy a network platform from which to espouse her quackery?That's the snap reaction to the network’s announcement Monday that McCarthy will replace Elisabeth Hasselbeck, off to Fox. McCarthy [no relation] is possibly the world's best-known proponent of the idea that childhood vaccinations can cause autism. The idea is unsupported by scientific evidence, denounced by the entire medical world and ascribing to it could be deadly. So why give McCarthy a network platform from which to espouse her quackery?
ABC should be ashamed, Michael Specter writes in the New Yorker:ABC should be ashamed, Michael Specter writes in the New Yorker:
McCarthy has spent much of the past ten years campaigning against vaccines – which, it must be said, are the most effective instruments of public health in human history, aside from clean water … By preaching her message of scientific illiteracy from one end of this country to the other, she has helped make it possible for people to turn away from rational thought. And that is deadly.McCarthy has spent much of the past ten years campaigning against vaccines – which, it must be said, are the most effective instruments of public health in human history, aside from clean water … By preaching her message of scientific illiteracy from one end of this country to the other, she has helped make it possible for people to turn away from rational thought. And that is deadly.
McCarthy's son, born in 2002, suffers or suffered from a condition diagnosed as autism, but that diagnosis has been called into question by no less an authority than the American Academy of Neurology, which has also decried McCarthy's hostilely anti-factual assertion that her son's "autism" was successfully "treated" by alternative measures including a gluten-free diet.McCarthy's son, born in 2002, suffers or suffered from a condition diagnosed as autism, but that diagnosis has been called into question by no less an authority than the American Academy of Neurology, which has also decried McCarthy's hostilely anti-factual assertion that her son's "autism" was successfully "treated" by alternative measures including a gluten-free diet.
"Dear ABC: putting Jenny McCarthy on The View will kill children," is Salon's headline for Alex Pareene's prickly take. Pareene's real beef is not with J-Mac but with the "infuriating" – the word pops out twice – tendency on the part of the media to treat the vaccination-autism connection as debatable. It's not; vaccinations don't cause autism. Pareene concludes with a choice aperçu:"Dear ABC: putting Jenny McCarthy on The View will kill children," is Salon's headline for Alex Pareene's prickly take. Pareene's real beef is not with J-Mac but with the "infuriating" – the word pops out twice – tendency on the part of the media to treat the vaccination-autism connection as debatable. It's not; vaccinations don't cause autism. Pareene concludes with a choice aperçu:
While this hire is a travesty, it is fitting, at least, that Barbara Walters is managing to cram one last crime against journalism into her career before she retires.While this hire is a travesty, it is fitting, at least, that Barbara Walters is managing to cram one last crime against journalism into her career before she retires.
There’s plenty more where that came from. So how dangerous is Jenny McCarthy?There’s plenty more where that came from. So how dangerous is Jenny McCarthy?
There’s an argument to be made that a good way to expose the plain wrongness of McCarthy’s dangerous beliefs to the audience that most needs to hear it is to televise her on weekday mornings arguing about it with Whoopi Goldberg and, yes, Barbara Walters. The View could in fact shine a much-needed corrective light on the ignorance that McCarthy has otherwise been able to peddle unrebutted in a book and in appearances on less combative TV shows.There’s an argument to be made that a good way to expose the plain wrongness of McCarthy’s dangerous beliefs to the audience that most needs to hear it is to televise her on weekday mornings arguing about it with Whoopi Goldberg and, yes, Barbara Walters. The View could in fact shine a much-needed corrective light on the ignorance that McCarthy has otherwise been able to peddle unrebutted in a book and in appearances on less combative TV shows.
The View comes in for a lot of flak among people who don’t watch it for being lightweight or cloying. But it can be much more than that. It’s a "high-risk" place to display stupidity, because the “sharp-tongued” co-hosts will cut you, as Mitt Romney had the good sense to realize (if he demonstrated less wit in not keeping the assessment to himself).The View comes in for a lot of flak among people who don’t watch it for being lightweight or cloying. But it can be much more than that. It’s a "high-risk" place to display stupidity, because the “sharp-tongued” co-hosts will cut you, as Mitt Romney had the good sense to realize (if he demonstrated less wit in not keeping the assessment to himself).
The View is the top-rated network talk show (as opposed to a syndicated talk show). An appearance by President Obama in 2010 captured 6.6m viewers, and a return spot in 2012 lured in 4.7m. If McCarthy is allowed to go on The View and peddle snake oil, it could hurt a lot of people.The View is the top-rated network talk show (as opposed to a syndicated talk show). An appearance by President Obama in 2010 captured 6.6m viewers, and a return spot in 2012 lured in 4.7m. If McCarthy is allowed to go on The View and peddle snake oil, it could hurt a lot of people.
If, however, McCarthy’s moving future descriptions of her son’s condition and her family’s struggle on The View become attempts on her part to spread flimflammery, there’s a good chance she’ll find herself alone on one side of an argument that she loses, badly.If, however, McCarthy’s moving future descriptions of her son’s condition and her family’s struggle on The View become attempts on her part to spread flimflammery, there’s a good chance she’ll find herself alone on one side of an argument that she loses, badly.
The scene could make for a headline or a YouTube clip that would be the best debunking yet of McCarthy’s bosh. And that could help set viewers straight.The scene could make for a headline or a YouTube clip that would be the best debunking yet of McCarthy’s bosh. And that could help set viewers straight.
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