Jenny McCarthy is an outspoken, fun-loving and attractive woman. She’s been on the cover of Playboy numerous times. She's hosted game shows, starred in her own sitcom, landed supporting roles in movies and done more than her share of modeling. With an easy and comfortable presence on television and a willingness to try anything, she’s, in theory, a wonderful choice to take over for Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Joy Behar on The View. Unfortunately, in reality, there’s one potential dealbreaker: she is the most famous anti-vaccine crusader in the world.
Back in 2005, McCarthy’s son Evan was diagnosed with autism. Her marriage to director John Mallory Asher ended not long afterwards and within a few years, she was making the rounds on various talk shows claiming vaccinations caused her son to develop autism. The only study ever to link the two was written by Andrew Wakefield, who has since been banned from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom for falsifying his results and publishing doctored research. Over the past half decade, the number of parents choosing not to vaccinate has sharply increased, which puts at risk not only the children themselves but also other children who cannot get vaccinated because their immunte systems are too weak.
There is no controversy when it comes to vaccinations. The American Medical Association, the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and every other learned, scientific organization strongly urges parents to vaccinate their children. So, in essence, McCarthy has spent more than a half decade peddling junk science and making the United States a far more dangerous place. That, however, doesn’t necessarily mean she shouldn’t be the newest panel member on The View.
Believe it or not, McCarthy is not the only celebrity to hold fringe lunatic opinions. In fact, most logical and rational people try not to let a person’s private beliefs affect how their public life is viewed. More than a few NFL players tweeted comments about wanting George Zimmerman hurt or the jurors to kill themselves after this weekend’s verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. I disagree with vigilante justice, but that doesn’t mean I think they should be prohibited from playing in the NFL. Besides, there’s no reason to believe vaccines will even be a regular topic on The View. It’s not as if such news stories come up frequently, and assumedly, the other panel members would be able to argue the other side.
That being said, a strong case could be made that the United States, as a whole, will not benefit from more than three million people a day watching a woman who peddles junk science. Even if she doesn’t talk about her views on the show, her presence on such a popular show that deals with real issues will give her more legitimacy in the minds of stupid people.
What do you think? Should McCarthy’s anti-vaccine views keep her off The View? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…
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