Oprah and Jenny: Why the Axis of Woo Will Fail
Newborn with tetanus. (Img. courtesy CDC)
Over the past week, the skeptisphere has been all atwitter (and aTwitter) over the news that über-credulous media queen Oprah Winfrey is granting anti-vaccination/pro-autism-woo spokesmodel Jenny McCarthy her own syndicated talk show, among other potential projects.
The question on everyone’s lips seems to be: “Why, Oprah, why?”
It seems pretty clear to me. Oprah has already proven to be extremely susceptible to what I like to call ego-woo of the “I’m okay, you need work” variety with her promotion of self-help celebrities like Dr. Phil and Deepak Chopra.
Oprah has had Jenny McCarthy on her show before, and she has doubtless taken note of the worshipful following McCarthy has garnered subsequent to her transformation from Playboy model to gross-out queen to hip mama to Indigo Mom to Mother Warrior. Oprah the businesswoman seeks to capitalize on it while the gettin’ is good.
Moreover, Oprah is a die-hard do-gooder and has a demonstrable soft spot for an apparent underdog. Protect defenseless babies from Big Bad Pharma and its CDC/AAP henchmen and cure them of a devastating [McCarthy's word] disorder? It seems a natural fit.
Only this time Oprah may have miscalculated.
Unlike Drs. Chopra and McGraw, who have a woo for every occasion, McCarthy is essentially a one-woo pony. Other than “Green Our Vaccines” and “Recovering Autism” McCarthy hasn’t got much to offer the average Oprah spin-off consumer.
Oprah’s other media protégés—including Dr. Phil, Chopra and Rachel Ray—have a seemingly endless supply of tips, hints, trucs and action-items to solve consumers’ problems, both real and imagined. Their offerings are perfectly tailored to a wide and perennially insecure audience afraid that they might miss out on the secret to achieving their “Best Life.”®. It’s an almost endlessly renewable resource.
Not so, Ms. McCarthy. Once she exhausts her vaccines-n-autism shtick, it’s all over. Certainly, her message appeals to a small but possibly growing subset of parents with autistic children, and those who are worried about having autistic children. However, the solutions she offers—avoid vaccines, bio-med “cures” for autism—are finite in their reach. Once a parent follows her advice, what other wisdom does she have to offer?
Jenny McCarthy may try to position herself as just an average “autism mom,” but it’s clear she isn’t. She is a celebrity and rich. She has lots and lots of money to spend on treatments both proven and unproven for her son’s autism. She can afford to enlist an army of doctors, therapists, teachers and personal assistants to aid her in her “war” against her son’s condition. Jenny McCarthy has precious little in common with the parents of other autistic kids she hopes to enlist in her army. Not by a long shot. Her only points of connection are anger and hope, and once these are exhausted—or even fulfilled—in viewers, she has little more to offer, and folks will stop paying attention.
My only fear is that, before she’s finally washed up, she will have done considerable damage to some of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.
More good posts on the Jenny-Oprah Axis of Woo
Say It Ain’t So, O—Why is Oprah Winfrey promoting vaccine skeptic Jenny McCarthy (Arthur Allen at Slate)
Oprah Gave Jenny a Talk Show (Brendon at What Would Tyler Durden Do?)
Oprah Teams Up With Jenny McCarthy to Potentially Kill Children (bottlerocketheart at Daily Kos)
Oprah Teaming With Jenny McCarthy Will Kill Children (Abel Pharmboy at Terra Sigillata)
The New McCarthyism (Kev Leitch at LB/RB—not about this deal, but about a Jenny appearance on Oprah’s show)
Good article. I came into this being “for” the ability to choose not to vaccinate – but all I had to do was read the title of your post to have a second thought. I vaccinate – but I do wish we could “go green”.
I am actually for the ability to choose–I dislike the idea of gov’t forcing anyone to submit to a medical procedure, no matter how benign–I’m just against misinformation. I am very much afraid that we will have a resurgence of vaccine-preventable disease because so many parents have been understandably, but needlessly, frightened.
I don’t blame parents for their fears–I was one of them once. The “toxins” listed in vaccines are scary-sounding, but in the amounts found in vaccines, they are not a problem. “Too many, too soon” is a nice catch phrase, but inaccurate. Your baby’s immune system will receive far more challenges in his or her path through the birth canal (or shortly thereafter for a c/s) than in the entire vaccine schedule.
If you’re concerned about toxins, here’s some recommended reading: Toxic myths about vaccines”.
Wow. Where did you get the tetanus picture? I am more than a little concerned that killer childhood illnesses will make a come back due to vaccine refusal. Which is especially bad at this time due to the resistance antibiotics are developing. “Deep sigh”
Some of those illnesses seem to making a comeback already. McCarthy herself said that “it might take some of those illnesses coming back” to convince vaccine makers to “green our vaccines.”
The image comes from the CDC image bank. Horrifying, isn’t it?