Celebrities are newsworthy. We know that and we are the first to report on famous people who an opinion related to autism. We may or may not agree but what is the harm?
Unfortunately, celebrities have impact and influence. Many take this as a serious responsibility. They stay informed of the issues and look to peer review research to make their decisions. However, there are also those out there that seem to become fascinated with pseudoscience and many in turn who are fascinated with a specific celebrity may follow suit. According to CBS in Las Vegas:
“Unsolicited health tips on so-called “life-changing” diets and lifestyle choices from celebrities are embraced by celeb-obsessed people continuously seeking the newest hot trend. Celebrity pseudoscience has carried over to national health concerns, with several high-profile entertainers supporting the growth of the anti-vaccine movement.”
Some believe that celebrities who use their status to endorse any course of action should be held accountable.
Vinay Menon Columnist for The Toronto Star went as far as to say:
“And celebrities such as Jenny McCarthy, Kristin Cavallari, Bill Maher, Mayim Bialik, Alicia Silverstone, Rob Schneider, Donald Trump and Jim Carrey, to name just a few, should hang their uninfected heads in disgrace.
“They should be quarantined for reckless endangerment. They should be ridiculed for endorsing the anti-vaccination movement and using their soapboxes to spread ignorance. They should be declared a public menace.”
Brain Seasholes, Director, Reason Foundation Endangered Species Project, implies just that in his opinion piece in the Daily Caller a similar fate for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy is a long time anti-vaxxer.
But what about celebrities who enable other celebrities? Asawin Suebsaeng in his Daily Beast article: Blame Hollywood for Anti-Vaxxers clearly holds Oprah Winfrey accountable in spreading the anti-vaxxer rhetoric by providing Jenny McCarthy with a platform..
“Oprah Winfrey never told parents to avoid vaccination like the plague. But she did serve as an enthusiastic megaphone for one of the nation’s most visible and reckless voices on the subject. And given Oprah’s reach, stature, and media empire, that kind of elevation certainly is not nothing.”
What are your thoughts? Comments are open.
People who endorse this anti vaccine nonsense ought to be locked up for high treason. If crippling your own country’s public health system isn’t treason, then what the hell is.