JLVernonPhD presents "American SciCo"

When Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University whose romantic encounter with a male partner was released to the public by his classmates, committed suicide, Huffington Post carried a blog post blaming anti-gay bullying.  When Nancy Grace was accused of precipitating the suicide death of Melinda Duckett by conducting an intensely accusatory interview, Huffington Post ran an article that concluded that Grace was partly responsible for driving the young woman to take her own life.  And when Scott Roeder murdered abortion doctor George Tiller, Huffington Post launched a blog post that asked the question, “Does O’Reilly Bear Any Responsibility For Abortion Doctor Murder?” because O’Reilly had attacked Tiller on his television program using words like “Tiller the baby killer.”  Each of these cases was rightly presented on Huffington Post as empathetic to the victim and harshly critical of the aggravating parties.  I assume that the Huffington Post feels that by criticizing Grace, O’Reilly and anti-gay bullies they are doing the public a service by highlighting the ignorance and dangers of bigotry and egoism. 

Now, I’d like to draw your attention to a terribly tragic case in which 9 innocent babies have died because of what I would consider to be similar and equally disturbing ignorance.  The 9 babies died because of a message that was delivered by self-important individuals who believe they know more than the scientific experts how to protect children from disease.  These 9 babies died because of a dangerous and destructive message that has been trumpeted on Huffington Post.  That message has been promoted for several years by Jenny McCarthy via multiple blog posts on Huffington Post, which perhaps implies that the website endorses McCarthy’s message.  The message in simplest form is that vaccines are bad for children and could possibly be a cause of autism.  Jenny McCarthy and Huffington Post have orchestrated a grand propaganda exercise that temporarily brought credibility to the now defunct science of Andrew Wakefield.  Wakefield whose research linking autism and the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella influenced millions of parents to refuse the shot for their children was banned from practicing medicine in his native Britain, was endorsed by McCarthy and praised by many on Huffington Post.

In recent months, it has come to light that McCarthy’s message to avoid vaccines has been embraced by many in California to the extent that vaccination rates have measurably dropped in the state.  The repercussions of McCarthy’s efforts can now be measured in the number of children who contract and die from preventable diseases like whooping cough.  McCarthy’s and Huffington Post’s campaign against vaccines has led to the worst epidemic of whooping cough in 60 years and the unnecessary deaths of 9 children, to date.  Still counting… 

So should we expect a blog post to appear on Huffington Post soon implicating their own role in the deaths of these children?  I won’t hold my breath.  We can only hope that Huffington Post recognizes the importance of science and rejects pseudoscience soon.  Who knows where the next “woo-based” deaths will emerge?