How in the world did Jenny McCarthy get so much clout?

[SemiCharmedQuark]

:wtf:? Does she have any credentials?

I don't understand this phenomenon where people are more likely to trust those NOT trained in medicine than those who are. Example: Airborne. My mom and grandma swear by that stuff. Right away the first thing you see on the box is 'Developed by a school teacher!" As Colbert said, "that's who I want developing my pharmaceuticals".

[trotsky]

1. That's precisely her appeal, though. She's an "outsider."

Up against the evil "big science" / "big pharma" global conspiracy. She endeared herself greatly to the alt-med woos when she got into the whole Indigo brat thing, and she continued along that path with her anti-vax lunacy. Just like the anti-science woos, she can't be bothered to actually learn about the things she bashes, so they do science in reverse: they proclaim their conclusion (vax = evil) and then filter every piece of evidence based on whether it supports or refutes their conclusion. If it supports it, proclaim it on every web page (even if you have to cherry-pick and creatively editorialize, like in the example of Hannah Poling). If the evidence refutes, then either ignore it, or declare it part of the GLOBAL CONSPIRACY TO KILL US ALL!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

3. Even nurses are falling for it at this point. I went to get my Gardasil shot.

First the nurse told me I couldn't get it, that I had to wait a week and see my doctor first. I told her I had no doctor. Then she said that I had to wait a week to clear it through my insurance. I said I had no insurance. Then she wasted half an hour of my time trying to tell me about the horrors of vaccines (not just Gardasil but vaccines in general).

This is a nurse practitioner. She worked at the Wellness Clinic in Walgreens and probably most of her job is giving out vaccines. Why is an anti vaccine nut working at a vaccine clinic?? How many people has she convinced with her nonsense? I can understand if she wants to talk about the small risk that is inherent in any vaccine. And I understand that for Gardasil they require you to know the risks etc. But she went off script into McCarthy territory. I have a huge problem with that.

(On a side note: This person is an idiot. I had a nasty ear infection last year and my mom took me to this clinic to get something for it. This nurse happened to be there. First thing she told me was that my tonsils looked fine. I had my tonsils removed back in '01. They have not grown back)

[PVnRT]

8. Talk to management at that store

That woman is incompetent and is going to get someone hurt.

[mr blur]

11. Wow, Mystic Tonsils!

OMG!!

[Warpy]

12. You need to complain

I don't know who gave her a degree, but she's clearly incompetent when dealing with actual people.

She's going to hurt somebody if she's not stopped.

[TZ]

2. Oprah and the cult of personality

Plus visibility in the media. Look at all the doofi on this site that think if they aren't aware of research (ie the MSM isn't reporting it) than it doesn't exist

[Orrex]

4. If you think she's bad now, wait until she takes up the banner of the anti-breast-implant crusade.

[TheWraith]

5. I was going to say "knockers." But Trotsky's explanation was much classier. nt

[Djinn]

6. she's pretty and she has big tits

it's amazing how much clout those two things can get you on a whole host of issues, certainly seems to trump knowledge/expertise often enough. Might not be a classy answer but it's certainly part of it.

[PVnRT]

7. She has blonde hair and bewbs

Bewbs are all powerful.

[onager]

9. Here's a good explanation...

Understanding why Oprah loves Jenny McCarthy is as easy as understanding why Dick Cheney loves Rush Limbaugh...

Oprah and Bush are two of the most successful hucksters of our time...

BTW, Oprah was on the "vaccine causes autism" bandwagon long before she met Dr. Jenny McCarthy. This is from the blog of Barbara Loe Fisher, another anti-vax kook and Oprah fan. (But I repeat myself...):

When she was not yet a superstar or even broadcasting nationally, in early 1985 a friend gave Oprah a copy of "DPT: A Shot in the Dark," which was the first report of an association between autism and vaccination. "We're waiting until it comes out in paperback," a producer told her friend. The paperback version was published in 1986 but, by then, Oprah had starred in "The Color Purple," her show had been nationally syndicated and the vaccine safety debate had become a heated controversy.

http://www.skepdic.com/skeptimedia/skeptimedia44.html

This link goes to comments by parents who live with autism every day. Most of them aren't scientifically trained, but they sure know BS when they smell it. Some are asking the obvious questions - "If McCarthy "cured" her kid, why doesn't her cure work for anyone else?"

http://autism.about.com/b/2009/05/05/jenny-mccarthy-autism-activist-signs-deal-with-oprah-what-are-your-thoughts.htm

[charlie]

10. Being Jim Carrey's squeeze doesn't hurt

Katie Holmes could probably have the same kind of clout whenever she wants, if she's not still busy with the Stepford thing.

[Odin2005]

13. She's a rich ex-pornstar and sets off the "Mom is always right" types.

Including on particular poster here on DU that pissed me off with her screeds about how her relative got autism from vaccines, and used my Asperger's to belittle me! :grr: