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Barbara Walters Is Urged to Keep Jenny McCarthy Off ‘The View’

Jul 17, 2013  •  Post A Comment

"The View’s" decision to hire Jenny McCarthy as its newest co-host is causing concern among public health groups, who fear that she will use her role to spread misinformation about vaccines, reports USA Today.

McCarthy has blamed vaccines for causing her son, Evan, to develop autism.

"Two dozen studies have failed to find any link between autism and vaccines. The advocacy group Autism Speaks also has said there is ‘no connection’ between immunizations and the condition," the story says.

The report adds: "About one in four adults said they were familiar with McCarthy’s views about vaccines, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll taken in 2008. Of those adults, 40% said her claims made them more likely to question vaccine safety."

The group Every Child by Two, an international vaccination group founded by former first lady Rosalynn Carter, wrote to "The View" producer Barbara Walters urging her to keep McCarthy off the show.

"Children have died due to this misinformation, and those who perpetuate lies for personal gain ought to be held responsible," said Amy Pisani, the executive director of Every Child by Two.

ABC didn’t say whether McCarthy will talk about vaccines or other medical topics. She is scheduled to make her debut on the show Sept. 9.

jenny mccarthy.jpg

Jenny McCarthy

15 Comments

  1. Jenny McCarthy should absolutely be barred from any program. She is a reckless, misinformed maniac who has made it clear that she does not care how many people she harms. It’s that simple.

  2. Biff, I couldn’t agree with you more!

  3. Interesting concept. Silence those that don’t agree with you. Don’t have open debate about an idea, just silence them.
    I don’t agree with her either, but I refuse to try to silence someone just because I don’t agree with them. Thank goodness we have the right of free speech in our Constitution.

  4. You seem to be confusing denying a person their opinion with denying them a platform to share it.
    No where does the article say she shouldn’t be allowed to speak.
    She certainly has the right to start her own channel and spout any theory she would like, no matter how outlandish. (See Glen Beck for example.)

  5. Whoopi Goldberg has said things that I think make her a “reckless, misinformed maniac” but I don’t deny her position on The View. There’s the difference Jeff. Liberals love to slam and silence those they disagree with while giving free passes to politically like-minded individuals no matter what asinine things they say or do. For your sake I’m glad Jenny McCarthy is on The View.

  6. Dan, how in the world did you manage to make this a political issue? Read Seth Mnookin’s terrific book “The Panic Virus,” and you’ll realize why what McCarthy has done has put many innocent children at risk for infectious diseases.

  7. You need to re-read the article. The group Every Child by Two has written to Barbara Walters urging her to not let Jenny McCarthy on the show. Obviously, they don’t think that McCarthy should be allowed to speak. There probably have been, or will be, others with the same request. Why do they want to silence her? Every Child by Two must think that the other hosts on the show are too stupid to engage in an intelligent discussion with McCarthy about vaccines, if the subject ever comes up. That is demeaning to the other hosts.
    I greatly fear whenever anyone tries to silence someone else. Throughout history, whenever someone tries to silence someone else the reason is always because they fear what the other person is saying. Whether the other person is speaking nonsense or intelligent thoughts, the person “must” be silenced out of fear of what they are saying. Whether it is crucifying someone, burning someone at the stake or just hanging them, people in power are afraid of new ideas that contradict what they “Know” is true. So they silence any thought that is contrary to what they “Know”.
    Long ago, I volunteered for military service. A little over a year later I was hit by a hand grenade and could have died, but was lucky. I stayed in the military for 24 years because I was willing to give up my life for your right to speak your thoughts. Freedom of Speech is one of our greatest freedoms and those who try to silence opposing points of view are to be feared.
    As John Viscount Morley said in his essay On Compromise, “You have not converted a man because you have silenced him.” We can all learn from each other, even from people that we think are totally wrong.
    Whenever anyone, of whatsoever political, social or religious persuasion, tries to silence another person be afraid, be very afraid.

  8. I just can’t stand her disgusting personality. She’s a no talent who is immature and vile, that’s why I say keep her off.

  9. Until Barbara Walters becomes an arm of the government, she have every right to deny not only Jenny McCarthy, but anyone, a platform to spew utter nonsense such as she spews.
    The First Amendment reads in part, ‘Congress shall make no law abridging freedom to speak’. No one is denying this idiot the right to speak. We’re asking that she not be given a national platform to blather anti-vaccine garbage over the public airwaves.
    There’s nothing to be learned from the stupid, unless it’s to look at what they do and do the exact opposite.
    Thank you for your service.

  10. If she is, as you say, “spewing utter nonsense” and “stupid”, why are are you afraid to have her on this show? Before I gave any final order to anyone under my command, I always got input from my subordinates to see if they had some information that might change my mind. I was never afraid to let someone speak their mind. Only after getting other input, would I give a final command.
    I guess I have led a sheltered life but can’t ever remember seeing or hearing Ms. McCarthy. I’ll have to take you word that she is “stupid” and “spews utter nonsense”. If that is so, don’t you think that the public is smart enough to realize what you say is true and what she says is false? Maybe I just have more faith in the American people than you do.

  11. After suffering Joy Behar on the show…any kook would be OK.

  12. Intelligent information is the way to combat someone that is espousing unscientific ideas. For anyone interested, the Popular Science newsletter that just came out today (and possibly the latest issue of the magazine), has an article entitled, “How To Argue With The Anti-Vaccine Crazies: A Guide”. You silence people with facts to refute their ideas. You don’t silence them by completely keeping them from speaking.

  13. This isn’t about “silencing those [you] disagree with” because the First Amendment doesn’t apply on an ABC soundstage (or anyplace else the government isn’t trying to infringe on free speech). But if the First Amendment *did* apply here, not only would it be OK to silence Jenny McCarthy, it would be a crime *not* to silence her.
    That’s because the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in 1919 that freedom of speech does not give anyone the right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater. And that’s exactly what McCarthy does when she spouts nonsense about vaccines causing autism.
    She’s famous, so some parents listen to what she says. Those parents don’t care about the multiple studies over many years of thousands of kids with autism that have shown no link between vaccines and autism.
    They don’t care that every reputable medical agency, organization and public health officer calls this settled science. They don’t care that the British physician who “studied” 12 patients to come up with the vaccines-cause-autism theory was stripped of his medical license when British authorities learned he’d falsified some of his data and hid his financial stake in an alternative treatment that was offered to replace the vaccines in question.
    They don’t care that the medical journal that published the guy’s paper has retracted it as fraudulent.
    “Open debate?” Already had it.
    “Input from subordinates?” It’s in–and unanimous.
    “Intelligent information?” If you see no difference between the information you receive from Jenny McCarthy or others in the anti-vaccine movement and the information you receive from trained researchers making use of the scientific method to examine evidence, then no amount of “debate” is going to clarify it for you.
    Finally, The Log considers Skeptical Observer’s question: “Don’t you think that the public is smart enough to realize what you say is true and what she says is false?”
    No, because of the number of people around the world who have listened to McCarthy and then refused to have their kids vaccinated, endangering not just their children but every child their children meet. Vaccinations don’t eradicate disease when some people don’t get vaccinated (this, too, is settled science). Those parents do not have the right to endanger other people’s kids.
    Keeping Jenny McCarthy off “The View” is an excellent way to keep her from yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.
    Back to work:

  14. Aluminum hydroxyphosphate, Formaldehyde, Mercury, Polysorbate 80, Glutamate, Aluminum Phosphate, Monkey Kidney Tissue, Yeast. These poisons are what our medical professionals are shooting into our infants, made by “Big Pharma” and the CDC gives the okay.
    Our infants are being injected with this garbage on their first day of life through the Hep B vaccine. This vaccine contains 2 forms of aluminum, which has been researched to cause nerve cell death and these adjuvants can allow the aluminum to enter the brain. Formaldyhyde is a known carcinogen.
    If anyone out there can possibly tell me how these ingredients are actually “good ” for our children, I am all ears!

  15. Dear Log, I have no children of an age that may or may not receive vaccinations so I have nothing to gain or lose in that debate. I don’t know enough about vaccines to determine which side is correct. However, what I do know is that, despite you assertions to the contrary, the debate is not finalized. If the science has conclusively proved that vaccines are always safe, that is one thing. But apparently there are many people, including scientists, that disagree.
    I really don’t care if Jenny McCarthy goes on the View or not as I never have watched it and probably never will. What I do care about is attempts to stifle opposing opinions by people that have found “the answer” (to any topic, not just this one). No matter what the topic, people that have found “the answer” want to make sure everyone else finds “the answer” too. They want to force their “answer” on everyone else. They don’t want any opposing view to be expressed. To me, the attempt to silence opposing points of view is frightening. If Jenny McCarthy is yelling “Fire” in a crowded theater perhaps the theater is actually on fire. To me, it is just as criminal not to yell “Fire” when the theater is on fire, as it is to yell “Fire” when it is not.

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