I was running up and down an unpronounceable neighborhood yesterday but still managing to check in with friends and colleagues in the USA. As they all celebrated the 4th of July, I was reminded of the spectrum of beliefs about everything that we humans have. Yesterday’s social media postings went from people who didn’t care much about the meaning of the holiday to people whose patriotism stepped into that bizarre area where the USA is the greatest place in the world even though those espousing this view have never been outside of their own state. That’s how humans roll. Some of us care a lot about some things, while others could care less. Some of us have realistic views about vaccines while others don’t see a difference between vaccines and Satan’s piss.
One of those people who can’t tell the difference is Jim Carrey. Once Senate Bill 277 was enacted into law last week in California, Jim Carrey lost his goddamned mind. He took to social media (twitter, mostly) to rant and rave about vaccines and their horrors. I’d call it a meltdown, but that doesn’t give it enough justice. It’s as if he googled for any and all anti-vaccine arguments and made a list, then googled for all pro-vaccine arguments and actively erased that from his mind, finishing up by googling images of children with autism and posting those as all being caused by vaccines.
He even got in trouble for posting one such picture of a child whose autism is the result of a genetic condition that causes physical changes to his brain. Of course, Jim Carrey read “autism” and immediately thought “vaccines.” That’s par for the course for anti-vaccine cult members, of which there are many in Hollywood circles. The mother of the child whose picture Jim Carrey used without permission filed a complaint, and Jim Carrey apologized for using the picture. He is yet to apologize for spreading outright lies about vaccines.
But I’m not surprised by Jim Carrey’s rant. He was once romantically involved with Jenny McCarthy, the model and actress whose child has gone back and forth between different diagnoses about his developmental delay. Whether or not he picked up his terror of vaccines (a terror so enormous that it forces him to lie and scare other people) from Jenny McCarthy is up for debate. One thing is for sure, reality is not something either of them deal with when it comes to vaccines. Well, them and the rest of the anti-vaccine cult.
The Pharma Shill Gambit? Check. According to Jim Carrey and so many other opponents of Senate Bill 277, the pharmaceutical industry “bought” lawmakers by donating $2 million dollars to political campaigns in California. Never mind that the money went to people who voted against the bill, not just the supporters. I guess it’s a misdirection play by Big Pharma. But what is $2 million in a multi-billion-dollar industry? If I have $5,000 in my checking account, is it really a conflict of interest if I give two or three bucks to a group to do my bidding on something that will probably give me back fifty cents in return? Because, have no doubt, vaccines don’t bring in that much money to Big Pharma. They make their money on what we use to stay alive in the last years of our lives, not what we use to survive childhood.
If Big Pharma wanted to make a load of money, they would stop vaccinations altogether, just like anti-vaccine cult members want. The ensuing wave of children with all sorts of diseases who have to get antibiotics and medical care would make them wealthy beyond belief. Just go and look at the number of cases of measles before the vaccine, multiply it by our growth rate since the 1960’s, and then divide that by a thousand to get the number of complicated cases requiring hospitalization, or divide it by 10,000 to see the number of cases requiring antibiotics or other medications. Then do the same exercise for Haemophilus influenzae B (Hib) infections, mumps, German measles, influenza, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, and the rest of the vaccine-preventable diseases. By selling vaccines, Big Pharma is cutting its profits.
Mercury in vaccines? Check. Jim Carrey tweeted out that the government regulates “mercury” in fish but not “mercury” in vaccines. Thing is, both kinds of “mercury” are different. When it comes to fish, it’s methylmercury, which builds up in biological systems and is hard to get rid of fast enough to prevent damage. When it comes to vaccines, a preservative called thimerosal is metabolized into ethylmercury, which is easily disposed of by our bodies. That, and thimerosal has been removed from all childhood vaccines with the exception of multi-dose vials of influenza vaccine. Just ask for the single shot if you’re so worried. Even better, the vaccine that everyone associates with autism, the MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) never had thimerosal in it. It’s a live-virus vaccine, and thimerosal would kill/inactivate those viruses. But Jim Carrey, like anti-vaccine people, must think reality is too complicated to understand the difference between methyl- and ethyl- compounds.
“I’m not antivaccine!” gambit. Check. Jim Carrey also tweeted out that he is not anti-vaccine. He stated that he’s just “anti-mercury.” So he must be pro-MMR vaccine, right? Wrong. He was asked this and never answered. He has also endorsed and promoted Andrew Jeremy Wakefield’s whacky ideas about the MMR vaccine. So, if Jim Carrey is not anti-vaccine, he is just as weird as all the other anti-vaccine cult members who claim to not be anti-vaccine but can’t endorse one single vaccine. Then they run off yelling, “Parental choice! Parental choice!”
Jim Carrey goes on and on, embarrassing himself through the ignorance of science and denial of reason that he displays in his statements. The worst part is that there are people out there who would listen to him and believe him over what 99.99% of scientists, healthcare providers, and public health professionals have to say. After all, if a Hollywood celebrity says it, it must be truth, right?
Oh, wait…
https://twitter.com/daxshepard1/status/616776698692923392
The Poxes Blog 
Reuben , only a moron wouldn’t see the clear coorelation between vaccines and autism , autism was unheard of before the inception of multiple vaccines in short time frames. There has never been an autistic child were the expectant mother , infant nor child didn’t receive even one vaccine , never, show me, take me to the parents who have an autistic child that fits the above description.
I ask you would you give a 2yr old a strong cup of coffee?, of course not the caffeine would be too strong for the” not yet” fully developed nervous system of a 2yrold , how much more these powerful vaccines that do contain mercury a known nervous system inhibitor , and it does not matter the type mercury no 2yr old’s nervous system could handle it , of course we are talking about infants or children who have weaker nervous systems than most at that age , that is why most who are vaccinated do not develop or come down with autism, they simple didn’t have a reaction because they had stronger nervous systems .
And how could you dismiss it as thee cause when a mother says her child was fine until the day she took her child to the doctor to be vaccinated and within like 24hrs something terrible was wrong , unbelievable !!!.
You don’t care about the truth to the detriment of these children and eventually yourself 11 Thess 2 : 10 niv bible , and yes it is all about money 1 Tim 6 : 10 niv bible , what your doing is rotten Rom 1 : 18 niv bible , and you will answer to the God of Christ , unless you change .
Does the Bible say anything about lies and deceit? Do you only fear God when it suit you?
Yeah, I might answer to God, but my conscience is clear precisely because I’ve chosen to listen to reason and not to the convoluted lies of man. I would believe truths borne of evidence before believing anything you or your anti-vaccine cult members have to say.
Does the Bible say anything about false gods? Because you’re placing all your faith on something that doesn’t exist, i.e. the link between vaccines and autism.
But good luck with the whole hyper-religious thing, Billy.
The AVers are definitely going even more bonkers with the passage of SB277. One of them claims to have reported me to my state’s medical board because I criticized AV pediatrician (what an oxymoron–you shouldn’t be allowed to be both) “Dr. Bob” Sears for his opposition of SB277. Nothing like middle of the night cell phone notifications because this loon apparently PMs late at night.
Do you see such AV lunacy in South Korea?
If it exists, and I’m sure it does, I haven’t seen it. Some cultures understand the need for government intervention more than others. Some cultures know that government “of the people and for the people” really is a thing and not a boogie man to be feared.
It hit the news the other day, one adult woman on immune modulating drugs died from a nosocomial infection of measles.
“But why worry if you’ve had your shots?”
Ask the family members that question.