Best Of: Before Fear Sold Vaccines, Children Got Sick... On TV Even.
Posted Dec 29 2010 12:00am
"Most any child can have the mumps Or even German measles So here's a record of my health From Chicken Pox to sneezles!"
Click on the photo to view it in full size. Use the "%" to scale it to fit your screen.
We first ran this post in 2008. In light of the drumbeat of insistence that questioning the safety of the current vaccine schedule and demanding informed consent are "anti-vaccine", I thought we'd remind our readers that fear, while an effective advertising strategy, isn't useful in making sound medical decisions for your children. Now, I'm off to use Scope to fight halitosis and then find a feminine spray for, well, you know and check up on our life insurance to make sure my family really is safe. Because when Mark and I die, our kids will still be here and need more protection than 100,000 vaccines could ever provide.
By Kim Stagliano
The poem above is from the vaccine record sheet of a 30-something Age of Autism reader you all know and love, as kept by her mother starting in 1969. Take a good look at this darling sheet of paper (click the photo to enlarge.) Then read her mother's notations.
We're reading the media alerts on "measles epidemics" that loom because of non-vaccinating parents. Remember when these diseases were featured in children's books and on sitcoms?
Were kids dying of measles in America when Leave it to Beaver was airing? How about Arthur the Aardvark and his sister DW contracting Chicken Pox? Did PBS, the station that brought you Mr. Rogers and Elmo, mean to scare children with an episode about a deadly disease or simply explain to them that they too could manage the itch and discomfort of the Chicken Pox. Just last week, I heard a Frank Sinatra song called, "Ev'rything happens to me," where he sings, "I've had the measles and the mumps." When did measles and chicken pox go from entertainment fodder to epidemic fear? And who's behind it?
Why ramp up the fear level of childhood diseases right now? Is it for back to school doctor's visits, so as to increase uptake? The media is in a frenzy with dire epidemic warnings, much like the color coded terror alerts that popped up everytime the current administration needed a voter boost before the 2004 election. Using fear to sell a product is as old as Cleopatra's eyeliner (which was made from lead.) Let's not be blinded by the technique.
Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.
Or even German measles
So here's a record of my health
From Chicken Pox to sneezles!"
Click on the photo to view it in full size. Use the "%" to scale it to fit your screen.
We first ran this post in 2008. In light of the drumbeat of insistence that questioning the safety of the current vaccine schedule and demanding informed consent are "anti-vaccine", I thought we'd remind our readers that fear, while an effective advertising strategy, isn't useful in making sound medical decisions for your children. Now, I'm off to use Scope to fight halitosis and then find a feminine spray for, well, you know and check up on our life insurance to make sure my family really is safe. Because when Mark and I die, our kids will still be here and need more protection than 100,000 vaccines could ever provide.
By Kim Stagliano
The poem above is from the vaccine record sheet of a 30-something Age of Autism reader you all know and love, as kept by her mother starting in 1969. Take a good look at this darling sheet of paper (click the photo to enlarge.) Then read her mother's notations.
We're reading the media alerts on "measles epidemics" that loom because of non-vaccinating parents. Remember when these diseases were featured in children's books and on sitcoms?
Friends: The One with the Chicken Pox
SouthPark
Arthur's Chicken Pox
The Brady Bunch: Is there a Doctor in the House?
Were kids dying of measles in America when Leave it to Beaver was airing? How about Arthur the Aardvark and his sister DW contracting Chicken Pox? Did PBS, the station that brought you Mr. Rogers and Elmo, mean to scare children with an episode about a deadly disease or simply explain to them that they too could manage the itch and discomfort of the Chicken Pox. Just last week, I heard a Frank Sinatra song called, "Ev'rything happens to me," where he sings, "I've had the measles and the mumps." When did measles and chicken pox go from entertainment fodder to epidemic fear? And who's behind it?
Frank Sinatra Lyrics
Everything Happens to Me Lyrics
Why ramp up the fear level of childhood diseases right now? Is it for back to school doctor's visits, so as to increase uptake? The media is in a frenzy with dire epidemic warnings, much like the color coded terror alerts that popped up everytime the current administration needed a voter boost before the 2004 election. Using fear to sell a product is as old as Cleopatra's eyeliner (which was made from lead.) Let's not be blinded by the technique.
Kim Stagliano is Managing Editor of Age of Autism.