The A-Team
New Blood
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2008
- Messages
- 19
I'm very troubled by the rising media presence of Jenny McCarthy lately. She's really taken the lead role in the antivaccination movement's PR. Very rarely do any other figures in that movement make television appearances.
It got me thinking about how Robert Lancaster established a great model for skeptical action by targeting a specific prominent figure within a specific field of woo instead of trying to take on the whole field. In doing so, not only did he ensure that virtually anyone Googling Sylvia Browne would also find the skeptical response but he gave the mainstream media a specific go-to guy to invite on as the token skeptic. Lancaster sort of became the arch nemesis of Sylvia Browne in the same way that Randi became Uri Geller's arch nemesis. And since the mainstream news media is looking for conflict and a good story Randi and Lancaster have made the media's jobs easier by giving them one clear, obvious choice when seeking a critic of either of these two clowns.
Now lately Jenny McCarthy has been allowed to speak her nonsense on various TV programs without anyone invited on to challenge her. Fair and balanced seems to have gone out the window. So maybe the media just doesn't have anyone specific to turn to, so they just do the softball interview with Jenny because it's easy. And so I was thinking that it might be a good idea to create a website specifically scrutinizing Jenny's claims as opposed to the general criticisms of the whole movement. And inspired by Robert Lancaster, I looked up the URL: stopjennymccarthy.com and it is available should anyone wish to purchase it. I'm not web savvy at all but would love to be involved in a project like that.
And I think the beauty of following the Lancaster model of honing in on just one prominent figure within the larger movement is that we give the media a clear go-to critic to invite on to challenge Jenny's claims, essentially creating an arch nemesis. This really isn't Randi's forte. Steve Novella and Orac have certainly done a phenomenal job refuting the claims of the larger movement but they're not likely to be invited onto some crappy talk show like Larry King to debate Jenny head-to-head. Dr. Paul Offit seems like the obvious leader against the antivaccine movement but for whatever reason he's not getting invited, maybe because the antivaccination movement has so effectively instilled in the public's mind that he's in "Big Pharma's" pockets. And even if Amanda Peet became Jenny's arch nemesis, do we really want to pass that kind of immense responsibility to a movie star? Granted, she seems to be a smart movie star but still. So right now there's no good, clear opponent on our side for the media to choose from.
Right now this is just a vague idea but I would love to hear people's feedback on this and would like to know if anyone would seriously be interested in getting involved in a project like this.
It got me thinking about how Robert Lancaster established a great model for skeptical action by targeting a specific prominent figure within a specific field of woo instead of trying to take on the whole field. In doing so, not only did he ensure that virtually anyone Googling Sylvia Browne would also find the skeptical response but he gave the mainstream media a specific go-to guy to invite on as the token skeptic. Lancaster sort of became the arch nemesis of Sylvia Browne in the same way that Randi became Uri Geller's arch nemesis. And since the mainstream news media is looking for conflict and a good story Randi and Lancaster have made the media's jobs easier by giving them one clear, obvious choice when seeking a critic of either of these two clowns.
Now lately Jenny McCarthy has been allowed to speak her nonsense on various TV programs without anyone invited on to challenge her. Fair and balanced seems to have gone out the window. So maybe the media just doesn't have anyone specific to turn to, so they just do the softball interview with Jenny because it's easy. And so I was thinking that it might be a good idea to create a website specifically scrutinizing Jenny's claims as opposed to the general criticisms of the whole movement. And inspired by Robert Lancaster, I looked up the URL: stopjennymccarthy.com and it is available should anyone wish to purchase it. I'm not web savvy at all but would love to be involved in a project like that.
And I think the beauty of following the Lancaster model of honing in on just one prominent figure within the larger movement is that we give the media a clear go-to critic to invite on to challenge Jenny's claims, essentially creating an arch nemesis. This really isn't Randi's forte. Steve Novella and Orac have certainly done a phenomenal job refuting the claims of the larger movement but they're not likely to be invited onto some crappy talk show like Larry King to debate Jenny head-to-head. Dr. Paul Offit seems like the obvious leader against the antivaccine movement but for whatever reason he's not getting invited, maybe because the antivaccination movement has so effectively instilled in the public's mind that he's in "Big Pharma's" pockets. And even if Amanda Peet became Jenny's arch nemesis, do we really want to pass that kind of immense responsibility to a movie star? Granted, she seems to be a smart movie star but still. So right now there's no good, clear opponent on our side for the media to choose from.
Right now this is just a vague idea but I would love to hear people's feedback on this and would like to know if anyone would seriously be interested in getting involved in a project like this.
