Tsk Tsk Oprah
Mike Abrams, Executive Vice President of the Iowa Medical Society
You can’t blame crazy people for being crazy – it’s like blaming a scorpion for stinging you. They can’t help themselves, it’s in their nature.
But it’s fair to blame responsible journalists and other powerful people for giving weight and credibility to crazy people by gifting them with headlines and air time and pretending like their viewpoints should influence the rest of us.
There was an interesting article in Newsweek recently (link below) that takes Oprah to task for the harm she’s indirectly causing people by acting like entertainers have sound medical advice. I don’t watch Oprah, but that’s just one more way in which I’m out of step with mainstream America – she speaks to forty million sets of eyes weekly.
Suzanne Somers went on Oprah to explain to an enrapt America how they could achieve eternal youth, like her. She intends to live to be 110 years old and has mapped out a clear path to her goal. Among other things, she swallows 60 vitamins and other preparations each day, cleanses her blood with chelation therapy when she’s exposed to tobacco smoke, and rubs estrogen cream on her skin. Ms. Somers has harsh words for the medical establishment which, in her world, has been purchased by the pharmaceutical industry. Instead of listening to sold-out physicians, we should take careful notes from her, because she “has spent thousands of hours” researching such health matters, and she’s written 18 books. So, doctors, how many books have you written?!
Jenny McCarthy, the Playboy-model-turned-actress, asserted that MMR vaccine caused her son’s autism. Some from Oprah’s legion of viewers wrote to credit the actress with convincing them to refuse vaccination for their children. Instead of allowing competing medical opinions equal air time, Ms. McCarthy is going to have her own talk show.
Thanks a lot, Oprah.
There is a special burden that accompanies the privilege of amassing great power. And that is to be studious and fact-based in the advice you give others and with the agenda you set.
If you care to read the whole story from Newsweek, here’s the link. But I warn you, you should have an anti-anxiety plan close by before you start it!
http://www.newsweek.com/id/200025/page/1