Check out the entire post at Gawker. Here's a segment:
Every age, it seems, gives rise to its own medical hysteria rooted
in our collective fears. Could the Internet's dehumanizing effect be
driving us to fixate on autism?
It's a timely obsession.
Just as polio captured the Cold War's feeling of paralysis, AIDS
hysteria spoke to the sexual hangover from the '70s, and Prozac Nation
answered the unease we felt about the '90s boom, autism is the disease
of the moment for a time when computers are making us all feel less
than human...
The sliding scale of autism may be precisely what makes it so
gripping now. The worry now: Are we all perhaps a bit autistic? Is the
Internet turning us into robots, unable to express our emotions without
mechanical help? Instant messaging famously suppresses social cues.
Needing to type ":-)" to communicate our pleasure may give the tiniest
hint of what the disease may be like.
There are a host of conspiracy theories about the rise in autism
diagnoses, including the completely debunked notion it has something to
do with vaccines. The consensus seems to be that we're seeing more
autism cases because we're more primed to look for its symptoms. In
other words, we see autism everywhere because we want to. And we look
for it in our kids because we're obsessed with whether we have it
ourselves.
Also have a look at an article in today's NY Times Science Times about Paul Offit, MD, and his new book about autism and the non-relationship to vaccines. Offit is a well-regarded chief of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. He is also co-inventor of a rotavirus vaccine and stands to make millions from it. As a result, many on the anti-vaccine side feel justified in deriding his pro-vaccine stance. Maybe that's why so many of them have sent him death threats. The man won't even do a public book signing because of the hostility. Actress Amanda Peet is in his camp--and also experiencing the anti-vaccine movement's wrath. This passage from the Times article explains why:
In an interview with Cookie, a magazine for parents, Ms. Peet called
antivaccine parents “parasites” because they relied on other children’s
immunity
to protect their own. She later apologized for the word but emphasized
that parents should get their medical advice from doctors, “not from me
or any other celebrity.”
"Parasites" was too strong a word, because unvaccinated kids don't harm vaccinated ones. Still, Peet's point is well taken, and I especially like her admonition to avoid celebrities when you want health advice. Seriously.
