Without Misinformation, Would We Have Any Information at All?

The double-edged sword of social media and influencers. They bring context and attention to world events and important aspects of society, but they do it in a way that spreads misinformation and often further divides the public perception. Autism is not immune to this, and we are now back in the spotlight.

 

Thanks to the US government administration, once again, I will spend the next few months being asked the same question from everybody who follows or is friends with me or Amy:  “What do you think of vaccines and autism?”. 

 

My answer: You are asking the wrong question. Instead, ask me if I would do it all over again.

 

We live in a world where we want to protect everything with bubble wrap. I used to ride in the box of trucks, I used to sit on my dad’s lap in an open cab tractor, and I used to get every little flu and sickness that went through the school system. I also ate dirt as a kid that was probably sprayed with glyphosate. I turned 43, so I guess I must be thankful that I am still alive. This is the world we live in today; we look back on this type of activity and we try to mitigate the risk. How about we celebrate the freedom instead?

 

I don’t have to have a PhD to know that vaccines are an integral part of our health system. Go back and ask anybody who saw the effects of some of the diseases that we have been vaccinated for in the last fifty years; they work, and they created a society that is living longer and healthier than those during the plague or meningitis. Now, do we need to add to these cocktails for the common cold or the common flu? That is another debate for another day, for another audience. But for now, I believe that the vaccines we give infants save them from diseases that today’s society has no knowledge or experience with. Common sense taught me that there is no science.

 

The Truth

 

I don’t know if we will ever truly know the truth behind autism and its causes. I have two distinctly different children who both showed signs of autism in different ways. My oldest was starting to talk, starting to understand words and spell out letters in the shower on the glass, and then one day, nothing. My youngest, nothing from the start, and maybe we were looking for the causes, but it was apparent at a very young age. To say the same thing caused both is hard for me to agree to, as I lived it with them.

 

Secondly, in my businesses, I surround myself with smart people with a lot of resources. Some of them have had the resources to travel to other countries and do studies of their health, their blood markers, and their future ability to fight off or not have diseases or ailments like certain cancers. They also know my situation, so they have had conversations about our children and autism. When an accredited doctor with absolutely no dog in the fight gives an opinion that it is gene-influenced and hereditary influenced, it is again hard for me to agree with Jenny McCarthy, a celebrity. Back to the commonsense discussion at hand.

 

Forget the Past

 

I am not a doctor, and I am speaking from experience, not science, so take it for what it is worth. I still stick by my original concept: ask the question. My kids are as healthy as they can be today from plagues and diseases that have killed humans throughout history. They may be autistic, but they are alive. Do I hope that one day we figure this puzzle out and mitigate additional cases moving forward? Sure, who wouldn’t? But for the time being, let’s concentrate on how to learn to deal with autism at the doctor and therapy level just as much as creating new conspiracies. Based on my last blogs, I know that education is lacking at all levels of society on this.

 

Next time you read an article or see a TikTok on Tylenol and vaccines causing autism, let’s go back and put our big boy pants on and decide if common sense is being used. What is the number of individuals using painkillers like Advil or Tylenol, and how many autism cases are there? The numbers don’t add up. Plus, review the source. I am as right-wing as the next conservative, but that does not mean I follow his X (Twitter) feed.

 

Don’t blast my email for this, and don’t tell me how I am not a doctor. I know these facts; I also know that I put my kids to bed every night with no sense of guilt or regret for keeping them away from a magnitude of childhood illnesses and diseases. With that, I can sleep at night. Why can’t you?