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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMayim Bialik is a terrible choice for jeopardy host because of her wacky anti science views
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/08/who-is-mayim-bialik-a-terrible-choice-for-jeopardy-host/First, theres Bialiks mixed messages on vaccines. Back in 2009, she told People magazine that her family was non-vaccinating. In 2012, in a post on the website Kveller, she endorsed anti-vaccine parenting books, including one by Dr. Bob Sears, the California pediatrician who had his medical license revoked for handing out dubious medical exemptions for immunizations. Shes since backtracked on that statementin 2015, she said in a tweet that her kids were vaccinated. Last year, she released a YouTube video in which she said, cryptically, that she delayed vaccinations for reasons you dont necessarily get to know about. She has publicly endorsed the COVID-19 vaccines, yet she told Yahoo Life in January, I have a lot of questions about the vaccine industry, as do a lot of people. I have a lot of questions about the profits involved.
Bialik is also a long-standing proponent of the pseudoscientific field of naturopathy. She has hawked a questionable supplement that claims to enhance brain function, including in an ad thats on air right now, and in which she leverages her degrees. Shes been featured recently on a naturopathy podcast. In April, on her own podcast, Bialik ran an episode called Alternative Medicine, Acupuncture & Adrenal FailureDoulas Do It Right. In the show, she interviewed midwife Elizabeth Bachner, whose naturopathic clinic in Los Angeles, Gracefull, peddles scientifically unfounded treatments, including IV therapy for anti-aging, oral chelation for heavy metals, and homeopathic hormone-balancing injections.
But wait, theres more: Abundant research shows that birth control pills and devices are safe and effective. Still, Bialik has joined forces with actress Ricki Lake on her crusade against hormonal contraception. Last year, she was a speaker at Lakes Body Literacy Summit, which warned women about the supposed dangers of the pill.
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I could go on. Bialik has worked extensively with La Leche League, an organization that frequently promotes some scientifically dubious practices, including the discredited notion that birth interventions such as IV fluids and epidurals can prevent women from breastfeeding. Shes also written a book about attachment parenting, a child-rearing philosophy that, among other questionable teachings, warns parents that sleep training babies will permanently damage them. And all of this isnt even to mention Bialiks weird hypocrisy on feminism: Shes written an empowerment book for teen girls, yet in a 2017 New York Times op-ed, she implied that women invite sexual harassment by dressing immodestly.
brooklynite
(93,850 posts)Question: what are the science opinions of Alex Trebek that you agreed with?
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)She has a PhD in neuroscience.
Ocelot II
(115,276 posts)TheProle
(2,097 posts)The largest decrease in hesitancy between January and May by education group was in those with a high school education or less. Hesitancy held constant in the most educated group (those with a PhD); by May PhDs were the most hesitant group.
https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2021/july/covid-hesitancy.html
Ocelot II
(115,276 posts)to have to listen to anybody else.
Initech
(99,913 posts)iemanja
(53,001 posts)according to that study. It also says Trump supporters, or areas where support for Trump is high, are the most recalcitrant.
I work at a university. Everyone I know is vaccinated. I seriously doubt there is a large contingency of PhDs refusing to get vaccinated today.
ETA: I also know a general anti-vaxxer who couldn't wait to get the COVID vaccine.
Initech
(99,913 posts)And owns a huge company, and is worth a lot of money (he has an entire wing of the university they attended named after him thanks to contributions). But that doesn't stop him from being a Fox News addict, religious nut, and hardcore MAGA conspiracy theorist. We get along fine as long as the subject of politics isn't brought up!
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)I doubt anyone in the viewing audience is going to ask her for a medical opinion any more than they'd have asked Monty Haul's opinion on macroeconomic policy.
madaboutharry
(40,150 posts)A lot of this is very cult like. I dont want to offend anyone and not looking for a fight, but the folks at La Leche League take things to a whole new level of bizarre.
That said, I doubt any of this will come up on Jeopardy.
vanlassie
(5,637 posts)I have 35 years in LaLecheLeague. Also, I will not debate what you think.
madaboutharry
(40,150 posts)I am not incorrect and I dont care how many years you have been a member or what you think.
You cant tell me what my own experience was.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)about the whole group.
"but the folks at La Leche League take things to a whole new level of bizarre."
I was a member, too. I thought the org was very helpful to new moms.
madaboutharry
(40,150 posts)Moosepoop
(1,917 posts)I was given a copy of La Leche League's "The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding" as a shower gift, the most recent version at that time. That book became my BIBLE for nursing and also for how to parent a newborn/small child. It was immensely helpful, and completely science-based. No "woo" or "wackiness" anywhere in it. Some of the advice went against the current grain (such as breastfeeding itself), but it was all sound information. My doctor agreed with everything in it.
Ten years later, I hauled that book out again when I had my second child. It was as helpful the second time as the first.
vanlassie
(5,637 posts)I feel very lucky to have had LLL in my parenting life. The benefits have passed down to my grandkids. And will continue!
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)That is just laughable. It was a group of moms who supported each other in breastfeeding, and shared tips. Later they moved on to educating the public and lobbying for the rights of a nursing couple.
At the time LLL was founded, hospitals were passing out formula and teaching women to use bottles. Only a fraction of new mothers were breastfeeding and there was very little support for them. And it was very hard for new mothers to leave the house unless they wanted to nurse a baby while sitting on the toilet in a public restroom.
The LLL had to push hard against an establishment that wanted to sell formula to everyone, and they succeeded. Good for them.
Response to Demovictory9 (Original post)
Chin music This message was self-deleted by its author.
LakeArenal
(28,719 posts)She was hilarious on Big Bang Theory. With words written by writers.
vanlassie
(5,637 posts)La Leche League, I can tell you LLL does not claim the use of IV fluids and epidurals can prevent women from breastfeeding.
Raine
(30,540 posts)brooklynite
(93,850 posts)MarineCombatEngineer
(12,092 posts)You think she's going to spout her wacky ideas on Jeopardy?
Not likely.
miyazaki
(2,220 posts)during the commercial breaks. Gotta love the Dr.Oz effect.
iemanja
(53,001 posts)They probably picked her because she seems smart and is comfortable in front of a camera. Plus the Big Bang Theory was really popular.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)bullwinkle428
(20,626 posts)nolabear
(41,915 posts)I dont know what the vaccine issues were but they seem to have abated. La Leche League has a legit philosophy among many. Attachment parenting needs defining but in my studies of infant development ignoring a crying baby until it cries itself out does have a developmental effect. What effect depends on many things.
That Prevagin or whatever it is ad raised my eyebrows as well. But mostly the woman is a celebrity and was pretty good as a host. Im perfectly happy to have her there.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)I get it. You don't like her.
But we're talking about a job as a GAME SHOW HOST, not as the next President.
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)special events, like tournaments or prime time specials.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/08/jeopardy-host-mayim-bialik-says-shes-not-anti-vaxx
snip
A representative for Bialik has now clarified her vaccine stance. She has been fully vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus and is not at all an anti-vaxxer, Bialiks spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap. This isnt the first time the Big Bang Theory star and neuroscientist has rebutted anti-vax rumors. In 2015, Bialik tweeted, dispelling rumors abt my stance on vaccines. im not anti. my kids are vaccinated. so much anger and hysteria. i hope this clears things up.
She further explained how her thinking about immunization had evolved in an October 2020 YouTube video titled, Anti-Vaxxers and Covid. Bialik shared that she and her two kids would be receiving both COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots. This year Im gonna do something I literally havent done in 30 years: Im gonna get a vaccine. I know! And guess what? Im actually gonna get two, she said.
You might be saying, Hey, wait a second, Dr. Mayim Bialik, you dont believe in vaccines! Youre one of those anti-vaxxers, Bialik continued. I wrote a book about 10 years ago about my experience parenting, and at the time my children had not received the typical schedule of vaccines. But I have never, not once, said that vaccines are not valuable, not useful, or not necessary, because they are.
snip
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)The evening game-show entertainment industry can't take that risk.
Hopefully Biden can step in and save us.
highplainsdem
(48,724 posts)being very condescending when someone didn't get the correct answer. Her attitude made me cringe. I don't know how often she acted that way, but I thought it couldn't have been farther from Alex Trebek's kind treatment of contestants.
Vinca
(50,168 posts)usually negative. Every time I see Jeffrey Toobin, I think of . . . you know. Every time I see Al Roker I remember an interview after his weight loss surgery when he described losing control of his bowels after the surgery (mental picture of Al in diaper). When I see Bialik - a perfectly fine actor, by the way - all I can think about is that she belongs to a religious sect that causes her never to expose her arms which seems very weird to me. That's why I like the producer guy. He did a fine job, I know nothing about him and I don't want to know anything about him.
eShirl
(18,466 posts)and these are among the many factors people need to consider when deciding on a birth control method