PalMD is a practicing internist in the Great Lakes region of the U.S.. Aside from the great joy he finds in his family and his work, he likes communicating some of that joy to others. He has a special interest in the ways patients---and we are all patients at one time or another---are deceived by charlatans. He aims to change the world, one reader at a time. Previous writings can still be found 
How may topics are there on which Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Arianna Huffington, Bill Maher, and now Louis Farrakhan can agree?
One, and one only: flu vaccination.
Let's give a run down of the "reasoning":
- Glenn Beck: the safest option is doing the exact opposite of what the government recommends.
- Limbaugh won't get one because HHS Secretary Sibelius recommends it
- HuffPo: need i say more?
- Maher: too bat-shit insane to think properly about it
- Farrakahn thinks it's a plot to reduce the Malthusian crush of minorities
Anything that unites these folks just has to be wrong.
Medicine & Health
Comments
So, according to Glen Beck I should:
Never, ever, ever wear a seatbelt.
Ditto w/ helmet.
Never wear a hardhat, or other occupational safety equipment.
Paint my house, esp. nursery with lead-based paints.
Pick up hitchhikers by the state pen.
Stay home during a mandatory evacuation for a Cat 5 hurricane.
Seriously? I understand that some people don't trust the government, but that doesn't mean that everything they say is utterly wrong!
On the other hand, doing the opposite of Glen Beck, well, that's pretty easy. It's called common sense, which isn't.
Posted by: JustaTech | October 21, 2009 4:31 PM
I think we should wait till one of them catches some form influenza and then lock them all up in tight quarters.
Posted by: Igor | October 21, 2009 4:41 PM
My irony meter exploded.
Posted by: Katharine | October 21, 2009 4:42 PM
Well we can fix Bill Maher by saying that evangelical Christians think it violates their beliefs, then he'll be all for it.
We can fix Huffington by saying it's a homeopathic solution of super dilute viral particles and water.
And I wouldn't mind if Beck and Limbaugh got the flu.
Posted by: JohnV | October 21, 2009 5:06 PM
I guess time will tell.
Posted by: Bo | October 21, 2009 7:16 PM
So where was this advice when george w. bush was beating the war drums?
Posted by: Ray C. | October 21, 2009 9:08 PM
you ain't right....but you are.
Posted by: DNLee | October 21, 2009 10:51 PM
I've heard and read a lot of the stuff Limbaugh has said about this, and his basic position is, "No Mommy, you can't make me eat vegetables because I'm a big boy now! Watch me assert my independence!"
Posted by: catgirl | October 22, 2009 11:12 AM