Your Friday Dose of Woo: Generation woo

I realize that I've been mighty hard on Jenny McCarthy these last several months. I've made fun of her for her idiocy, her arrogance of ignorance, and her antivaccination lunacy, not to mention her utter ignorance of science, and, yes, I've been rather vicious at times. However, she richly deserved it. Indeed, I argue that in fact my reaction was actually mild in comparison to the sheer lunacy that she regularly spews and the threat to public health her ignorant antivaccinationist activism represents.

But it's Friday, and that means it's fun day. That means it's time for an excursion into camp woo, and one area of woo that I've meant to look into for a while is the woo that apparently formed McCarthy's views of science. You see, before she discovered antivaccinationism last year, there was a gentler Jenny, a less angry Jenny, a Jenny who was into gentle, New Age woo, rather than into toxic, ranting antivaccinationism in which she followed a vision of a greater world, where special children with special powers would bring about a golden age. Wait, you say. What are you talking about? Surely you remember Indigo Children, don't you? You don't? Well, perhaps you should. After all, if you do, you might come to realize, as I have, that perhaps we should all be nice to Jenny. After all, she means well, and she is a special woman. She has a special son, a son who is a "crystal child."

This woo, it is good.

i-559e3d268a845b7cc1988ed7214971e6-IndigoMom.jpg

Of course if you go looking for Jenny McCarthy's IndigoMoms.com website, you won't find it. It disappeared around July 3, 2007 as demonstrated by The Wayback Machine. After all, that was about the time that Jenny McCarthy's autism woo book was about to be released, and it just wouldn't do to have a website up that shows just what a flake Jenny was. Oh, no, she was about to be reborn as the "warrior mom" and crusader for "safe vaccines." However, also due to the glory of the Wayback Machine, you can still see a lot of it right here, which was last updated on November 12, 2006. It begins thusly:

The mission of Indigo Moms is to create a community where moms can meet to have fun, share stories, make new friends, join a support group, and hopefully learn and laugh on this adventure called life.

Your host is Jenny McCarthy. Jenny has a 4-year-old son, Evan, who is a Crystal child. Being blessed with Evan led Jenny to have the inspiring vision to create this meeting place.

But what is the whole "Indigo Child" phenomenon? Apparently this:

The term "Indigo Child" originated from Nancy Ann Tappe, who classified people's personalities according to the hue of their auras. According to Tappe, Indigos are extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory and a strong desire to live instinctively. These children of the next millennium are sensitive, gifted souls with an evolved consciousness who have come here to help change the vibrations of our lives and create one land, one globe and one species. They are our bridge to the future (Understanding Your Life Through Color, 1982).

Just to give you a flavor of what was on the old, defunct website, I'll also point out that there are articles there on Generational Healing with the Indigo Children, a column by an "angel therapist" (why do angels need therapy, I wonder?), among lots of other serious, serious woo. Indeed, this phenomenon even made it to the pages of the New York Times a couple of years ago.

Because Jenny's old website is only partially archived, I decided I wanted to really know what the whole "indigo" thing was about. Fortunately, I found the Indigo site to end all Indigo sites, the woo site to end all woo sites (well, maybe not really; nothing can top the DNA Activation site). Welcome to Generation Indigo (gee, I wonder if Generation Rescue was inspired by this site or whether it was the other way around):

The term indigo generation is somewhat of a blanket term that refers to the increased amount of the color indigo present in new babies Auras. Around 30 years ago some babies were exhibiting this phenomena and the number has steadily increased until now where every new baby is an Indigo. Although all indigo babies have this increased amount of indigo in their auras they can vary widely in other ways. The majority of Indigo's are simply reincarnations of the same group of beings who have always made up the human race. For instance you may be 35 years old and you are not classified as being an Indigo and you may give birth to a child who is an Indigo. The being incarnating as this child could be someone who you had been with in another life who was at that time not an indigo but just a normal incarnation just like you are now. If you were to die tomorrow and reincarnate next week you would then be an Indigo. It is not that the Indigo's are different beings but simply that they are incarnating some energies which were not being incarnated in normal people 30 years ago or more.

This being said it is also true that some indigo children are incarnating more than an increased amount of Indigo energy or light and that they may actually be incarnating parts of other beings along with themselves. Another possibility is that they are in fact a being who has not incarnated on earth before and who may have had incarnations on other planets. Another possibility is that a being who is a part of the human race, who has had many incarnations on earth may have had a recent incarnation on another planet and may now incarnate on Earth again with a very strong connection to this other planet or group of beings. In this way energies and consciousness from other areas and beings throughout the universe are being grounded on earth now.

Yes! This is some seriously, rip-roaringly good woo! It has it all: auras, past lives and reincarnation, beings from another planet, and "energies" and "consciousness" from other beings throughout the universe! What more do you want from good woo? (No cracks about the "ten etheric strands" of DNA that need to be activated or anything about a quantum homeopathic gyroscope.)

But the key aspect of Indigo Children is apparently--what else?--Indigo Energy:

Basically what is described as Indigo energy is a certain frequency of light which is a part of everyone's lightbody but which has been previously left behind during incarnation. As we are all vast beings of consciousness we all have much more to us than meets the eye during earthly life. In the past only mystics, monks and spiritual seekers succeeded in incarnating their indigo energy after a tremendous effort. Now all babies naturally incarnate this part of themselves and for spiritual seekers it is infinitely easier to do so.

Damn! I wish I was born into Generation Indigo. Of course, if I were, I'd be no older than eight years old right now, and you wouldn't be reading this. What do I mean? Well, apparently the Indigo Children didn't start showing up until the year 2000. But of course! Of course they had to appear around the turn of the millennium! When else? But reading all this I was a bit confused. I saw mentions of "Indigo" Children and "Crystal" Children, but I didn't know the difference. Actually, my reaction was more like, "What the hell are they talking about?" Did not knowing what a certain woo was ever stop me? Of course not! Like Geraldo Rivera diving into Al Capone's vault, I dug deeper and found something about as valuable as Rivera did:

The Indigo Children have been incarnating on the Earth for the last 100 years. The early Indigos were pioneers and wayshowers. After World War II, a significant number were born, and these are the Indigo adults of today. However, in the 1970s a major wave of Indigos was born, and so we have a whole generation of Indigos who are now in their late twenties and early thirties who are about to take their place as leaders in the world. Indigos continued to born up to about 2000, with increasing abilities and degrees of technological and creative sophistication.

The Crystal Children began to appear on the planet from about 2000, although some date them slightly earlier. These are extremely powerful children, whose main purpose is to take us to the next level in our evolution, and reveal to us our inner power and divinity. They function as a group consciousness rather than as individuals, and they live by the" Law of One" or Unity Consciousness. They are a powerful force for love and peace on the planet.

The Indigo and Crystal Adults are composed of two groups. Firstly, there are those who were born as Indigos and are now making the transition to Crystal. This means they undergo a spiritual and physical transformation that awakens their "Christ" or "Crystal" consciousness and links them with the Crystal children as part of the evolutionary wave of change. The second group is those who were born without these qualities, but have aquired or are in the process of aquiring them through their own hard work and the diligent following of a spiritual path. Yes, this means that all of us have the potential to be part of the emerging group of "human angels".

It figures. I had it wrong. It was the Crystal Children that started showing up around 2000. So strike my previous remark or alter it to say that if I were a Crystal child I could be no older than 8, and I wouldn't be blogging and, more importantly, you wouldn't be reading every scintillating word that emerges from the keyboard of my MacBook. But I suppose I could be an Indigo Adult who is now making the transition to Crystal. I doubt it though. I don't seem to meet the prerequisite of being an Indigo Child--I mean a former Indigo Child and now an Indigo Adult. For one thing, I sure don't feel any sort of spiritual transformation going on. True, I do feel a physical transformation occuring, but that's because I'm getting old. My hair's getting grayer by the month, and I'm starting to get wrinkles and hair where I never had them before. Does that count? Somehow I doubt it. Maybe that's why I'm a nasty skeptic who writes a weekly feature about woo.

Of course, if I were an Indigo, I wonder what sort of Indigo I'd be. Supposedly there are four types:

  1. Normal Indigo's: A normal Indigo is a recent incarnation of a normal person who has been incarnating on Earth for some time. The only difference between this incarnation and the ones of the past 10,000 years is that this time they are incarnating more of their Indigo energy. These people are typically full of samskara's just like everyone else and have a lot of work to do on clearing their astral body. (Hmmm. I probably do have a lot of work to do to clear my astral body.)
  2. Dual Indigo's: There is another type of Indigo who has along with their own light body agreed to incarnate some forces of consciousness from another being. This is always done in agreement and the two beings usually have a relationship already. The main incarnating being will be a member of the human race just like the normal Indigo's who have many samskara's and who has lived many lives on earth. They have likely done spiritual work in past lives which has brought them to a level where they can safely help another being to incarnate with them. Indeed they may have been preparing for this incarnation for quite some time and will have become close to the other being. (Wow! Too beings in one brain! Wasn't there a Star Trek episode about that? Come to think of it there were more than one. I had no idea that these episodes were apparently documentaries.)
  3. Extra Terrestrial's: Another possibility is that a being who has been incarnating on other planets and in other dimensions may incarnate on Earth. They are not a part of the human reincarnational cycle and although they may have incarnated here at some point in the past they can still be seen as Extra Terrestrials. Their make up is different to ours and they will not have the same type of samskara's as normal humans. There are a huge number of Extra Terrestrial races in our universe and they differ very widely. For this reason it is hard to describe what an extra terrestrial might be like. They could be extremely intelligent such as mathematical geniuses, they could be musical geniuses or extremely psychic. They will nearly always have an extreme talent which sets them apart from normal people and their heart may seem to be incorruptible. Just their energy alone will be different enough that people will notice that they are somehow different. If you meet one of these beings you get a feeling that they are different even if they look totally normal. If you are one of these beings you probably already know because they have such a strong connection with their home planet and the race of beings they belong to. They usually remember where they come from at a very early age and know that they are different. As they don't have the same sort of samskaras as normal humans their consciousness remains very clear even after going through childhood. (So that explains it. I'm E.T.!)
  4. Recent Off Planet Incarnates: Another group of Indigo's are those who are a part of the human race but who have had recent incarnations on other planets. Like the Extra Terrestrials these beings have a strong connection to the planet that they were on, they help to ground these new forces and hold a channel for these other races to see what is happening here. This has been used as a method instead of ET's actually coming here because this can be very hard for them. It is much easier for a human to go to other planets because the energy there is so clear. Many of them have little or no negativity at all so it is extremely hard for ET's to incarnate here because they lack the defenses against our extreme negativity. Only the most adventurous of Extra Terrestrials have volunteered to come here. (I'm guessing my attitude towards the whole Indigo concept is part of that "extreme negativity" that these incarnates don't like.)

One of the best parts of the whole Indigo thing are the testimonials. (It's woo; there must be testimonials. You know that.) For example, meet Jeff:

One night when I was 21 years old as I was falling asleep I suddenly became paralyzed. I became frightened as I tried with all of my might to move but could not. Then suddenly I heard a loud wooshing sound like wind was blowing in my ears and suddenly felt myself being pulled out of my body, out the top of my head. After being pulled out I felt like someone was holding me as it pulled me way up into space. As we flew at tremendous speed though space I saw space ships that seemed to be conscious. There were many of them and they were maybe twice the size of our cars. They were being flown by people but the actual ships themselves seemed to be alive.

[...]

After this night I started to remember being on the ship before and knowing the people on it. I remembered being treated as very special and being taught what they knew about healing. It was in a higher dimension than here on Earth and I remember how happy and care free I was while I was there. I remember being loved there like I have never felt before and they all seemed to look up to me as though I was soooo special. It was because these people knew where I had come from and knew that I was going back there, to Earth. They knew how hard it was to be here and none of them would ever do what we do. They would never incarnate here on Earth... I lived there only until the age of 16 and I loved that girl so much. I was forced to leave her as I was to incarnate on earth again. They told me that they would be with me always and that they would send their love and energy to me. They said they could watch me on earth and that they would come to see me to remind me of them.

Yep, nothing like a little alien abduction to round out the complete Circle of Woo.

So there you have it, the Indigo and Crystal Child movement. Supposedly it's to be the next stage in human evolution, and before she discovered vaccines Jenny McCarthy was in to Indigo woo in a big way. Indeed, she went so far as to sell something called a Quantum Prayer Wheel while citing Deepak Chopra! Heck, she even cited Dr. William Nelson, creator of one of the best bits of woo ever featured on a Friday right here at the ol' Respectful Insolence⢠blog, the EPFX-SCIO interface! But the best thing of all, the most hilarious thing of all is this: Jenny McCarthy charged $365 a year for a subscription to the Quantum Prayer Wheel, and this is where the proceeds were to go:

A portion of the Quantum Prayer Wheel proceeds will be donated to Jenny McCarthy's fund for building schools for Indigo and Crystal children.

Gee, I wonder where the money went from Jenny McCarthy's Quantum Prayer Wheel. On the other hand, this has perhaps the best disclaimer I've ever read (note "best"= "most entertaining"):

The Quantum Prayer Wheel is not a Medical Treatment.

This program does not provide subscribers with any form of Therapy, Counseling, Medical Treatment or Diagnosis. If you think you have a medical condition, please see your doctor.

The QPW is a spiritual technology using advanced mathematics, fractals and prayers.

Of course it does, and of course it's not a "Medical Treatment." (The capitalization was a nice touch!)

One final note. Given her involvement in the Indigo movement, I can't understand McCarthy's hatred of vaccines. Remember, one of the tenets of the Indigo movement is that ADHD and the milder forms of autism, like Asperger's syndrome, are in reality manifestations of Crystal children. I think you can see where I'm going with this. If Jenny McCarthy really, really thinks that vaccines cause autism, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental disorders, she should be happy.

In Jenny McCarthy's fantasy world, vaccines are creating Crystal children. What's not for her to like?

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Then suddenly I heard a loud wooshing sound like wind was blowing in my ears and suddenly felt myself being pulled out of my body, out the top of my head.

That sounds like a Hypnagogic hallucination. It's probably not that unusual. That's all so-called "out of body" experiences are, most likely.

"...one of the tenets of the Indigo movement is that ADHD and the milder forms of autism, like Asperger's syndrome, are in reality manifestations of Crystal children."

You should see the colors of the aura of a child in the midst of a seizure. It's like looking at a disco ball through a kaleidoscope while on LSD. Truly a beautiful thing to see (assuming you have the gift.)

By Allison Dubious (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

Oh noes!!! Jenny has let the anti-vaxxers' negativity cloud her aura!!!

On another note, I feel so sorry for her child. First he was touted as Special, an angelic being who will help lead the human race into a higher plane-- and now she's holding him up as a child who is "broken." I find this nothing less than tragic.

By Melissa G (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

With the bags of saline Jenny's got in her body, I wonder if she was a sea creature in her former life?

Is JB Handley an indigo lover too? Maybe he was a human in his former life.

By Generation Rec… (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

If she realized that the Indigo children movement is bunk (probably mainly from the evidence where her child isn't behaving as expected), then there may be hope for her yet. Although even if that happens, she might just be jumping to some other crackpot theory.

And isn't an increase in the number of Indigo children (i.e. autistic children) a sign that the end is near? :P

Hi Orac and RI readers,

I had this interesting response from a person (who I understand, happens to be a father of an autistic child) to a comment I made in a discussion forum, quoting Parents magazine advisor Dr. Ari Brown whom I claimed has recently poo-pooed allegations that vaccines like the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) cause autism:

"Q. Does mercury in vaccines cause autism?
A. Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, is the main ingredient that gets blamed for autism, but it was removed from vaccines in 2001 and autism rates have continued to rise. Some flu shots still contain thimerosal preservatives, but you can ask your doctor for a thimerosal-free version. The truth is that a baby typically is exposed to 25 times more mercury by breastfeeding for six months -- which the AAP strongly recommends -- than by getting a flu shot. There is five times more mercury in a single tuna sandwich. Methyl mercury, found in fish, takes almost two months to break down and leave the body. Thimerosal, which is ethyl mercury, is rapidly eliminated -- within a week.

Q. Hasn't the MMR vaccine been linked to autism?
A. The MMR vaccine made news in 1998 when a research group claimed, after studying eight autistic patients, that the combination vaccine might cause autism. But in 2004, 10 of the 13 researchers withdrew their claims, and extensive research since then has also refuted this theory. Perhaps the most compelling argument against it is that doctors in Japan stopped using the combination MMR vaccine back in 1993 and started using separate measles, mumps, and rubella shots -- and autism rates there are still climbing."

http://www.parents.com/baby/health/vaccinations/autism-link/

If you go to the link Brown admitted there was a case, in which a patient was awarded a monetary settlement for getting "autism-like symptoms" after immunizations. But that this patient appeared to already have a disease, making her more susceptible to the added stress of vaccinations.

The response I got back was:

HE thinks there are many angles to the vaccines-vs-autism issue and that we shouldn't be quick to come to a conclusion.

HE says it's misleading to make it a vaccines-vs-autism debate in the first place. That most of the parents concerned with the issue merely want rationalization of the vaccine schedule, and some accommodation for that subset of kids that has a genetic predisposition that makes them vulnerable to the toxins/antigens that vaccines introduce into the body.

HE claims that there are many individual vaccines that are hard to defend, especially chickenpox, and the Hepatitis B vaccine that is given to newborns on their first day outside the womb. He describes Hep B as the disease that spreads by sharing infected needles or unsafe sex with infected partners. My first thought was is that so? Doesn't it spread by saliva of an infected member of the family? Well, you may have a more informed opinion.

And as for Dr Brown's minimization of the case where the government admitted culpability, he says to just let that issue play out. He says we will doubtless be reading soon about the cases that followed it and are being heard in vaccine court right now.

For a balanced view of vaccinations, by "a generally respected physician," he recommends this book:

"What your Doctor may not tell you about Children's Vaccinations", by Dr. Stephanie Cave.

http://www.amazon.com/What-Doctor-About-Childrens-Vaccinations/dp/04466…

If I am not wrong, was it Dr. Cave who gave testimony during the 2001 "vaccination death" case?

I am not sure how to respond to this blurry middle of the road opinions on vaccinations and autism-- I am not involved in the ongoing autism debates/debunking like many of you, to make forceful, informed and convincing arguments -- resources and opinions are most welcome. Thank you.

By Cold is Indigo (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

These are extremely powerful children, whose main purpose is to take us to the next level in our evolution, and reveal to us our inner power and divinity. They function as a group consciousness rather than as individuals, and they live by the" Law of One" or Unity Consciousness.

Silly me. I thought Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End was fiction.

These people are typically full of samskara's just like everyone else and have a lot of work to do on clearing their astral body. (Hmmm. I probably do have a lot of work to do to clear my astral body.)

Why, that sounds like a marketing opportunity...Eni-man to the rescue!!!! ;)

Grr. Grocer's apostrophes. They're like the final moronschino cherry on an enormous hot-fudge stupidity sundae, and I'm lactose, casein, and crap-intolerant.

By Interrobang (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

Hello! I am a second year medical student at the University of Virginia. I am doing a research project this summer on blogs maintained by medical students and physicians and I have really enjoyed reading yours! As a sister of an adult with Autism, I have been frustrated by the attention vaccines have been getting, and I appreciate your discussion. I wanted to let you know about an online journal at UVA called Hospital Drive, which can be found at http://hospitaldrive.med.virginia.edu/. I think you and your readers would really enjoy reading and perhaps even submitting material to the journal. Happy Reading!

My wife has friends who bought into this stuff: once or twice she has advised me that upon being told that we had an autistic child, they responded as if it were a positive thing for the reasons outlined above.

Our child *is* a positive thing, and I love her. She's smart and cute and funny and just generally a terrific kid, *especially* considering the handicaps she has in dealing with life. But her being autistic is not a positive thing, and I have already informed my wife that my response to any such assertion in my presence will be extremely unpleasant. This is just one of the many reasons that she never takes me anywhere.

(She doesn't buy this either, by the way: she's just more diplomatic than I am.)

M

Orac, I love this post, and RI overall. I have noticed that, while you mock Jenny McCarthy for her ideas, you never mention her youthful escapade of getting huge implants and posing for Playboy, nor subsequent career moves making use of her physical attributes. I guess that is because this insolence is, after all, Respectful. And I respect you for that.

"Around 30 years ago some babies were exhibiting this phenomena and the number has steadily increased until now where every new baby is an Indigo."

So the planet is now like a giant Lake Wobegon, where every child is above average?

I'll bet this theory is unpopular with parents who know they have Indigo children. What's special about a trait all the kiddies have?

By Dangerous Bacon (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

I have noticed that, while you mock Jenny McCarthy for her ideas, you never mention her youthful escapade of getting huge implants and posing for Playboy, nor subsequent career moves making use of her physical attributes

Wait a minute! Are you suggesting that Jenny McCarthy has a career?

I'd like to write a long comment thanking Orac for this very high quality woo, but my home planet keeps calling me and it's very distracting . . . Th-th-thank you OOoooooraccckkkkkk . . . !!!

"That sounds like a Hypnagogic hallucination. It's probably not that unusual. That's all so-called "out of body" experiences are, most likely."

That and partial seizures from Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

By Karl Withakay (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

Ah yes indeed, how interesting is it to note that all of those evil vaccine toxins are apparently the catalyst for conversion to a higher form of being.

I have a feeling that we will hear more about this, as I was told my statements about her abandoning the Indigo movement were misinformed.

... You are misinformed. You have no idea what you are talking about...
Posted by:
devildog1954 Jun-3

(source) abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/story?id=4987758

Now I wonder who was associated with 1954 that might have made that kind of retort.

and they all seemed to look up to me as though I was soooo special Yes, Jeff, you are special - your social worker says so!
And add me to the list of grocers' apostrophes-intolerant.

I was born in 1980 and have a 2004 daughter, I bet you're like totally jealous of my indigo status and my Crystal child.

As somewhat of a pedagogue, the best part of Indigo-sity is that you're NOT SUPPOSED TO DENY THE CHILD ANYTHING NOR DISCIPLINE THEM.
That's right, your child is a higher being, what do puny parents know about if something is right for their children, a next-gen kid can surely figure that out and request their desires, conspicuously masqueraded as temper tantrums, sass and frustration.

I've got a few friends (five to be exact) who have studied clinical child developmental psychology, received their degrees and now work with autistic children. We've discussed the vaccine issue, and in their learning it had been tough that vaccines have no baring on autism. In all truth, autism has become a larger problem, but that's more due to parents willingness to accept that their child has a learning disorder, not an increase in actual cases. The fact that mercury containing Thimerosal has been eliminated from child vaccines and there hasn't been any significant drops in autism,strengthens the theory that vaccines have nothing to do with this growing phenomenon. It's not bad that the preservative has been removed, and it's probably better for the vaccinated, but I had a Thimerosal MMR vaccine as a child (or so I assume) and so did everyone in my generation. What's needed is better treatment of those with autism, as my friends in their very noble field have shown, that it just takes work. I think we used to just look at those with the more mild cases of autism as "slow".

One thing I've heard that helps out (actually from customer testimonials of my own companies products) is using a Omega Supplement (we make delicious Omega Gummies, I can't even resist!)

I've seen some of the anti-vaxers advocating that the course of vaccinations be split into several shots, rather than 2-3 massive doses. I can see at least one real benefit to this plan, the children would be seen more often by health professionals. True, they would not likely bee seen by doctors during those visits, but getting the kiddies seen by ANYONE with medical training would be a significant improvement in many areas of the country. Of course, the people giving the immunizations would need to be trained to give at least cursory glances at the children...

By Blaidd Drwg (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

jj said " but I had a Thimerosal MMR vaccine as a child (or so I assume)"

You assumed wrong. The MMR has been used in the USA since 1971, but since it is a live virus vaccine it does not contain thimerosal. It comes as a powder that is mixed with sterile water and must be used within 8 hours (and it must be kept cool until then).

Cold to indigo said "If I am not wrong, was it Dr. Cave who gave testimony during the 2001 "vaccination death" case?"

Well, Stephanie Cave did testify, but so did the Geiers and a bunch of other people who really have no expertise in this debate. Her name is listed here:
http://neurodiversity.com/weblog/article/128/ (you will also find lots of resources on that website, since the owner is a super librarian!)

Her book is not one to read. Some suggested books:
Unstrange Minds by RR Grinker
Not Even Wrong by Paul Collins
No Time for Jello by Berneen Bratt
Vaccine by Arthur Allen
Vaccinated by Paul Offit
Anthropologist on Mars by Oliver Sacks

and a couple of very good fiction books:
Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (mom of autistic son)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon (former teacher of autistic children)

"I am not sure how to respond to this blurry middle of the road opinions on vaccinations and autism-- I am not involved in the ongoing autism debates/debunking like many of you, to make forceful, informed and convincing arguments -- resources and opinions are most welcome. Thank you."

You would be better off reading the CDC Pink Book on vaccines, and learning how to find original research on the PubMed Index.

But, I did some of the work for you, here is a list of papers and resources (URLs munged to avoid the spam filter, so just cut and paste):
"Impact of Specific Medical Interventions on Reducing the Prevalence of Mental Retardation ".... archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/160/3/302

"Economic Evaluation of the 7-Vaccine Routine Childhood Immunization Schedule in the United States, 2001 "... archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/159/12/1136

"Health Consequences of Religious and Philosophical Exemptions From Immunization Laws "... jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/282/1/47

"Nonmedical Exemptions to School Immunization Requirements "... jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/296/14/1757?

"Acute measles mortality in the United States, 1987-2002." ... w w w. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15106092?

"Pediatric hospital admissions for measles. Lessons from the 1990 epidemic." ... w w w. pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed&pubmedid=8855680

There is also a more complete list (several pages worth, there is a link on the bottom of each page for papers between 1999 and 2003) here:
w w w. immunize.org/journalarticles/conc_aut.asp
w w w. immunize.org/journalarticles/conc_aut.asp
w w w. immunize.org/journalarticles/conc_thim.asp

"The term "Indigo Child" originated from Nancy Ann Tappe, who classified people's personalities according to the hue of their auras. According to Tappe, Indigos are extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory and a strong desire to live instinctively. These children of the next millennium are sensitive, gifted souls with an evolved consciousness who have come here to help change the vibrations of our lives and create one land, one globe and one species. They are our bridge to the future (Understanding Your Life Through Color, 1982)."

Wow. I couldn't even read all that woo, because my brain was starting to twirl. 1982, ehh? Sensitive kids? Living instinctively? Evolved conciousness? I'm from 1980, and I'm guessing being raised with a lifetime of woo is probably a good reason why so many of my contemporaries are still living with their parents (I guess it's instinctual).

Can't say I'm conciously evolved (if I am, I owe it to my Buddhist faith), and I'm not much for sensitivity, and I definitely don't know what color my aura is. But I like the color green-blue, if that means anything.

By Rogue Epidemiologist (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

So let's get this straight..... "Indigos are extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory"

Jenny McCarthy has a crystal indigo child.

Now , I do seem to recall reading somewhere (I forget exactly, just at the moment) that Jenny's child was also vaccinated, presumably just before his gifts would have become apparent.

Does this not imply an obvious causal association? Surely this is irrefutable evidence that vaccine "damage" results in extremely bright, precocious children with an amazing memory? Shouldn't someone tell the antivaxers before its too late, and they end up with a bunch of unvaccinated, dumb offspring?

Who would of thunk that Jenny M would of been an "indigo mom"? I mean, I certainly wouldn't of...not with that razor-sharp scientific literacy that she has.

Thanks, Orac.

Then suddenly I heard a loud wooshing sound like wind was blowing in my ears

Hmmm. My interpretation would be that this was the sound of the cluetrain racing by without even slowing down.

By D. C. Sessions (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

"Then suddenly I heard a loud wooshing sound like wind was blowing in my ears and suddenly felt myself being pulled out of my body, out the top of my head.

That sounds like a Hypnagogic hallucination. It's probably not that unusual. That's all so-called "out of body" experiences are, most likely."

That's exactly what I was thinking, too - He's just narcoleptic! I myself have narcolepsy, and hypnogogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis are my most prominent symptoms. Like our friend Jeff's, mine are recurring...and the more times they happen, the more lucid I am and the more I remember afterwards. I'd never considered, though, that my frequent hallucination in which I flop off my bed, out the door, into the street/oncoming traffic was actually an alien abduction/evolution to a higher being. It all makes sense now! Off to plot my world domination...

A portion of the Quantum Prayer Wheel proceeds will be donated to Jenny McCarthy's fund for building schools for Indigo and Crystal children.

That's really bad, that these children are brought up to believe this--it brings to mind the kids from evangelical parents, raised as preachers, or the new messiah, or whatever nonsense they're up to now.

Right... Indigo . . . a good article on this can be found here
http://www.skepticreport.com/newage/indigoblues.htm

I first heard of this bunk when a local tv morning chat show that masqueraded as news broadcast a segment on it.
When I stopped laughing I went to the web to look into this and found that article above.

HCN:

wow, that's a lot of info; thanks for the links. Homework for me during my vacation next week.

By Cold is Indigo (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

"jj said " but I had a Thimerosal MMR vaccine as a child (or so I assume)"

You assumed wrong. The MMR has been used in the USA since 1971, but since it is a live virus vaccine it does not contain thimerosal. It comes as a powder that is mixed with sterile water and must be used within 8 hours (and it must be kept cool until then)."

I stand corrected. I though I had read that MMR vaccines in the 80's contained the preservative, but I wasn't very aware at the time, to say the leased.

Well, I have been dealing with a bunch of this for almost twenty years (he is presently in community college and is presently getting supervised work experience, hoping for real employment this summer). To understand his seizures I first read lots of books on neurology (like by Oliver Sacks and William Calvin's "Conversations with Neil's Brain"), and then for his speech delay books on speech development (like by Patricia McAleer Hamaguchi), and since the preschool program he was in was a direct offshoot of the deaf and hard of hearing, I read sign language books and deaf-ed books (like "Train Go Sorry" by Leah Cohen-Hager and "Deaf Like Me" by Spradley). As his classmates were more and more diagnosed with autism (he started preschool before autism was added to the IDEA, or redefined in DSM-IV) I read more and more autism books (during my son's last year of high school was when the term "Asperger's" was first uttered by the school psychologist).

By the way, all of the books are good reads. The first two are written by fathers of autistic children. RR Grinker is an anthropologist, so he talks of his own daughter's experience and he looks at the autism in other countries like Korea and India. The website is http://www.unstrange.com/ . The second one is a father of a son who is a writer who is mostly interested in history, writing and biographies of unusual people. So along with writing about his son, he describes historical depictions of autism.

The next book is not about autism, but about a family whose son has cerebral palsy. It is about their experience with the Doman-Delacato methods of patterning. I find it an antidote to reading Doman's truly horrible book length ad for his program called "What to do About Your Brain Damaged Baby". It should be a must-read to any family who learns their child is not "normal".

The next two books are history of vaccines, with the latter being a biography of a vaccine researcher. Both very readable, and a great easy education in vaccines, diseases and history of vaccines.

I had to throw in an Oliver Sacks book. They are usually essays on interesting people and cases he knows or has dealt with as a neurologist. If you have time, you should read his autobiography: Uncle Tungston, A Chemical Childhood.

The last two are fiction. The first one is kind of science fiction. The author is a scifi writer and was a nurse. She used lots of their own experience in the book, and she has more on her website (her autism essay is http://www.elizabethmoon.com/autism-general.htm ... with a link to more books, and if you poke around you will see pictures of her family). The very last is a very sweet and very funny book... definitely a good vacation read!

Good luck and have a good vacation.

You know, your children won't end up with that "indigo aura" if you pre-wash those brand-new denim jeans before letting the tykes wear them ...

andrea

The kid who had the alien abduction/hypnagogic experience may not have had narcolepsy at all. The Wikipedia article states that stress and sleep deprivation can also bring them on. Maybe Jeff pulled too many college all-nighters?

I'm not narcoleptic (thank heaven!), but I have had a few experiences with sleep paralysis in my life. Fortunately for me, the worst sleep-related hallucination I ever had involved seeing huge black blobs on my bedroom wall when I was about 4. My adulthood attacks were mainly characterized by being unable to move and feeling very scared.

I must lead an uninteresting life. ;(

Jenny recently said she's still an indigo, as "jypsy" pointed out in a comment above. Jenny says her next book is "an indigo book." She's still a "lightworker." On Oprah Jenny was talking about "visioning" things to make them come true and about how she prayed to the archangel Michael to get a man. That's how she got Jim Carrey. The angel therapist from her indigomoms.com site claimed to have some kind of special connection to the archangel Michael.

I expect Jenny will milk the antivaccine-autism angle as far as she can and then go back to being out of the closet Indigo, selling quantum prayer wheels and gemstone necklaces to balance out your crystal child's qi.

JB Handley and the rest of the troops from generationindigorescue.org must be indigos, too, otherwise would they be enlightened enough to follow the queen of woo, Jenny McIndigo.

By World Puja Networker (not verified) on 27 Jun 2008 #permalink

Funny thing, I don't get a wooshing sound in my ears, but a wooshing feel inside my head. And no associated paralysis. I've also lost hours of time, which always happens when I read something interesting. So there you have evidence of just how odd this commenter is. :)

Pam:

The unfortunate truth is that Jenny probably should have stuck with nudity and gross-out comedy. However, when you get right down to it, stupid is stupid and her prior career choices really have nothing to do with this.

[2008] Key realities about autism, vaccines, vaccine-injury compensation, Thimerosal, and autism-related research----Gary S. Goldman, Ph.D & P.G. King PhD.

Why Mr. Scudamore, back for more abuse? I'm sure we'd be more than happy to oblige.

The second group is those who were born without these qualities, but have aquired or are in the process of aquiring them through their own hard work and the diligent following of a spiritual path. Yes, this means that all of us have the potential to be part of the emerging group of "human angels".

This claim that SOME people have evolved towards HIGHER and BETTER levels of humanity is typical with the New Age/Spiritual crowd, and really PISSES me off. It's elitism of the worst kind, and it's coming from people who usually have their undies in a twist about any and every form of authoritarianism, inequality, discrimination, colonialism, racism, and arrogance, insolent or otherwise.

Science is arrogant. Atheism is arrogant. So, how do they defend and support their particular favored form of woo against these nay-sayers? Not through reason, evidence, and argument -- oh no. They are above that sort of thing. Literally. They have evolved to a higher levels of consciousness (as emerging groups of "human angels") so they just know things -- and their critics (the close-minded atheists and scientists) don't know what the woo-meisters know because they are still stuck at the lower levels.

Trying to convince us skeptics of the truth of Indigo Children (or any form of New Age-ish nonsense) is therefore not possible, they reason. There's no point in argument, or even rational discussion. I've been told by kind and compassionate enlightened believers that it's like asking a child (or a dog) to understand calculus. It has nothing to do with education; it's a matter of capacity. Skeptical scientists and atheists are too low, too arrogant to recognize their innate inferiority in the Great Chain of Being.

Those at higher levels are more humble.

Pisses me off. Hypocrites.

Newton and his mysticism has a lot to answer for.

Poor kid, indeed.

PS: The turn of the millenium was 2001.

Sili: While the turn of the millennium was 2001, the turn of the millenium was much earlier. As the host of our next Skeptic's Circle points out:

We all know that "millennium" comes from the Latin words "mille" and "annus" and means a thousand years. The word "millenium" comes from the Latin words "mille" and "anus" and means something else.

Given the number of petitioners in the Autism Omnibus, it's probably reasonable to speak of the "Mercury Millenium."

One globe - one species???!!!

Is she suggesting the mass extinction of all but one species on Earth? If so, which one is supposed to survive? My bet goes with the cockroaches.

Or is she suggesting that humans currently include more than one species? Can she name them and advise which one(s) she wants exterminated?

I was thinking about this quote in an earlier comment:

We all know that "millennium" comes from the Latin words "mille" and "annus" and means a thousand years. The word "millenium" comes from the Latin words "mille" and "anus" and means something else.

Well, anus has two meanings in latin, depending on whether the 'u' is long or short. The one, we are very familiar with in english. The other, refers to an elderly woman or a hag. When people speak of millenium, just remember the thousand hags who brought you this message!