Dr.Who
Well-Known Member
Jumping the shark of course means to say or do something dramatic as opposed to, say making a merely boring observation.
Person A:
"One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.
-Obama
The truth of the matter is that his case was investigated, he was found innocent, he never had a lapse coverage, he got his treatment, and lived for years after.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/09/heartbreaking-wrong-and-not-quite-accurate/
So did person A jump the shark?
Person B:
"There's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate," [] "She said her daughter was given that vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine." "This is a very real concern and people have to draw their own conclusions."
-Bachman
(in the following days she went on to clarify that she was not speaking as a doctor and was just relaying how one woman felt)
(but that did not stop the headlines)
Person C:
Bachmann: Gardasil causes “mental retardation”
Bachmann claims HPV vaccine might cause ‘mental retardation’
Bachmann accuses Perry of 'crony capitalism' and claims HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation
-media headlines
The truth of the matter is that the vaccine does list as side effects; seizures, high fevers, and encephalitis, all of which can cause what any of us would call mental retardation. In fact, according to VAERS a database of medical case histories:
Approx 3 weeks after getting 1st set of Gardasil, patient complained that she was weak and was having a hard time speaking. On 11/29/08 patient had 2 seizures. She was was taken to the ER. Since the first few days of her illness, she stopped being able to talk, walk and has been completely unresponsive. She is on a ventilator & has a feeding tube. She has neurological movements. All of the testing done shows that patient has encephalitis. The cause of the Encephalitis is a reaction to the Gardasil Vaccine... FINAL DX: meningoencephalitis w/significant mental changes & seizures Records reveal patient experienced seizure that progressed to loss of speech, sustained focal seizures... seizure disorder; history of depression w/suicidal attempts... not able to follow commands... severe neurological damage. Now w/fever, hypotension & decreased mental status[.]
There are other case histories like that one and in total we learn that 8% of VAERS reports following the vaccine patients experience a serious effect such as death. It is not at all unreasonable for a mother to think that mental retardation following a vaccine might be caused by the vaccine and it is not at all unreasonable for a politician to say that people should draw their own conclusions. Nor it is irresponsible for a politician to wonder about links to retardation when there is a clear link to death.
So which two from the list of A, B and C, most jumped the shark?
[and by the way, while looking this up I read the politfact account. After their article hemming and hawing about the Presidents truthfulness they end the article with the not-so-climactic words "So we rate the president's statement False." But the meter pictured next to the article was of a "False" meter THAT READS ZERO. Really? It was false but zero false? They didn't even address the fact that the president said it happens every day but could not find even one accurate example.]
Person A:
"One man from Illinois lost his coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because his insurer found that he hadn't reported gallstones that he didn't even know about. They delayed his treatment, and he died because of it.
-Obama
The truth of the matter is that his case was investigated, he was found innocent, he never had a lapse coverage, he got his treatment, and lived for years after.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/09/heartbreaking-wrong-and-not-quite-accurate/
So did person A jump the shark?
Person B:
"There's a woman who came up crying to me tonight after the debate," [] "She said her daughter was given that vaccine. She told me her daughter suffered mental retardation as a result of that vaccine." "This is a very real concern and people have to draw their own conclusions."
-Bachman
(in the following days she went on to clarify that she was not speaking as a doctor and was just relaying how one woman felt)
(but that did not stop the headlines)
Person C:
Bachmann: Gardasil causes “mental retardation”
Bachmann claims HPV vaccine might cause ‘mental retardation’
Bachmann accuses Perry of 'crony capitalism' and claims HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation
-media headlines
The truth of the matter is that the vaccine does list as side effects; seizures, high fevers, and encephalitis, all of which can cause what any of us would call mental retardation. In fact, according to VAERS a database of medical case histories:
Approx 3 weeks after getting 1st set of Gardasil, patient complained that she was weak and was having a hard time speaking. On 11/29/08 patient had 2 seizures. She was was taken to the ER. Since the first few days of her illness, she stopped being able to talk, walk and has been completely unresponsive. She is on a ventilator & has a feeding tube. She has neurological movements. All of the testing done shows that patient has encephalitis. The cause of the Encephalitis is a reaction to the Gardasil Vaccine... FINAL DX: meningoencephalitis w/significant mental changes & seizures Records reveal patient experienced seizure that progressed to loss of speech, sustained focal seizures... seizure disorder; history of depression w/suicidal attempts... not able to follow commands... severe neurological damage. Now w/fever, hypotension & decreased mental status[.]
There are other case histories like that one and in total we learn that 8% of VAERS reports following the vaccine patients experience a serious effect such as death. It is not at all unreasonable for a mother to think that mental retardation following a vaccine might be caused by the vaccine and it is not at all unreasonable for a politician to say that people should draw their own conclusions. Nor it is irresponsible for a politician to wonder about links to retardation when there is a clear link to death.
So which two from the list of A, B and C, most jumped the shark?
[and by the way, while looking this up I read the politfact account. After their article hemming and hawing about the Presidents truthfulness they end the article with the not-so-climactic words "So we rate the president's statement False." But the meter pictured next to the article was of a "False" meter THAT READS ZERO. Really? It was false but zero false? They didn't even address the fact that the president said it happens every day but could not find even one accurate example.]
