Michael Goudeau, writer and producer for Penn & Teller: Bullshit! and co-host of PennRadio, has written an excellent article for the James Randi Educational Foundation. That’s My Kid Too is his response to an anti-vaccination documentary that could have been directed by Leni Riefenstahl.
Goudeau, like me, responds the only way we know how:
You see that part towards the end of the movie trailer where parents are talking about the improvements they’re seeing in their children? That’s my kid’s story too. He is in a regular school, in a regular 3rd grade class, and he’s keeping up with the other kids. He laughs and plays. He tells us he loves us. We didn’t change his diet or put him through dancing witch doctor cures. We spend a lot of time teaching him the things he needs to learn. We taught him to look at people when they talk to him and a zillion other things that kids should do naturally. The improvements are amazing. We’re lucky that way. Diet and detox be damned, I’m pretty sure this is the one thing all of those parents in the film who are claiming the great improvements did.
The time and money wasted on the documentary could have been used to fund and staff another scientific study, but the answer may not have made the conspiracy theorists happy.
Mr. Goudeau was awesome as the “sidekick” to Penn on their radio show (which I miss greatly). I remember him speaking briefly at times about “his kid”; always could feel the love and pride in his voice. Perhaps if someone had loved Jenny McCarthy in that way, there wouldn’t be a “controversy” now. Keep speaking up, Mr. Goudeau… even when it’s hard to be heard over Mr.Jillette’s baritone.
Can a brother get a monkey Thursday?
Starts with a “T”, not far away in the week…