Tylenol, Autism, and the Refusal to Admit You Are a Member of Society

Tylenol does not cause autism.

Whatever bullshit RFK jr. puts out, the simple fact of the matter is that Tylenol does not cause autism. Neither do vaccines. The fevers that Tylenol treat may contribute to autism but note the may in that sentence. Genes play the largest role in autism, but some environmental conditions may influence that genetic component. But vaccines and Tylenol are not among those influences. RFK jr. is, I believe, lying. I do not believe that he is too stupid to understand the falsehoods he is perpetuating. I believe that he rejects anything that questions his preferred belief about the world. Mix in some light eugenics, and you get the nonsense that Tylenol causes autism.

MAHA, like other similar health crazes, seems dedicated to the idea that you and only you control your health. They have taken the basic idea that there are things you can do to improve your health or worsen it on the edges and turned it into the be all end all of healthcare. If you take the right supplements and do the right exercises and eat the right things (including, apparently, roadkill) then you will be healthy. If you are not healthy, then, it must be because of some choice you made. You didn’t do the right things, or you did the wrong things, and so you must be to blame. This attitude is apparent in Trump’s exhortation to “tough” out a fever if you are a pregnant woman. Doing otherwise is a moral failing, in this mindset, and you get what you deserve — an autistic child.

This is nonsense, of course. I didn’t get two separate colon cancers because I didn’t do enough sit ups or buy enough of MAHA Magic Elixir and Vitamin Extract. There is a history of cancer in my family and, hey, I won the cancer lottery. Lucky me. Autism is much the same — largely genetic, and something that, well, just happens. But admitting that life is unfair means that you must also admit that it is unfair to allow people to suffer in the face of that unfairness. every major religion and basic human decency demand, then, a societal response to some kinds of situations. And that is anathema to the right wing, whether it be MAHA or MAGA.

If you admit that society should help people, then leads to taxes and regulations and giving the needs of society a seat at the table. All of that nonsense gets in the way of amassing wealth and power and control, and we can’t have that, can we? Better, surely, to pretend that life is absolutely fair and that if you get sick or laid off in a recession or have a disability it must be your fault and therefor you can be ignored. Better, surely, to blame mothers (the misogyny is a nice little bonus for some people, it must be said) for treating fevers than admit that a decent person, a decent society, would help look after all its members. Better, surely, to let the devil take the hindmost rather than admit to yourself the truth about the world, and what that truth says about you.