Ross: ‘The Brady Bunch’ isn’t an excuse to not get vaccinated
Apr 30, 2019, 7:44 AM | Updated: 10:23 am
(ABC)
(ABC)
The weirdest twist in the measles debate has to be the use of a 1969 “Brady Bunch” episode to argue against vaccination.
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The episode was re-discovered (and re-purposed) in February, as the most recent measles outbreak started to spread. It shows the Brady kids more than happy to get out of school.
“This is the life isn’t it,” one of the Brady kids exclaims.
“Yeah! If you have to get sick, you sure can’t beat the measles,” another responds.
Then, someone makes the mistake of mentioning shots.
“Don’t even mention shots! Yuck!”
It doesn’t get more on-message than that.
So, somebody headlined it, “The measles didn’t kill the Brady Bunch,” and a meme was born.
And yet, it’s weird because anti-vaccination groups usually use statistics and studies (however questionable) to argue their case.
This is a “Brady Bunch” episode, questionable as a source of humor, never mind medical advice.
As a child of the 60s, I feel entitled to a few observations.
First I don’t recall the measles, or mumps, or chicken pox being at all fun.
Second, this longing for a more innocent time ignores the realities of innocence: We had great parents, but they also smoked, put us in flammable pajamas, gave us toys with small parts, and drove us around in cars filled with leaded gas, where the restraint system was mom slamming her right arm into your belly as she hit the brake.
That most of us survived those days, doesn’t mean we should repeat them.
Not to mention dinner often included vegetables suspended in Jello.
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