Our fearful leader and at least one minion are insisting that Tylenol causes autism. Aside from all the other indications that neither of them is actually qualified to make such an assertion, the only connection thus far is an association, not a causation. How do they explain all the autism cases which happened long before Tylenol was developed? Time travel?
Association means basically coincidence. Sometimes things happen at the same time or in close location. The example I love for this one is the following: In the summer, more people go swimming. (Yeah, because it's hot.) In the summer, incidence of shark bites increases. The erroneous conclusion from that is believing summer heat makes sharks bite. There is association, not causation.
How about this one? Brilliant color changes in leaves happen in the fall (around here anyway.) In the fall kids go to school, and I tend to go around with my camera taking pictures. Therefore my camera - or school classes - cause the color changes. The links are just association. One might be tempted to think it's the colors causing my camera to go around, dragging me with it. But how do you then explain me taking shots of scenery in other locations, seasons? Or how about all the flowers I shoot, or wildlife when I can find it? Or weird icicles? Sunsets? Mountains? Progress in a construction project? I pretty much shoot everything but people, and occasionally even them. My camera has a lot of powers, but color changes isn't one of them. Those happen in my computer of course, and in no way affect the real world.
And the kids of course continue to school in other seasons. If they were smart enough to work through the year and avoid having to take summer classes, then they can head out to the oceans and see if heat can make sharks bite!
Back to the Tylenol stupidity. A lot of things happen while one is pregnant. Different foods are eaten, and often thrown up. Sleep can be disturbed. The sun rises and sets, seasons change, different constellations are visible in dark skies. Birds migrate, insects have their life cycles, TV programs change, sports teams win or lose. In short, nothing stays stagnant. If one wished to pick a cause for autism, without any research, anything in the entire planet for that span of time could be blamed.
Believing it to be recent is extremely silly. A diagnostic chart has been amended to include it in another category, which in no way changes anything except a name. Let's not forget that a large segment of society used to hide disabled children away in institutions so their families didn't "need" to be embarrassed, inconvenienced, or be deemed by society to be unmarriageable. These days we tend to recognized that many of them are capable of extraordinary accomplishments, and even more are easily able to contribute meaningfully to society, and steal our hearts. Autism is a difference that need not be thought a disability.
We are also becoming more aware of the genetic contribution as a causal agent. So why blame one of the safest painkillers we have to use? Knowing the tendency of our fearful leader to wreak vengeance on those who criticize him and his policies, I find a need to question, "What did Tylenlol ever do to him?" Or is this just another d his idiotic and dangerous ideas like drinking bleach in order to kill a virus?
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