She's radical. She's outspoken. She's amusing. She's insane. She's even moderately attractive. She is, quite simply, absolutely entertaining.
But Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, while being all of those things, is also dangerous.
Two weeks ago, at a Republican Party debate, a trivial issue was brought up by a few of the candidates. During his time as governor, Texas Gov. and GOP hopeful Rick Perry endorsed an executive order requiring girls entering the sixth grade to receive a vaccination against the human papillomavirus, an STD responsible for cervical cancer among women. Despite the fact that parents were able to opt out of the procedure with a simple form, the order was rejected by the Texas legislature.
It's a black mark against Perry that has surfaced numerous times during his campaign, particularly since it represents a government intrusion into private life.
And if you believe Bachmann's claims, it's also an action that would have jeopardized the mental health of countless young women.
During the debate, Bachmann was clear. Perry's order was a "government injection" of "innocent little...girls." And the vaccine? A "potentially dangerous drug."
Following the debate, Bachmann went one step further, telling our beloved Fox News she had met an audience member who claimed to have a child who had suffered "mental retardation" as a result of the vaccination.
The next day, Bachmann's claims were deemed so egregiously untruthful that the American Pediatric Association felt the need to step in with a press release stating that "there is absolutely no scientific validity to this statement."
If this all sounds eerily familiar, it's because this is not the first time these criticisms have been levied against vaccines.
For years, actress Jenny McCarthy has been championing against vaccinations, claiming they resulted in the emergence of autism in her own son and in countless other children across the nation. She continues to fight for her cause despite repeated scientific studies showing no link between vaccines and autism.
To be quite clear, vaccines do not cause mental retardation in children. They are not dangerous. They can and do save lives.
Bachmann lied.
In some ways, it's not her fault.
You don't blame a child for thinking Paul Revere rode his horse to scare away the British. It's not true, and somebody really needs to step in and give that child a more appropriate education. But it's a single misguided kid. They're not responsible for spouting this nonsense because nobody expects them to be.
And really, even if Bachmann wasn't out there fighting the uninformed tea party cause, somebody else would be.
The issue at hand is not that people like Bachmann exist. There's no stopping that. What's problematic is the fact that we pay attention to them.
Sure, most of it is out of mockery. Bachmann is not a serious contender for the GOP nomination. Even Herman Cain is looking better than she is. We follow Bachmann in the news not because she could become our next president, but because we love hearing the absurd things that come out of her mouth. But there's a point where shameless entertainment segues into a legitimate cause for concern.
For every one of us who wisely takes every single thing Bachmann says with a grain of salt, there's a person out there who heard her criticism of vaccinations and took her words to heart.
There's at least one mother out there who is now much less likely to vaccinate her daughter against a potentially deadly disease.
By giving Bachmann a platform, we've given her the ability to influence and persuade. We've made her a danger to society.
Her social conservatism, if it were to become public policy, would be detrimental to America.
But simply listening to her state it might be just as bad.
Alex Guilmartin is a psychology and pre-law senior at UF. His column appears on Thursdays.
