Vaccine "truthers" represent belief ruling over truth

In a recent interview, reality TV star Kristin Cavallari remarked that see would not be vaccinating any of her children in the future because of the dangers she perceived vaccines to have, specifically that they caused autism in children. This public declaration is not only significant because she is the wife of Bears quarterback Jay Cutler but because anytime somebody with the means to put forth their opinion does so without restriction, there is the possibility that major harm can be done. Cavallari is convinced that mercury levels in vaccines are contributing to the rise in autism diagnoses and since she is convinced by whatever science she prescribes to, her words may alter minds for the worse. Dr. Kenneth Alexander, chief of the section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Chicago believes “any association between vaccines and autism has long been disproven," but ultimately my concern is not specifically about this issue. It is that what some conclude to be the true is, in fact, simply a belief that is unsubstantiated.

Most Americans probably don't live their lives cross checking ever statement that they hear and I would not advocate that but what I would advocate is formulating conclusions based on some form of hard evidence. If all the government agencies in charge of regulating medicine cannot find a correlation between autism and vaccines, I going to take them at their word because they are professionals and I am not. It's as simple as that because they have the research, or perhaps it's not and the whole operation is an elaborate conspiracy. That may seem like an explanation to some but again there is no evidence to support that or ever the slightest motive so I, personally, will not jump to that conclusion. I'm not sure I can say the same for Cavallari.

Occam's Razor is the principle that the simplest explanation is usually the right one. The idea that the most logically and factually sound hypothesis usually is correct. Cavallari sighted the increase in autism and the increase in mercury within vaccines during her interview. These statements were meant to represent a causative relationship between the two. I'm not an expert but the two could be completely unrelated or at best, simply bare a correlation. Perhaps the diagnosing of autism has changed over the past decade or pollutants have played a role instead. The most likely conclusion is not that the two are directly related, the  conclusion made by my favorite quarterback's wife, is just a belief. 

Little children believe in the tooth fairly, they can't prove it but what does it matter. They don't actively seek the truth but what matters to them is they know it to be correct. In our society today, it seems as though it is encouraged to act on your understanding of concepts before what is conventional thought to be correct. Truthfully, I have no problem with that sentiment, I admire people of strong convictions. Yet when they choose to justify delicate actions with unfounded science on such a public medium, I cringe. People are going to believe what they want to believe and nothing can change that. I only hope that more factual inconsistencies are not broadcast to the world as fact, label them what they are, beliefs.