This is a very small symptom of a much more dire malady: scientific illiteracy at all levels of society. The scope of science covers all existence, and yet, it

This is a very small symptom of a much more dire malady: scientific illiteracy at all levels of society. The scope of science covers all existence, and yet, it has increasingly been confined to academia and research. The applications of scientific discoveries are nowhere to be seen in politics, economics, or law. Starting in WWI, and ending with the Cold War, was the era of institutional science. During these times, scientists were respected and their input considered at every level of government. Yet, once the Cold War ended, it was back to business as usual. Science funding was cut, and scientists were exiled back to the lab, and replaced with financiers. The MMR/autism zealots are a small blip in a much larger, metastasizing sickness in western society. Scientists, who are experts in the empirical rationalism which made the west what is today, are now marginalized and discredited as advisors to the public. You reap what you sow. As NIH and NSF funding is cut, and STEM grads fight for dwindling employment opportunities, cases like this will become more and more common. A society without science at its foundation is doomed to struggle in the dark forever. Tragically, it appears even those gifted with the flame of elucidation neglect it, allowing it to dwindle to embers, putting them back into the very darkness from whence they came.