(This is a comment)

For some reason, I can't comment, but this is actually a comment to Caitlin H's comment on the "Jim Carrey, Shame On You" post. Sorry about that. Anyway:

I think your point about an intentional scare by the media is very interesting. I think it’s mostly Jenny McCarthy’s fault that the autism/vaccine business is so prevalent. She can create and sustain attention via her own celebrity status. Without her, I think that the autism/vaccine theory would still just be circulating conspiracy theory forums on the internet. Instead, I’ve always associated the "vaccines cause autism" movement with Jenny McCarthy, and vice versa. I think that when a person has anecdotal evidence, which is shared with a group of people with similar evidence, that group gets much stronger when a celebrity joins in and takes the lead. I think that having a famous person share a similar experience validates the view for many people, because it’s not just another anonymous person on the internet, it’s a real, famous person that everyone knows. And I think that having a famous leader for a cause probably makes that cause a lot harder to beat.