The Wall Street Journal had a large piece the other day on the measles outbreak in Texas. A few counties in extreme west Texas, bordering on the state line with New Mexico, have seen a surge in measles cases, and there have been a handful of reported deaths. Measles, as most people know, is one of the most contagious diseases known to mankind--something like 20 percent of unvaccinated people who get it must be hospitalized--yet the disease can be defended against by a simple vaccination.

That hasn't stopped the vaccine skeptics. Because of course it hasn't.

One vaccine skeptic told the Journal reporter: "This is west Texas. We don't believe in that."

There you have it.

This is what doctors, scientists, public health workers and the rest of us are up against. As if the prevention of a deadly disease--and the protection of other humans who, for some real reason, can't get the shot--is as simple as brushing off an East Coast sports team, pork-based barbecue or pronouncing the nut pe-cahn or pee-can: We don't believe in that around here.

The problem is, pronouncing the dessert pee-can pie doesn't get people killed.