A Cost of Cynicism: The Preventable Death of a Child

Stuff happens. That was the response of a cynical U.S. health secretary last week to the needless death of a child from measles in the midst of an outbreak growing worse in Texas and New Mexico. The situation tells us the cost of cynicism can be death – in this case, the death of an innocent child. The worst thing, however, is that too many people seem to be content with this.

We are not – and we have a simple reason.

A Bright Line Between Healthy Skepticism and Toxic Cynicism

Simply put, skepticism can be healthy, but cynicism is toxic.

With healthy skepticism, we ask questions, seek facts, and think through possible solutions to problems. This includes questioning – but not disregarding – conventional wisdom. This is how we overcome entrenched biases and correct past errors.

Without healthy skepticism, we would still be stuck with the false assumption that the one and only best solution to obesity is eat less and move more. So, yes, skepticism is good and healthy.

Cynicism and Mistrust

But cynicism takes mistrust to the extreme. It leads people to reject facts and reason so they can stick with a narrative that “feels right.” A recent study suggests that a large part of this can come from our growing exposure to digital disinformation and deep fakes.

Writing in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Qiang Liu, Lin Wang, and Mengyu Luo describe their experiments to show that exposure to deep fakes can leave people cynical and mistrustful of news and facts. They tell us it “fosters a cynical outlook and diminishes trust in news content, contributing to a broader societal crisis of trust.”

Consequences

West Texas is seeing the consequences of cynicism. A child has died from a disease that had been eradicated in 2000. That disease is back because of people who promoted cynicism about the vaccines that eradicated it.

When confronted by a flood of lies, it is quite natural to become cynical. But it is far healthier to stay skeptical and hold fast to what is true – all while seeking deeper truths.

Click here and here for more on the consequences of cynicism about measles vaccination in West Texas. The study by Liu, Wang, and Luo, is available here, and further perspective on cynicism and skepticism is here.

The Angel of Death, painting by Edvard Munch / Wikimedia Commons

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March 2, 2025