Jon Stewart uses zombies to mock the 'mindful stupidity' of rich, liberal anti-vaxxers

Epidemiologists darkly joke that they can predict the next preventable-disease outbreak by drawing a circle around Whole Foods stores on a map. Jon Stewart took a similar tack in his Daily Show rundown of the resurgent measles virus in America, noting that some of the least vaccinated communities in the U.S. are wealthy liberal enclaves in California.

"This is Marin County!" Stewart said, mocking a woman in a TV clip who'd said her tony pocket of the San Francisco Bay Area is a liberal, thoughtful, "well-educated group of people" who may choose not to vaccinate "for a good reason." You see, Stewart said, "they're not rednecks, they're not ignorant — they practice a mindful stupidity." Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) get their share of abuse for their vaccine comments. "Vaccine ignorance seems to have created some strange hospital bedfellows, uniting the fringe of left and right," Stewart said, and then he very effectively explained why vaccines are important using an extended, delightful zombie analogy. Watch below. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.