Researchers at the University of Toronto have concluded that videos on YouTube are promoting a lot of misinformation about vaccinations and immunizations, according to an article in the most recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The researchers found that more than half of the 153 videos they evaluated in February painted a negative or confusing picture of vaccinations. And videos that were doubtful about the benefits of immunizations were more popular than videos that portrayed immunizations positively. The researchers said their study “shows that a significant amount of immunization content on YouTube contradicts the best scientific evidence at large.” —Andrea L. Foster
16 Responses to YouTube Gets Thumbs Down About Vaccination Information
pflady - May 4, 2012 at 9:24 am
This boomer is definitely not a hipster. I had to look up (google) what Moleskines were.
11182967 - May 4, 2012 at 10:23 am
But where are the beatniks? Beats may be something of a transition between 50′s hipsters and 60′s hippies, but are sufficiently distinct to be neither. Ginsburg, Ferlinghetti, Corso, et al . . . goateed turtle-necked poets reading hip poetry to cool jazz in clubs called The Purple Pickle and Upstairs at the Downstairs. These were the antecedents and fellow travelers of George Carlin and Shelley Berman, inspired the Steve McQueen (turtleneck, sportcoat over jeans in a world of white shirts and narrow ties) character in Bullitt (complete with long-haired girlfriend), set the milieu for Peter Gunn, and were parodied by Bob Denver as Maynard G. Krebs. For those of us who graduated from high school ca. 1960, the beatnik was the quintessential hipster of our late secondary and undergraduate years.
115thDream - May 4, 2012 at 10:30 am
“Hip, with the meaning “to be in the know,” is common to all
these generations. It’s first found in the language of the Lost
Generation. A 1908 example from Jonathan Lighter’s Historical Dictionary of American Slang…”
Some (David Dalby) have suggested that this comes from the West African Wolof verb ‘hipi,’ which means ‘to open ones eyes.’ I myself don’t read linguists and don’t have any idea who Dalby is…I got this from Robert Palmer’s Deep Blues (1981). I do like to read about the blues.
Richard Grayson - May 4, 2012 at 10:57 am
Maybe it’s living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but I find myself amazed that you think anyone could not be aware of hipsters. Is it possible to write “If you’re not a Millennial, you may not have noticed that with hippies long gone, hipsters are back with us again” without joking or assuming your audience has been in a coma during the entire present century? Who the f— do you think you’re dealing with? I’m over 60 and nobody I know, including my father and my great-aunt, isn’t aware of hipsterdom.
Hipsters are everywhere and dominate our culture. (An even better website than the one you mention is Hipster Runoff; hipster haters can look at Look at This F—— Hipster.) What’s fascinating to me is how long the hipster moment has lasted: at least a decade. The hippies didn’t last very long: from ’67-’73 or so. The literary magazine n+1 a couple of years ago brought out “What Was the Hipster?” (http://nplusonemag.com/what-was-hipster ) but the hipster shows no signs of leaving us after at least a dozen years in the spotlight. As one who expected the hipster’s time to be up a couple of years ago, I’m starting think that hipsters will always be with us.
Of course, things always seem to be with us forever until suddenly we realize they’re not.
chicoescuela - May 4, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Most people know the Thirteenth Generation as Generation X. I don’t think it was necessary to change it.
Mr. Grayson, isn’t Williamsburg known as “the hipster capital of the world?”
chacona - May 4, 2012 at 1:41 pm
That’s hip.
chacona - May 4, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Hippies didn’t last? I worked at a food co-op for four years. Their hair is shorter and the middles broader, but they are most certainly still with us. You can find one or more in just about every Volvo.
mjulietd - May 7, 2012 at 9:26 am
My 16 year old daughter insists I’m a hipster. I’ve given up arguing with her because the more I deny it, the more she says, of course you won’t admit it, you’re too hip for that. arrgh.
Steve Maloney - May 8, 2012 at 8:00 pm
‘Hipster’ today is a derogatory term. Very few people willingly identify as such.
McLicious - May 8, 2012 at 9:12 pm
I love this. Have you seen the Hipster Olympics?
happyprof - May 8, 2012 at 10:05 pm
No, no… hipsters are so 2009. That’s over and done. Now, we’re on to a strictly post-hipster world, where hipster attire is worn strictly for the purposes of irony. Catch up!
westtexas - May 10, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Am I the only one who still, every time, hears the word “Homeland” and thinks of Germany?
dank48 - May 10, 2012 at 1:25 pm
Do you mean as in Heimatssicherheitsabteilung?
art_adjunct - May 10, 2012 at 2:45 pm
hipster = art school uniform
joejoe1 - May 10, 2012 at 8:17 pm
No, you’re not. And thanks for mentioning it.
dietapabajarpeso - May 15, 2012 at 11:48 am
The present-day hipster isn’t destroyed by drugs but also isn’t the mellow hippie. Instead, the hipster is lean and ascetic:
http://consejosparabajardepeso.org/tips-para-bajar-de-peso/