4 ms·

Anti-vaxxing was not started by YouTube. Provide the evidence that YouTube has inflated the problem. And by evidence I don't mean "hit pieces in traditional me

Anti-vaxxing was not started by YouTube. Provide the evidence that YouTube has inflated the problem. And by evidence I don't mean "hit pieces in traditional media that don't like the competition from social media".

yoz-y 6y ago
True. And I don't have evidence that it has inflated the problem beyond anecdata. That said I don't think it's reaching to believe it has. Anti-vaxx movement was started by a bogus publication from a then reputable source. It was blown up by ease of information spread and exacerbated by the undermined confidence in traditional media. That much is known.
- timeeater 6y ago
  I think the vaccine story has specific aspects for why it spread, not simply YouTube exposure. It provides good anecdotes, because many people get vaccinated and many people get randomly sick. So almost everybody knows an anecdote from somebody who got severely sick after vaccination. It takes basic knowledge of statistics to verify that those things are just random correlations, not causation (show that incidence of certain afflictions (like autism) is the same among vaccinated and non-vaccinated people). That is what the memes feed from. I don't think censoring would help much here, especially as most people know such stories personally. I don't know people directly, but I know people who know people who got sick after vaccination. I suspect many others do, too. Granted, anecdotes spread especially well on Social Media. It works the other way round, too. Have you heard a story of somebody who almost died, or died, from Covid, despite being young and healthy? Such incidents are very rare, but since they get shared a lot, one such personal report may be shared by thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. every one of them now feels like they "know" somebody who died from Covid despite of being young and healthy. Should such stories also be banned, to ease the psychological burden (fear) on billions of people?
  - yoz-y 6y ago
    > Should such stories also be banned, to ease the psychological burden (fear) on billions of people? No, they are clearly different. One encourages dangerous behaviour for yourself and more importantly others around you, the other does not. This is also there is not much talk about banning flat earth or moon landing conspiracies out of social media.
    - timeeater 6y ago
      Your assumption that the fear does no harm is wrong.

yoz-y 6y ago

True. And I don't have evidence that it has inflated the problem beyond anecdata. That said I don't think it's reaching to believe it has. Anti-vaxx movement was started by a bogus publication from a then reputable source. It was blown up by ease of information spread and exacerbated by the undermined confidence in traditional media. That much is known.

timeeater 6y ago
I think the vaccine story has specific aspects for why it spread, not simply YouTube exposure. It provides good anecdotes, because many people get vaccinated and many people get randomly sick. So almost everybody knows an anecdote from somebody who got severely sick after vaccination. It takes basic knowledge of statistics to verify that those things are just random correlations, not causation (show that incidence of certain afflictions (like autism) is the same among vaccinated and non-vaccinated people). That is what the memes feed from. I don't think censoring would help much here, especially as most people know such stories personally. I don't know people directly, but I know people who know people who got sick after vaccination. I suspect many others do, too. Granted, anecdotes spread especially well on Social Media. It works the other way round, too. Have you heard a story of somebody who almost died, or died, from Covid, despite being young and healthy? Such incidents are very rare, but since they get shared a lot, one such personal report may be shared by thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people. every one of them now feels like they "know" somebody who died from Covid despite of being young and healthy. Should such stories also be banned, to ease the psychological burden (fear) on billions of people?
- yoz-y 6y ago
  > Should such stories also be banned, to ease the psychological burden (fear) on billions of people? No, they are clearly different. One encourages dangerous behaviour for yourself and more importantly others around you, the other does not. This is also there is not much talk about banning flat earth or moon landing conspiracies out of social media.
  - timeeater 6y ago
    Your assumption that the fear does no harm is wrong.