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by glitchc 1776 days ago
It's a sad indictment of the times when people feel that having a million subscribers (read: being popular) is more notable than having a PhD (read: expert training) in a relevant field.

It's no wonder anti-vaccine material is so widespread. Someone famous on Youtube said it was bad, it must be true!
2 comments
danpalmer 1775 days ago
Subscribers do so for a reason. In this case not insignificantly because of expert training.

I'd suggest that very few YouTubers are popular because they are popular, in fact I think this is fairly rare in general. I think it's more likely that they provide some value to their audiences. I think looking down on "celebrity culture" often fails to account for the types of value that one doesn't value themselves.

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glitchc 1775 days ago
Re the first statement, that’s complete horseshit. Celebrity culture is all about being part of a cult following and finding like-minded people. Any correlation to objective fact or basis in reality is purely coincidental, and has no bearing on the quality of the person or the content of the movement being followed.

I totally get that you value Gig Hadid’s opinion on wardrobe whereas I don’t, nor do I judge, to each his/her own. But, to claim that her opinion is more accurate/better/truthful to that of a respected fashion designer or industry expert is inherently flawed. Wearing clothes is not the same as designing them.

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kube-system 1775 days ago
I think it's just a simple matter of the relative exclusivity of those accomplishments.

If I asked you who Woodrow Wilson was, what would you respond with?

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glitchc 1775 days ago
That’s a false dichotomy. Being a president is tangentially related to exceptional intelligence.

A better example would be Brian May (of Queen). No correlation between academic credentials and artistic career. There, if the article were about black holes and May had an opinion, I would expect the reporter to cite his PhD, making it a (potentially) informed opinion.

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kube-system 1775 days ago
The people who have top YouTube channels also have exceptional intelligence. Maybe less so in logical intelligence or rote memorization, but more so in other intelligences.

> A better example would be Brian May (of Queen). No correlation between academic credentials and artistic career

I am not sure why that example is better -- Muller's academic credentials are very well related to his career. As were Wilson's.

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