Medgadget, though a blog, has always had the policy of providing professionally edited information to our readers. In important matters such as medicine, we believe expertise is absolutely essential, and we are often shocked by websites that attempt to revert long established practices that, more often than not, are not subject to debate among physicians and industry researchers. Yet claims to the safety of contact with mercury abound, the dangers of vaccinations are over-hyped, and pregnant women are regularly promoted the idea of choosing to give “natural” birth with a midwife in the comfort of their home. The result? Babies born at home tend to have more problems afterward, and contagious preventable diseases are on the rise.
Much of this “information” stems from the nature of the Internet itself. When one’s expertise in a subject often counts for naught, people, who for whatever personal reason tend to provide their uneducated version of truth to an unsuspecting public, become experts.
Dutch filmmaker IJsbrand van Veelen has been extremely critical of this trend and the dangers that it implies, and has produced a film with a particular focus on Wikipedia and the nature of its content:
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