TikTok Is Flooded With Health Myths. These Creators Are Pushing Back.
“I’m willing to bet you know at least one girl that’s using steroids every single day,” starts a young man in a TikTok video.
“我敢打赌,你至少认识一个每天都在使用类固醇的女孩,”一名年轻男子在一段TikTok视频中说。
He stares into the camera, continuing his big, yet notably false, reveal: “One in three girls these days is taking the birth control pill, and believe it or not, the birth control pill is actually an analog of the bodybuilding steroid nandrolone.”
他凝视镜头,继续带来明显虚假的大爆料:“如今,每三个女孩当中就有一个在服用避孕药,信不信由你,避孕药实际上是塑身类固醇诺龙的类似物。”
Another face swiftly crowds the screen. Dressed in a white lab coat, the debunker Mustafa Dhahir, a practicing pharmacist and medical student based in Australia, interrupts the video with his own commentary: “One of the most annoying things when it comes to busting misinformation is that the people who spread the misinformation use hints of truth to spread their lies.”
另一张脸迅速出现在屏幕上。身穿白色实验室大褂的辟谣者穆斯塔法·达希尔是一位生活在澳大利亚的执业药剂师和医学院学生,他打断了一个视频,并评论道:“辟谣时最令人恼火的事情之一就是,传播错误信息的人会利用少许真相来传播他们的谎言。”
Mr. Dhahir explains what a steroid is and then goes point by point to illustrate why the original video — which claims oral contraception causes a medley of symptoms, including changes in sexual attraction — is inaccurate. “This guy is simply using scare tactics,” Mr. Dhahir tells the viewer, noting that there are many birth control options with varying sets of side effects.
达希尔解释了什么是类固醇,然后一点一点地解释了为什么原始视频——声称口服避孕药会导致一系列症状,包括性魅力出现变化——是不准确的。“这家伙只是在使用恐吓的手段,”达希尔告诉观众,他指出,避孕方法有很多,其副作用各不相同。
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a medley of 混合物,大杂烩:a mixture of different types of the same thing which produces an interesting or unusual effect,比如说:•an exotic medley of smells各种气味的奇特混合•a medley of architectural styles各种不同建筑风格的大杂烩
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sets of /a set of〔物品的〕一套,一副,一组:a group of similar things that belong together or are related in some way,可以是接实物,也可以是抽象物体,比如说:•a set of tools一套工具•We face a new set of problems.我们面临一系列新的问题。•The older generation have a different set of values.老一辈人有一套不同的价值观。
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Mr. Dhahir is part of a growing cohort of scientists, physicians, health care professionals and academics who debunk health misinformation on TikTok by “stitching” videos, which involves clipping existing videos into new ones and then offering one’s own input. While social media platforms including TikTok have developed systems to flag vaccine misinformation, an ocean of other dubious health claims often go unscrutinized — except when individual users like him, who have actual medical knowledge, push back.
越来越多的科学家、医生、医疗专业人士和学者通过“拼接”视频来揭穿TikTok上的错误健康信息,也就是将原有视频剪入新的视频,然后提供自己的意见,达希尔也是其中之一。虽然包括TikTok在内的社交媒体平台已经开发出了标记疫苗错误信息的系统,但其他大量可疑的健康相关说法往往不受审查——除非有达希尔这样拥有实际医学知识的个人用户提出反驳。
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【写作积累】growing ,increasing这种词汇可以替换常见的more and more,都是表示“越来越多”的意思,increasing in size, amount or degree,举个例子: A growing number of people are returning to full-time education.越来越多的人重返学校接受全日制教育。There is growing concern over the safety of the missing teenager. 人们对这个失踪少年的安全越来越担心。
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cohort of · (有共同特点或举止类同的)一群人,一批人:a group of people who share a common feature or aspect of behaviour,比如说:•Mark and his cohorts eventually emerged from the studio.马克和他的那些同伙终于从工作室里出来了。
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debunk /diː'bʌŋk/ v.证明〔观点或观念〕错误: to show that an idea or belief is false,比如说:•His claims were later debunked by fellow academics.他的断言后来被学术界同行证明是错误的。
“Misinformation impacts medical decisions and health,” said Mr. Dhahir, who began responding to false claims on TikTok at the start of the pandemic and has since amassed 9.5 million likes on his videos. He has debunked claims that contraception makes women infertile, that only “natural” medicine can be trusted and that Tylenol is linked to autism.
“错误信息会影响医疗决定和健康,”达希尔说。疫情暴发之初,他就开始在TikTok上辟谣,自那以后,他的视频获得了950万个赞。他驳斥了有关避孕会使女性不孕、只有“天然”药物才值得信任,以及泰诺和自闭症有关的说法。
The work is often draining. Unqualified influencers posting misinformation far outnumber the experts debunking it, who are often harassed by other users for their efforts. “For every large creator who is genuinely evidence-based, you’ve got 50 or 60 big creators who spread misinformation,” said Dr. Idrees Mughal, a Britain-based physician with an additional masters in nutritional research, whose account, @dr_idz, has 1 million followers. He debunks fad diets, unsupported claims that food ingredients are “cancer-causing” and the myth that certain vegetables contain harmful “toxic” chemicals. Misinformation is so ubiquitous that Dr. Mughal says he is tagged in 100 to 200 videos a day from users requesting that he debunk claims. “People are looking for genuine science-based, evidence-based creators,” he said.
这项工作经常让人精疲力竭。发布错误信息的不合格网红数量远超辟谣的专家,后者还经常因为自己的努力而受到其他用户骚扰。“每出现一个真正讲证据的大创作者,就会出现五六十个传播错误信息的大创作者,”英国医生、拥有营养研究硕士学位的埃德里斯·马格尔说,他的账户 @dr_idz 有100万粉丝。他驳斥了流行的饮食法、未经证实的食物成分“致癌”的说法、某些蔬菜含有害的“有毒”化学物质的错误。错误信息无处不在,马格尔说,每天有100到200个用户标记他,要求他出来辟谣。他说:“人们正在寻找真正讲科学、讲证据的创作者。”
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draining adj.令人精疲力竭的,近义词为exhausting,比如说:an exhausting and draining experience令人精疲力竭的一段经历
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Unqualified /ʌn'kwɒlɪfaɪd/ adj.无资格的,不合格的: not having the right knowledge, experience, or education to do something,常见介词搭配为:
【+ for 】:•He was unqualified for the job.他干这份工作不够格。
【unqualified to do sth】:•I feel unqualified to advise you.我觉得自己没有资格向你提建议。
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harass /'hærəs/ v.骚扰:to make someone's life unpleasant, for example by frequently saying offensive things to them or threatening them,比如说:•A number of black youths have complained of being harassed by the police.一些黑人青年投诉受到警察骚扰。•One woman engineer claimed that she had been sexually harassed by a male manager.一位女工程师声称遭到过一位男性经理性骚扰。
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ubiquitous /juː'bɪkwɪtəs/ adj.无所不在的;随处可见的;If you describe something or someone as ubiquitous, you mean that they seem to be everywhere. 比如说:Sugar is ubiquitous in the diet.糖在这种饮食里随处可见。
The business of debunking is time-consuming. Scripting, filming and editing, not to mention managing comments — which sometimes also breed misinformation when users share counterarguments — can take hours each day. To attract an audience, each video must accurately convey the science but must also be entertaining and approach the topic with nuance and sensitivity, all while grabbing the viewer’s attention within 15 seconds.
辟谣是很耗费时间的。每天要用上数小时写脚本、拍摄和剪辑,更别说还要做评论管理——评论区有时也是滋生不实信息的地方,用户会在里面发表他们的反驳言论。要想吸引观众,每一条视频在准确传达科学知识的同时,还必须够娱乐,微妙且细腻地对待这些话题,同时要在15秒内抓住观众的注意力。
It doesn’t help that debunking often won’t pay the bills, as many myth busters refrain from accepting sponsorships to prevent a conflict of interest. Ms. Wong accepts sponsorships, but like others who work with brands, she is selective, avoiding clients with deceptive marketing practices or cure-all claims.
更糟的是,辟谣往往不能带来收入,因为许多专门做这一行的人会拒绝接受赞助,为的是避免产生利益冲突。黄接受了赞助,不过和其他与品牌合作的人一样,她很挑剔,会避开那些用欺骗性营销手段或自称包治百病的客户。
Once a debunker has an audience, the work of maintaining and building an account can also lead to burnout. Like most influencers, they put pressure on themselves to excel. As Dr. Austin Chiang, a gastroenterologist with over a half-million TikTok followers, explained, they often blame themselves if their content underperforms. “We think, is it because my messaging isn’t good?” he said. “Is it because the quality of the video isn’t good?”
一旦找到了观众,维护和经营一个账号的工作能让辟谣者感到倦怠。和多数的网红一样,他们会强迫自己去做得更好。有50万TikTok粉丝的肠胃病医生奥斯汀·蒋(音)解释说,有时候内容出来反响不佳,他们就会自责。“我们会想,是因为我的讯息传达不行吗?”他说。“是因为视频的质量不行?”