It fascinates me how many people have YouTube Channels about topics they are unqualified to discuss. I don’t spend a lot of time on YouTube, but being a foodie I have found it useful for recipes, cooking techniques, and fitness routines in a futile attempt to make up for the fact that I’m a foodie. Using this algorithm, YouTube makes suggestions for channels or videos with similar topics (some of which are paid promotions). 

I used to look at these suggestions in the hope of finding something helpful or useful. What I found instead were videos made by people who have no idea what they are doing or talking about. Some of these videos are so horrid that they’ve inspired a genre of other videos of people reacting to and criticizing them whose creators are often just as unqualified as those making the videos they are critiquing.  

The internet is a powerful tool which can be used for good or bad. One of its more adverse effects is that it has created a false belief in the democratization of knowledge, i.e. that anyone is qualified to opine about anything. (I’ve ranted about this before: https://cornertable.blog/2022/12/30/dr-rabbi-google-esq-ph-d/) I’ve experienced this professionally when people with no legal training and education have argued about the law with me. One even called me elitist when I corrected her. And I know other professionals have experienced the same thing.

Let’s be clear: not everyone is qualified to be an expert in everything. Not everyone is a doctor, lawyer, economist, rabbi, military officer, plumber, electrician, etc. Reading internet posts or watching YouTube videos is not a substitute for training, education and experience. And no one (and I do mean no one) should be making YouTube cooking videos that involve putting a bunch of canned foods into a crock pot and calling it food.