Ananova to Blogosphere: You’ve Been Punk’d?
This story about a German couple allegedly being too stupid to reproduce is all over the Blogosphere. I’m skeptical. Here’s why:
- No one in the story has a name. For example, the only name given to the couple is “A German couple.” That by itself could be explained by privacy concerns, but if so, why give their ages? And what on earth reason is there for withholding the identity of spokesman for the clinic?
- There is no such city as “Lubek.” There is a city called Lübeck (which is sometimes spelled “Luebeck”), and that city does have a university. Sloppy journalism, perhaps. Not a good sign
- Based on the English translation “University Clinic of Lu(e)be(c)k,” one would assume that the university clinic associated with the University of Lübeck would go by the name “Universitätsklinikum Lübeck.” However, upon browsing the web site of the Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein – Campus Lübeck (University Clinic of Schleswig-Holstein – Lübeck Campus) I did not locate a single instance in which the clinic was referred to simply as “University Clinic of Lübeck” rather than “University Clinic of Schleswig-Holstein.” By contrast, its sister campus in Kiel does get referred to occasionally as “Universitätsklinikum Kiel,” or University Clinic of Kiel.
UPDATE: - Something this outrageous should be all over the news in Germany. Maybe it is, but I haven’t found it yet. A Yahoo! search for the terms “Lübeck 30 36 [the ages of the purported couple]” turned up nothing of interest, nor did the first page of a more general search for Lübeck alone.
- The clinic’s web site says nothing about this bizarre story. This is odd, considering that the Ananova story claims the university is “undertak[-ing] a study to try to find out if there are more couples with a similar lack of sex education.” It does, however, list a certain Frau Dr. Anja Aldenhoff-Zöllner as a contact person for the media.
This objection may not be valid after all. According to commenter Nico, the Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein – Campus Lübeck is commonly referred to simply as “Uniklinik Lübeck,” i.e., “University Clinic of Lübeck.”
While my initial research is far from conclusive, if I were a betting man, I’d say the blogosphere has just been punk’d. I’ve sent an email to Dr. Aldenhoff-Zöllner, inquiring as to the veracity of the story, which I’ve reproduced below. I’ll keep you posted.
