I’m not that familiar with appropriate Tumblr culture, so be aware I am addressing (although more generally) the most recent YouTube shakeup, i.e. the allegations against Toby Turner.
I have a hard time believing people who still seem so downright bewildered when popular YouTubers are publicly accused of sexually abusing or mistreating others. Are you choosing to be ignorant on purpose?
Firstly, they are human, and as we all know but try to forget, humans are the worst. (No matter how well you think you know your favorite YouTuber, you can never really know them. Sometimes you find out you don’t even know your actual friends, your actual family.) So strike one. Then fans - mostly younger girls - barrage them incessantly with praise, love, and unwavering allegiance no matter what they do. Any human would be affected by this constant affirmation. “Look how many people want to be with me. I can have anyone I want.” Strike two. On top of all of that you hand them some fame, wealth, freedom, a dash of impunity within the community and there you have it: Strike three.
Jon Cozart aka PAINT just released a satirical video highlighting some of the ways YouTubers take advantage of their audience. I know this situation is not directly related (this time), but to me it is all part of the same diseased culture. I also know his video is meant to be somewhat lighthearted, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t truthful. I’ve been sitting here for a while now, and I don’t know how to wrap this up because I don’t know the answers. I don’t know how to fix the problem.
Here is all I’ve got right now: educate young people, educate parents, have YouTube (or networks) take more responsibility over their content creators, try every day to be more empathetic, worship singular humans less, keep talking about it, listen.
You have to start somewhere.
This exists; please use it if you need help. - http://www.thehotline.org/
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