YouTube: the Savior and the Defeater

YouTube: the Savior and the Defeater

I'm not trying to be a saint.
I don't wanna be president someday.
I'm just trying to make my way. Yeah!

I'm sorry I'm a fuck up, yeah; I can't do nothing right.

 I'm sorry I'm a fuck up, yeah; It ain't no one's fault but mine.

 I'm sorry I'm a fuck up, yeah; I can't do nothing right.

 I'm sorry I'm a fuck up, yeah; So if you fuck up all the time.

 Let's all sing, “Oops my bad I never said I'd ever get it right.”

 Da Da Da Da Da Da!  

                                                                                                            (Dawson)

            These lyrics come from a song written by one of my favorite YouTubers, Shane Dawson. He premiered this song through a video he uploaded on March 30, 2013. This video and song are a perfect example of a love/hate relationship I have with YouTube. I love the meaning behind it and the person who made the video is great. At the same time it uses inappropriate language that I do not personally care for.

            YouTube has played a huge role in today’s popular culture. People can communicate through it in a way people have never been able to do before. Anyone can upload a video to it for anybody in the world to see. It is a great website, but, like anything else, it has its ups and downs. YouTube has become an escape from life but also a way for people to bully others.

            John Cloud wrote in his article, The YouTube Gurus, that people can waste a lot of time on YouTube because, “…there is an endless supply of kinda weird, kinda cool, kinda inspiring stuff there...” this is a big reason why I like YouTube; all of those videos can waste my time and become an escape for me. I can watch videos that can make me laugh and take me away from anything else going on in my life. I can have a really bad day of classes, but I can always go back to YouTube and have a good laugh or just make me feel better. (Cloud)

            Another reason why I like YouTube is because of the YouTubers. A YouTuber is a person who posts videos regularly and has gained a big audience of people who watch the videos. A lot of these people are paid to make these videos. The YouTubers are the people who make me come back every day to watch videos. They make some of the most popular videos and most of them are to just simply entertain people for a short while.

            A couple of my favorite YouTubers are Shane Dawson and Joey Graceffa. Both of these YouTubers have different styles when it comes to video making. Dawson creates original video sketches and some original music videos and makes some parodies of music videos and other videos. Graceffa, on the other hand, makes daily video vlogs of his life. Dawson makes video vlogs, too, but on a different channel from his other one.

            I enjoy watching Dawson’s videos because they usually push the boundaries of what is acceptable. I always find something funny in them and he tends to just be a funny person in general. Graceffa’s videos are much simpler than Dawson’s. Graceffa simply goes around recording whatever he is doing. It sounds simple and boring, but he makes it fun by the way he approaches life.

            These YouTubers take me away to their lives where everything seems to be more fun and interesting. The more I watch them, the more similarities I see between them and myself. I even get the feeling, sometimes, that I actually know these people. Either way, they can always put a smile on my face and can sometimes make me laugh out loud making my roommate wonder what the heck I am doing.

            Although I really like YouTube, there are parts of it I do not like. One of the problems that show up is bullying. Some videos are made just to make fun of other people. These videos can be taken down if they are really bad but they don’t always make it that far. Even the comments can be really bad. On September 7, 2012, TheSomebodytoknow posted a video about her struggles with bullying in real life; she committed suicide about a month after she posted the video. Comments made after the video was put up were about how she should kill herself; there are still comments made today about how she deserved to die. (TheSomebodytoknow)

            The video was sad and actually made me cry, but some of the comments were terrible. I couldn’t believe how appalling some of them were. YouTube, and the internet in general, has made it so easy to bully people. People can write whatever they want and people would never know who wrote it.  This is powerful weapon against people that anyone can wield.

            Macklemore and Ryan Lewis say in their song Same Love how people have “become numb to what we’re saying… behind the keys of a message board.” They are talking about how people comment how things are “gay” on YouTube and other places on the internet. They are correct in saying people don’t care what they say while online because there is no face-to-face contact. Bullying face-to-face a bully can sometimes see how they are hurting another person. Online, though, people can’t see each other and can’t tell how what they are doing affects somebody else. (Macklemore and Ryan Lewis)

            If you have not seen the videos or have not heard the songs I have talked about, I highly suggest you go and watch/listen to them; I know I am going to go back and watch and listen to them again. YouTube has become a part of my life just like other parts of popular culture. There are always parts of it I will not like, but nothing is perfect. The problems with YouTube would be hard to stop, anyways, since the website grows bigger every day. There will always be people who are going to be terrible to other people; it’s part of life. Despite the bad parts of YouTube, it is still a great way to get away from things.

 

Work Cited

Cloud, John. “The YouTube Gurus.” Time. Time Warner Inc. December 25, 2006. Web. October 18, 2013

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. “Same Love.” The Heist. 2012. CD.

Shane Dawson TV. “‘Fuck Up’ Music Video by Shane Dawson.” YouTube. YouTube, March 30, 2013. Web. October 9, 2013.

TheSomebodytoknow. “My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide, Self Harm.” YouTube. YouTube, September 7,2012. Web. October 7, 2013.