Oh boy, one day into 2018 and we’ve already got a viral disaster. Logan Paul shot a vlog that included a recent suicide and his reaction was completely inappropriate.
I’ve taken a day to think about the entire scandal and what it means to me and I think the entire industry of content creating.
Let me preface this post with a few comments. I haven’t seen the video, but I have seen clips reposted over and over again and I can’t help but empathize for the poor community that has to endure this man’s body becoming viral. Not only were the 6 million views on the original video already a shock, but the images and video are still circulating in the form of reposts (#1 trending on YouTube last night) and commentary.
Aside from the obvious disrespect, there are two major issues I had with the video.
Firstly and probably the most important is how Logan Paul framed this video. From the introductory disclaimer that included a self-proclamation of being a pioneer of the YouTube world (really?), to the planning of the video, it is obvious that this is not a video stemming from benevolence – what history do we have of him to expect such a thing? What troubles me is that Logan Paul tried to hide behind the guise of raising awareness for suicide and suicide prevention.
Suicide, depression and anxiety are immensely sad and difficult subjects that should not be taken lightly. This man did not engage in intellectual discourse, or even share anything personal about his encounter with these issues. He went to a place known as a destination for suicides and looked for a body. He proceeded to film closeups of the corpse and then make light of the situation. He even had the gall to claim this video as “awareness-raising”, which has helped damage the meaning of the phrase.
Maybe laughter was his coping mechanism – and I will not judge based on that; however it was his judgement that decided to edit and post this content online.
Content creation has also gotten very commercialized. Now, obviously, there is a good side to this – talented content creators get rewarded for their hard work and creativity. However, we are so rooted in the numbers and statistics that people who post unoriginal, and frankly lazy, content are being rewarded as well. When platforms such as YouTube are so driven by advertising money,
I’m all for watching a funny VW Star Wars ad or a funny and inspiring narrative with a message; even a good quirky gamer video makes it onto my list. Yet, many creators take it too far, and it might be for the money. It is human nature to be drawn towards videos that elicit emotion, such as comedy or sadness. Then there are the ones who use horror, and the grotesque. One of the huge scandals of 2017 was PewDiePie’s offensive comments on his videos. I think people were shocked when YouTube and Disney severed ties with him, as this was not the case for content creators in the past.
Content creation has morphed from something that you would shoot with a few friends in your living room, a creative spitball of ideas that were mostly a mess. It has become a corporate beast with the top earners making millions and having statuses akin to celebrities. Now let me state again that some of these are warranted, but there are also a few top earners that I, personally, do not understand why people enjoy watching. Funnily enough, Logan Paul was not one of those people until now.
I had seen a few of his Vine videos and a couple collaboration sketches he did with other YouTubers and he seemed like a guy with a sense of humour. He understood embellishing his emotions for the sake of comedy, often flirting (and crossing) with the line of inappropriateness. This video is far past this line.
Content creators need to understand their impact on a larger platform. What sickens me is that many of his fans flock to his side and defend the video. Many people still think that he is in the right, or even worse, that the video is not a big deal.
“He went over the line and won’t do it again”. Factually it may be true, but this only encourages others to push the same boundaries and I’d rather not wake up to another morning where the top item in the news is a hanging corpse with the line “Bro, do you think this is real?”
Clever Trev 