Abuse, Content Creation, and You(Tube)

okay I hope you're sitting down folks cuz we lost a good one today this video is about jokat if you've been around D andd YouTube for even a tiny amount of time you know this guy he's the creator of the crap guide to D and D series and other things but the crap guide is how I found his channel this is a dude with over 1 million subscribers he is massive and he's just released a statement about why he's quitting and I'm trying to sound chirpy and present well but uh honestly it's a pretty sad story it's also an interesting jumping off point for discussion but we're going to start by reading his announcement I should just say that this video is going to be a bit more PG-13 than usual uh I'm going to use more adult language I'm going to be discussing topics around abuse so there you go now you know okay the announcement starts off with just context basically in April 2021 Joe cat released a video called I like girls a parody of lizzo's song I like boys initially it got a really positive reaction and he then goes on to talk about it and that's where we'll pick this up and ever since then I have seen and received many assumptions about my character my history my beliefs my relationships as well as threats of violence to me as well as my family he goes on to say that a lot of this has just been on Twitter where he can simply log off but a small amount of it has leaked into his real life private DMS over Discord and twitch suspicious packages being sent to his family but I've always kept quiet about it because speaking out about it publicly would just encourage more and be presented as my own fault as well this is why talking about anything is almost impossible online if you have a platform of any credible size no matter what you talk about people will accuse you of just doing it for attention if jokat said look I'm dealing with abuse people would abuse him just for saying that you essentially just bypass the entire argument and you say you're just doing this for attention you're doing it for clicks you're doing it for money you're a bad person and I don't have to listen to you when what that person is actually doing is standing up to abuse they're being incredibly Brave and creators just don't need that [ __ ] like seriously these big creators they've got enough attention they've got enough money if they're speaking out about something they know they are going to get [ __ ] for it they're doing it because they care and that pressure can just break people like Joker says right if that's the trade-off to do something like share the things I make that I'm proud of on the internet seeing as I'm writing this it's probably an indicator that I'm just not cut out for it perhaps that makes me weak but I've rarely ever thought otherwise that whole thing is very significant we're going to circle back around to that cuz it relates to a point he makes at the end as well he says that he never meant to make anyone upset that he only ever wanted to do things he was passionate about for fun I never planned to have YouTube be my job he goes on to say that he's continuing the heart of a leny and joa charity but once those are finished he's taking an indefinite break from content creation online he finishes if you took the time to read this thank you I'm sorry for causing so much trouble thank you for watching my videos joke cat and it's this line at the end which I think is really interesting regarding abuse and creators online this I'm sorry for causing so much trouble you should never apologize to your abusers you've done nothing wrong this is is what abusers do they [ __ ] with your head they leave you thinking what did I do wrong to get here and the answer is nothing you did nothing wrong they are the people doing something wrong they are doing the bad thing to you jokat sounds really sad here but nobody is born feeling weak as he puts it that's something that the world shoves down your throat by trying to control you you must be better at school be more attractive earn more money get laid more or get laid less depends on your gender and if you divert in any way from the total list of [ __ ] that other people try and force you to do rather than just be yourself then you suck then you're lazy and you're weak and you deserve to be abused which is [ __ ] and honestly it's hard not to fall for that crap if you were raised like it most parents and schools raise kids in that way and yeah you would feel like a failure you would feel weak but jokat isn't weak Joe Cat's crazy strong he is a hugely powerful and beloved content creator there's a line from a famous essay by Mary Skitch that says remember the compliments you receive forget the insults if you succeed in doing this tell me how and yeah she's totally right it's so easy to only remember and only see the negativity coming towards you I like girls is a hugely popular video 11 million views a huge like to dislike ratio but for Joe cat this is a painful video and I wonder how many people who this video meant something to who it made them feel better about themselves told him about it I think one of my biggest strengths as a content creator regarding abuse is that I'm very good at not feeling alone I'm actually ridiculously supported um like to an to an incredible amount in my personal life and also publicly but there are differences between me and jokat which completely flipped the whole thing around in fact there are two um apart from the fact that he's way bigger than me obviously um firstly I'm happy generally and he clearly isn't so it's a really good thing that he's leaving YouTube because he deserves to be happy and so do you by the way if for what it's worth while we're here the second difference relates to the most curious interesting piece of abuse that I've ever received which is in direct relation to jokat he was doing a charity stream for an LGBT cause and I retweeted it because you know it's charity and I like the guy and I got a comment under that retweet which I wished so much that I'd screenshot it but I didn't I just blocked the guy because you know automatic right at that point you just you know you can block anyone you like on the Internet it's one of the great things but this piece of abuse was a masterpiece it was beautiful it was elegant it was concise it was just one word one word beneath a retweet that I had made of someone else promoting support and charity for members of the LGBT community one word that word was pedophile and that's it that's all it was I don't know if they were calling me a pedo if they were calling Joe cat a pedo or if they were calling the entire LGBT community pedos um again remember dehumanize the people you don't like and then you can abuse them without feeling bad that is the abusers manifesto 101 but I think this type of abuse is far more damaging and it's focused at jokat and creators like him because of how he presents himself online if you look at jok cat's art aside from the crap guide stuff it is you know very effeminate or androgynous I [ __ ] you not this image terrifies people and then they get angry and then they start sending out the death threats drat says he feels weak but can we talk about the power of drawing yourself in slightly androgynous clothing and triggering people so hard they send death threats that's boss as [ __ ] you just being happy has driven these people insane and I think this is what jokat is referring to when he says people make assumptions about him like people see this and they say oh joat must be gay or by or trans or whatever everyone wants to label everyone else right everyone wants to put someone in a box so they can understand them and it's like [ __ ] [ __ ] off with that you don't get to label me I get to label me you have no say but people do right jokat is labeled as different and because he is different he is frightening and he is bad and he can be abused the fact is not everyone is as vulnerable as everyone else when I get yelled at online it's because someone doesn't like something I said in a video and it's like okay fine when people like jokat or trans creators or gay creators or just women get yelled at online it's often you know disagree with you and I think you should die these people were threatening jok cat's family they were threatening to dox him and obviously that's completely [ __ ] up the thing about abuse is it makes you feel alone you naturally Retreat away from people because people are the ones that are hurting you and even though it's only a tiny minority these people feel 100t tall but there is kind of an answer that I'm going to go into now based on a personal experience of mine amidst the ogl situation which was really [ __ ] by the way I got a message from Kelly of the D dudes which was I I won't show it here cuz it is a personal message but it was just full of support and kindness we had literally never spoken before and it made me realize that even though I'm a I'm a happy guy and I'm proud of the channel I had internalized some of the abuse that D and shorts got when it first blew up I always assumed that other content creators people I looked up to just hated this channel just hated me hated the channel which is which is crazy like why would they but that's just what I assume that's because of a couple of other creators really seized the chance early on to jump on the bandwagon when people attacked me when the channel was really new when I was small and use it to try and promote themselves that really hurt I got over it but it really hurt and I just kind of assumed I guess other creators just don't like it they they're jealous or they don't feel like D and D shorts deserves the attention it gets fine I just won't deal with other people but it actually turns out that I have hundreds of friends all over the world who make D and content who support support me and who I can support in turn and it took Kelly just being nice to make me realize that and sometimes we disagree on stuff all of these people um I'm sure have like looked at some of my content and been like what the hell is he talking about and I know that I've thought that looking at some of theirs but they've all been kind and they're all friends and we all really just want the same thing just to make stuff so you know if you do like a content creator um tell them say like bro I I really like your stuff makes my life better I think you're a cool dude because most people who enjoy stuff enjoy it silently and the people who hate it hate it incredibly loudly so yeah someone doesn't have to be literally suicidal for a kind word to lift them up massively be it be it online or just in your real life for what it's worth if Joe cat does see this I think your content's awesome dude I think your crap guide to being a DM is like the definitive piece of Dungeons and Dragons YouTube content ever made that video is literally where I draw the line in my head between old D and YouTube and modern D and D YouTube uh and the platform was never the same since you stopped making those videos I also really liked your lecture at the acon panel it's probably my favorite video by you as another content creator random Kudos from a stranger online basically means nothing if you're feeling bad um the real happiness in life comes from actual human beings that you interact with and you treat well and who support you it's sounds like in your note you have people who support you and love you in your real life which makes me certain that whatever you do next you will find joy and happiness and I hope you do because just the content you made brought me a lot of happiness and made me laugh a bunch of times I know this video is very different but Joe cat really was that big of a deal to this community maybe you don't realize if you came in recently but he really was uh it's not sponsored or anything but uh if you want some beautiful dice I'm selling some and I'll link them down below if you want to support the Channel and have some dope Crimson Hol metal dragon dice to show for it you can I've got a couple of videos I'm thinking I'll release this December but after that I'm taking January completely off to rest after the launch of the ryoko's beta test so after those two videos that I'm going to drop I'll probably see you all in February um yeah thanks for hanging out uh I'll see you next time I guess and yeah take care of yourselves and the people you like you know tell them that you like them all right I'll see you

Channel: DnD Shorts

Views: 395,989

Keywords:

Id: 3mmgbXcX-_s

Length: 11min 26sec (686 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 19 2023