YouTube, as I meditated about it a bit, reminds me of my AOL chatting days in certain ways. In my chatting days on America Online (in case you don't know what AOL stands for), I remember my days chatting in rooms like "Japan - Make Friends." And yes... I like Japan and Japanese culture. Every so often, somebody will jump into the room and start hating on everybody. There are people who'll burst into the room calling people all kinds of Asian racial slurs, acting purely classless with other people, and that kind of thing.
But what's the difference between AOL chatting and YouTube? Anyone can basically come in and say anything. While that sounds perfectly fine, there are pitfalls to this logic. For one thing, people can say anything senseless and immoral. I remember watching a video about the Lexus LF-A when someone talked about how we should all buy American cars, otherwise, you're "supporting terrorism." I don't need to share anything that's racist. You can look around on YouTube for almost any video and find some kind of racist comment. That's even if there's nothing racist at all to talk about. So many times before, I've had people remind me that I'm black, so they use... that "n" word. Like, do you have better things to discuss about my videos than my race or my looks?
Here is where YouTube and AOL chatting are different. When a hater has a field day on AOL flooding up the chat window with terrible comments, you can report all you can. On YouTube, a block is a block. You have a better chance of reporting people and not have to live with the kind of bull crap they say about you. Be ready to defend yourself on YouTube EVERY DAY, because some jackass will come on and say anything terribly stupid about you or your videos.
That's the problem. People hide behind their screen names to be invincible. I may look ugly to a lot of people in my videos, but at least I'm not afraid to speak my mind with my face on camera. I am not just a screen name. I don't just hide behind a screen name like Elementary School students at recess. That's why I'm so hateful of people who like saying any kind of bull crap they want, just because you don't know the people you're hurting. Likewise, no haters really know me. But if I had to choose between AOL chatting and YouTube video sharing, I'd go with YouTube. You still have to deal with jackasses, but at least you know who all the cool people are.
That's something I just realized. Hope your Thanksgiving weekend was a great one. Please take care, everyone!
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