This is my second attempt. My first was so full of bile and vitriol that my screen started to stink. I know these people. I work with them. And they're not important. They're not a microcosm of anything. They're a desperate cry for attention by a bunch of trust fund kids. I can tell you want this to be relevant and worthy of comment. It's not. I'm sorry. Youtubers only matter to other Youtubers and they only matter as much as their ability to buy or trade followers. The Glenn Becks and BIll Mahers of the world have to compete in a marketplace - Youtubers can buy influence and their best method towards reach is to spam, spam, spam their way to the top. I can also say - as a Streamy nominee - that quality absolutely doesn't fucking matter one little bit in the land of Youtube. So whatever parallels you're trying to make to the real world, thanks for trying, but it's kind of like trying to call Buzzfeed a legitimate news source.
Thanks for your comments. This is an opinion piece at best. I would never consider Buzzfeed a legitimate news source. As maxwell said, there's nothing new under the sun. If i came off as trying to say that these people are special, or in a new situation, then I obviously was unclear and that's my bad. They have no real power in any way. However, as you say, youtubers only matter to other youtubers. Youtubers are their audience, and their perception of power is important in the situation that the article is referencing - that of the sexual assault of female fans, and in the case of Sam Pepper, sexual assault more broadly. I was focusing less (or at least attempting to) on why these people are "out of their depth" - which is bullshit, btw; humans know and understand power - and more on how their use of their assumed power is the same as the people who wield real power in some way. Ghomeshi could have people fired, or prevented from working in the CBC again; Gerald Regan, an MP for Nova Scotia (who had over 40 allegations of assault, 16 of which went to trial) got off scot-free and was potentially able to ruin the lives of dozens. The best someone like Alex Day can do is to unleash a rabid fan base to harass their accusers, with hate mail, doxxing, and hatespam. While this is not as severe as never working in your chosen career again just for coming forward about assault, I would argue that it is bad enough. I guess what I'm trying to say (and I'm sorry it took me, like, 750 words to get to it) is something we already know: The Illusion of power is just as powerful as actual power. That is a scary concept to me. hopefully your monitor isn't ruined. I hear febreeze helps.Buzzfeed a legitimate news source.
There's another angle to take, one which an insider would normally use... but these are Youtubers we're talking about, and they aren't self-aware enough. Typically, the view from the belly of the beast reveals the unseen failings and little-discussed peccadillos within the circle of influence of the clique. With Youtubers, that's the problem: they don't think their sphere of influence is as limited as it is. Because it really is a chummy and insular bunch. They all guest-star on each others' shit. They all reference each other in their videos. Mostly they talk to each other, about each other, for each other - I mean, take that article and strip out all the name-dropping, all the star-fucking and all the needless personal anecdotes and it's pretty much a haiku. If Hollywood operated this way, nothing would ever move beyond the casting couch, as there's no need within the land of Youtube to do anything other than talk to each other in full view of each other about each other so that you can share each other and retweet each other and post video responses of each other and like each other and comment on each other and who gives a fuck about content anyway? So it should come as no surprise that in a social segment in which popularity is literally power, popularity is used as power. And it should also come as no surprise that in a social segment that has no problem with this whatsoever, there are people who abuse that power. After all, the only thing going on is power. This is why my feathers get ruffled when you try to extend the problem out to the CBC or the government: These are people who are actually doing something, attempting to change the world for the better, actively contributing to society. The causes are different. The responses are different. It's like comparing summer camp to Fort Bragg. Yeah, both have barracks but the similarity ends there.
It really just re-illustrates for the digital age what some dudes will do with Audience and Influence. It doesn't matter if we're talking about rockstars or webstars, there's always gonna be a Gary Glitter or an Alex Day in their ranks. The only thing new here is the medium (and even that's not really that new). Talking like youtubers experience unique pressures reads like apologia—I found that quite an uncomfortable (and weird) angle for the writer to take. There's nothin' new under the sun, and hitting the big time without a support network, in an isolating industry, definitely isn't new. Creepers gon' creep. Let's not give them excuses or pretend like this is something new.