Nothing is easier for a content creator to cash in on than a justice complex.
Look at the rising YouTubers of today — Joey Salads, LeafyIsHere, FouseyTUBE. Perhaps some of them hate each other — I mean, Leafy made a 17 minute rant video going on about how much of a liar FouseyTUBE is, doing his best to tear him apart. But they all have something in common— they love having a justice complex, and they own it.
Joey Salads has a history of faking racist videos and attempting to show how evil black people are to Donald Trump supporters (yes, he has done this multiple times, as he admitted in an interview). LeafyIsHere regularly makes videos about how absolutely morally terrible other YouTubers are. FouseyTUBE has done countless “experiments” showing how people would react to a homeless kid on the street. Or bullying. Or public sexual assault. All of these people love showing the morality of others, whether it’s good or bad (spoiler alert: it’s usually bad, according to them).
That makes the viewer feel better. The viewer can sit in relief, thinking, thank goodness I wasn’t the one who took advantage of my viewers like that YouTuber Leafy was talking about. Thank goodness I wasn’t the guy who was mean to that homeless man like that fellow FouseyTUBE filmed. Thank goodness I’m right about black people ruining our nation, since Joey Salads' prank said so. No, really, h3h3productions cited one comment saying that black people are “savage animals” as an example of the incredibly racist viewership of Joey Salads.
The worst part is, Donald Trump is practically the Jesus Christ of content creators. He is the ultimate harbinger of the morality complex.
The media has eaten his words up. It has taken apart every sentence he has said and made millions off of it. It has talked about how dangerous he is by giving him more free screen time than literally any other Republican candidate by at least six times in cost. It has made fun of him, brought him onto TV shows and interviews, covered his rallies and brought his social media posts to international eyes. It has given him more than any presidential candidate could ever ask for — for free. And trust me, he doesn’t need the handouts. He alone is worth 3.7 billion dollars.
Don’t get me wrong. This article right here, right now, is cashing in on the phenomenon, in a sense. I could just never write about him at all, but I have — I have written multiple satire articles about him, whether they were making fun of him, making fun near him or making fun of him and Clinton together, I’ve done it. And it was easy. He’s easy — it’s as simple as that.
But at the end of the day, all this free press is exactly what he needs. He wouldn’t have gotten this far without us, the content creators. And we can sit down and complain all we want about how awful he is, how terrible his words are, how disgusting his actions are, and how much he lies, but all of these things put him on a pedestal for those who agree with him to look upon and cheer.
We all know what he says is bad. But the media just can’t get over it. We eat it up and spit it out again and again and again. The number of clicks gets bigger. The monetary gains grow larger. We, the so-called victims, got exactly what we wanted.
Bo Burnham stated it eloquently in his interview with CBS News:
“The problem with Trump is that, like, everyone is cashing in… The comedians are thrilled. This is exactly what they wanted. Everyone wanted someone to make fun of and eviscerate, and to act like you’re gonna play the victim and cash in at the same time — this is exactly what the system called for. Specifically, entertainment did. We called for a big, boisterous guy who is an easy target, and we got him. So to keep making jokes — the jokes are as much keeping him alive as his support is.”
And now, the only thing you can do to fight it — to fight your consumerism, those angry Facebook posts you have written, those videos you have watched about him, those times you tuned into the news just to see what ridiculous new things he has said this week — is vote. You can’t keep sitting back and complaining. You can’t keep watching videos about how evil he is. You have to vote, whether you like him or not. Vote for him if you do. Vote for someone else if you don’t.
Just stop talking.
Marco Omta is a sophomore studying music production. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. How do you feel about controversial content creators? Email Marco at mo183714@ohio.edu.
