Let's talk about public figures and their opinions

[Misanthrope]

So without naming names, I've noticed that lately (as in the last few years) a lot more people that are not used to public scrutiny and recognition have become famous or well known because of internet related stuff like youtube or game developing and such.

Now don't get me wrong, I am admittedly one of the worst persons to tackle this subjects because I basically have close to 0 tolerance with people even in real life (I sometimes socialize out of necessity and such but rarely keep any people close to me outside of my immediate family, no "friends" I frequent over years or anything like that) however I still think that I'm not entirely unreasonable when it comes to this minor celebrity types: to me if you're not above begging for views and likes and subscribes because that's how you make your living, you should be prepared to have a thick skin and a tight mouth.

More over, if you intentionally decide to become a public figure you should realize that you don't get to pick up petty fights and troll people (even if they are troll themselves) and that further entrenching on your "world vs me" attitude might gain you some loyal followers but scare away a lot of them and stunt your growth as a public figure. 

And my other pet peeve is the typical excuses given for behaving like an asshole: "Oh that's not how I am in real life, I am a nice guy" and such. This people are not fucking character actors, being assholes is part of who they are as well and I hate people who want a free pass for it. There should not be a distinction between "public" Bob and "private life" Bob to me: one should be ready to defend all stances and accept all consequences at all times. I could understand if these mini-celebrities didn't put their lives on the stands for views but take a look at most of them: it's rarely just about their videos they love the public praise and share personal life stuff, pics, blogging and particularly twitter. You can't say "fuck trolls" but behave like an attention whore because you like the other side, the public praise.

 

Anyway, thoughts?

[Toxic Tom]

Is this directed at Linus somehow? I can't see how any of it is applicable...

[Misanthrope]

Is this directed at Linus somehow? I can't see how any of it is applicable...

 

I did say "no names" but I will acknowledge one specific name to say that it isn't directed at him at all: Linus. In fact one of the reasons he's successful it's precisely because of his refusal to acknowledge political views or pursue much of a response with the audience: He's an example of the opposite, a minor celeb done right (so far anyways)

[Fred Castellum]

I understand what you mean. I usually just ignore people like that...

[Misanthrope]

I understand what you mean. I usually just ignore people like that...

I usually do, since sometimes I genuinely like their content. But they can be so obnoxious and toxic that I feel like I should not support them with views which is all they want anyway. I usually act on principle often, to a fault in fact.

[Toxic Tom]

I don't think expressing your opinions makes you necessarily a horrible person. It really depends how you do it. I think Linus has taken a somewhat extreme approach of hardly expressing any of his opinions on much at all apart from tech.

I think it would be interesting to hear his views from time to time. I don't think it will make him seem like a bad person.

In fact one of the reasons he's successful it's precisely because of his refusal to acknowledge political views or pursue much of a response with the audience:

[Askew]

I can tolerate the asking for likes/subs/favourites ect and I'm cool with giveaways (just business pure and simple) but the ones who genuinely believe that they are actually owed a living from YouTube/people watching their content and that attitide oozes from their persona, I can't stick it.

 

Also you'll see people who normally play games or something completely different all jump to report on whatever the latest news scandal is for the views, I frown on that a bit because they often say things/take stances that aren't thought through much.

[Misanthrope]

I don't think expressing your opinions makes you necessarily a horrible person. It really depends how you do it.

 

Hmm yes and no. Yes there's nothing wrong in expressing a personal opinion on something. And ideally, if you were calm and non-confrontational about it without going to extremes it should be reasonable. But let's face it: that's never going to happen with some subjects. Even if you have the best of intentions some debates like abortion, gun control or gay marriage among others will have people on both sides of the discussion dragging you into the extremes, into sides, etc. Some subjects are just too divisive and hard to handle specially for someone not equipped to deal with it because 1) It's outside of their area of expertice and 2) It's really outside of their social skills set a.k.a. Not everyone who can become a celebrity should become a celebrity. While most people are capable of your usual social niceties I would describe celebrities and PR people as the professional athletes and world champions of the social skills world, making a few youtube videos for example doesn't equip you to be on the spotlight and this is particularly evident when you take stances of controversial and difficult subjects.