Logan Paul. If you haven’t heard this name, congratulations. You have spared yourself a lifetime of annoyance. Sorry to ruin that by writing about him now. If you couldn’t tell, I do not like Logan Paul. I could rant about all the reasons why, but instead I will just tell you to read this post with that information in mind. I am going to try and write this with as little bias as possible, but it will most likely sneak through. The Incident Logan Paul is a YouTuber whose vlog channel has amassed over 18.5 million subscribers. He posts staged skits and uses, like many other YouTuber’s, clickbait to garner views and make money via advertisements and sponsors. He has been involved in several controversies but one in particular cemented him in the public shaming hall of fame. In the last hours of 2017, Paul posted a new video entitled “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest…” to his channel. To my understanding (I did not and will not watch it), the video shows Paul and his other YouTube friends walking in Aokigahara, or “The Suicide Forest”, in Japan when they come across the body of a man who had apparently committed suicide. He films the body, which was blurred out before being posted online, and says that “This was supposed to be a fun vlog.” After the backlash starts to roll in, Paul deletes the video and issues two apology videos. This article gives more information. Divisive Reaction The purpose of my post is not to debate the morality of his decision to film and post video of a dead body. Although for the record, I think it was horrific. I want to look the divisive response to the video and how this could have been avoided. At first, the response to the video was overwhelmingly negative. Every social media platform was inundated with negative reactions, calls for an apology, pleas for YouTube to ban his content, and even threats. However, not too long after the virtual riot against Logan Paul began, his fanbase, made up of an overwhelming number of young girls, came to his defense. They tried to defend his actions and started online fights with anyone speaking out against him. This incident not only caused a breakdown of communication between Paul and the audience, but also within the audience itself. Audience and Context The intended audience for the original video was subscribers of Logan Paul’s channel, but the controversial nature of the video resulted in a much larger audience and therefore, a much larger backlash. Some people who reacted negatively were predisposed to do so because they already had a negative opinion about Paul from his other videos. For example, in the days leading up to the video of the dead body, he posted other videos of his adventures in Japan. His attitude and behavior in those videos were regarded as disrespectful to Japanese people, culture, and tradition. Put in this context, it is not surprising that people were quick to criticize him on social media. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed This reminds me of Lindsey Stone’s story in So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. Lindsey, like Logan Paul, posted what she thought was funny content, but not everyone shared her idea of humor. I don’t think that her controversial photo from the Arlington cemetery can be equally compared to Paul’s video, but I think both of them were caught off guard by the public shaming that came as a result of their actions because they didn’t see anything wrong with what they shared. Restoring Communication Communication suffered a clear breakdown in this situation. Despite his several apologies, many people were not willing to forgive him. I think time is the only way to restore communication after such a disastrous event. The brunt of the public shaming is over, and people have moved on to the next unfortunate soul. However, this is not something that will quickly be forgotten, especially with the permanency of the internet. Personally, I don’t think that there is any amount of apologizing that can fix what he did. If he really wanted to share the experience, he could have done it in a different and less graphic way with the purpose of raising awareness about mental health and suicide. Instead, he posted the video to his channel that is classified under the comedy genre, which conveyed the wrong message about his purpose of posting the video. Public shaming is different depending on who you are. Logan Paul is a B-list celebrity that makes millions off of social media, while Lindsey Stone is still a fairly unknown name, even after the viral photo. Although he was shamed by a much larger group, Paul’s suffering only lasted a couple months before he was back making videos (and money). Lindsey’s shaming was at a smaller scale, but its been years and she still worries about her job and reputation. To give some perspective: When you google ‘Lindesy Stone’ every result on the first page has to do with her photo. When you google ‘Logan Paul’? Not even one of the results on the first page is about his video of a dead body. All is not fair in the internet and public shaming. |
AuthorAshley Harris is currently a Junior at Belmont University. She is majoring in Publishing with a minor in English Writing. She hopes to end up working at a publishing house in NYC, publishing books for children and young adults. She has an affinity for the Christmas/ Archives
November 2018
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