Introspection

So I was watching the season finale of South Park the other night and something came to me like a wrecking ball with a former Disney star perched atop it: Playing the victim gives you a pass to be a jerk or shirk responsibility. That was an overall theme for the season, as the one thread that ran through the entire season was Heidi's relationship with Cartman and how they would each play the victim card depending on the episode, with Cartman doing it in the first half and Heidi in the second as she became a female Cartman. However in the final moments she realized what she become, as she let her perceived victimhood turn her into this as she finally called it quits with him.

So how does this apply to me? How am I letting victimhood turn me into a Cartman? Lately my life has been a roller coaster, with every good or decent thing that happens it feels like something bad counteracts it. My uncle died two weeks ago and last week my dog hurt herself playing outside as well as my SO's abusive ex trying to come after us, forcing us to change our numbers to get away from him. I can't bring my uncle back through bitterness, and my dog won't get better by me being a chumpstain to people I don't know.

Which brings me to the reason I decided to write this blog post after months of being stagnant. There was a news story about a young boy named Keaton who made a viral video detailing how he was depressed over being bullied at school and at first he got mountains of empathy and in a similar way to the #MeToo movement, allowed people to come out publicly with their experiences being bullied. However rumors began to spread like a fire consumes a parched Christmas Tree about Keaton's mom being a supporter of the Confederate flag and Keaton himself using the N word to classmates, and with that all the empathy was swiftly taken away and replaced with more bullying. Mind you none of these have been verified as of yet as no evidence beyond conjecture has been brought to the surface, yet the court of public opinion came forward and declared guilty anyway.

What does this have to do with me? At the time the news broke, I was livid and said on a friend's page that all of them need to go to Hell, including the bullies. I had a ton of weight on my shoulders and I had to release it somehow but that's not an excuse. While it's true I didn't know at the time that these allegations weren't confirmed, healthy skepticism is a practice I wish we would use a lot more often, but I can see why people would think this without evidence. Keaton and his mom have a distinct Southern drawl so it would be easy to assume these two are racist hicks who brought the bullying to themselves.

Let's assume that the accusations were true, why does it matter? How does having an unpopular opinion or saying a pejorative word deny someone sympathy? Not to get too philosophical but if you point a finger, you have three pointing back at you, so you best hope that you have a clean record. Never throw stones from glass houses as they say. The truth is that this hatred is only going to make their bitterness worse, assuming again that the accusations have weight to them. It certainly made the bullying and harassment worse. I'm willing to admit I was wrong to judge them prematurely without looking for facts as I was in emotional pain and needed a catharsis. No one needs to go the Hell. I'm not going to let my victimhood be a sword and shield I can brandish at will. I'll happily admit what I did was wrong and I shouldn't let my emotions cloud my rational thoughts. I need to try harder at these things in order to improve myself as a person.

If only more people could do the same thing and look at some introspection and take responsibility when they're wrong, maybe the world would be a much more enjoyable place to live.

A little PSA

Admittedly this is a lesson I should have written about a year ago, maybe sooner, but me being the opportunist that I am and with the release of The Emoji Movie upon us, I feel now is the best time to make this message known. We've known about this movie for a long time, ever since it was first announced, people lost their minds. Animation fans foamed at the mouth when they found out that the long awaited Popeye movie was shelved in lieu of The Emoji Movie thinking it'd be more relevant to kids than a time tested tale of an oddly-proportioned sailor who eats spinach. I really don't need to go into much more detail, and in fact I won't, which leads to the subject of today's blog.

If you don't like something, ignore it and move on. This is especially true for movies and TV shows where the only thing that matters are box office figures or ratings respectively. If you buy a ticket to see The Emoji Movie just to confirm your suspicion that it sucks, Sony doesn't care, they're laughing their way to the bank with the amount of money they made off of the haters and I suppose the families they duped out of a decent movie. Honestly even talking about it is giving it bad publicity, but in the business world, even bad publicity is still publicity, the only sure fire way for something to die into obscurity is if no one remembers it. I could easily say the same thing for another online whipping boy Teen Titans Go, which is Cartoon Network's highest rated show as of this writing, partly because kids are none the wiser admittedly and also there's the ones who hate it and yet still watch just so their opinions are validated, and every animation critic on YouTube keeps whinging on about how bad the show is and how embarrassed everyone involved should be and so on.

Unfortunately the damage is done with TTG, because fans of the old show wouldn't shut up about this one, prompting more people to check it out and add more ratings to Cartoon Network, making them think it's a hit. We can change that with The Emoji Movie. If you're curious on seeing it, read a review and move on, read spoilers so you don't waste your money or time watching it and as such Sony doesn't get paid. If you want to speak out against it, speak with your wallet. Part of what made last year's Ghostbusters a crock was the controversy going in which was in my mind a publicity stunt since like I said, bad press is still press, and while the film itself was mediocre and bombed in theaters, the stunt got people talking. The Emoji Movie doesn't have that, so let it fade in obscirity. Don't give anyone a reason to see it, if you really don't think it'll be good, go with that gut feeling and save yourself the money. Spend it on something you know you'll enjoy.

And with that, I promise I'll start making regular updates again as things pop in my head. I just had to get this message out. Take care and have a great day.

Daddy OH FU-

You know this place has laid dormant like an abandoned shopping mall; gathering dust and growing mold on the floor in front of the Ames which used to be one of the anchors holding that mall afloat. It's only until an urban explorer, a Dan Bell by any other name, rediscovers this relic and makes it known to the annals of the world wide web. I am that Dan Bell, because I have no other place I can really say my peace on what's happening here.

Now any of you who know me well know that I think prank channels on YouTube are the worst; if reaction videos are cancer, prank channels are HIV. I originally just avoided them or blocked them with my handy dandy little video blocker extension, but one special channel caught my eye, and apparently caught several sets of peepers in fact, and all of them don't look too happy. If you've been following recent events and read the title of this blog, you pretty much know who I'm talking about, but to those who hate when I tap dance around the bush like Gene Kelley on amphetamines, I'm talking about DaddyOFive.

Where do I begin? No seriously, I have no idea where to start with this trainwreck. First let's address the elephant in the room, and I'm not referring to the mother: The abuse. DOF markets itself as a prank channel, but a prank by definition usually ends with the victim coming out unharmed, if a bit embarrassed or pissed. That's not the case here, the children here are clearly in danger, but the worst of all is Cody. Cody is the Meg Griffin to DOF's Family Guy where he has been verbally abused, physically manhandled, and even emotionally scarred over some Uno cards on an otherwise spotless bedroom floor. Now this is a reality that many children face, but the main difference is their anguish and pain isn't being documented and placed online for the world to see.

Now obviously I'm not the only one to cover this, as I'm only giving my two cents worth, but other big YouTube stars like Philip DeFranco, Boogie, and even Keemstar have covered and even interviewed parents and instigators Mike and Heather Martin. At first they claim the videos are exaggerated and edited in a way to seem real, much like similar but less traumatic channels like KidBehindACamera or SillySuperpop/Grim's Toy Show. Mike later on claimed that the videos were 100% fake once allegations of abuse were starting to surface, blaming DeFranco for sending a lynch mob his way. When more eyes started turning their way, they put every video on private and only had one public video: An apology, complete with alligator tears and putting on their Sunday best for the camera. I haven't seen this much backpeddling since the Fine Bros. were losing subscribers by the millions in the wake of their REACT fiasco.

Someone's happy they're no longer the most hated people on YouTube

So now that you have a pretty vague idea of what's happening, although I do suggest you guys check out Keemstar's interview and Boogie and MisterMetokur's videos on the subject, they'll shed more light than I could (I'll link them in the end), what's my opinion? Well what can I say that hasn't already been said a million times over, it's child abuse masquerading as a prank channel. I myself am a huge advocate against child abuse so of course incidents like this would bring my blood to a rolling boil, but to broadcast it online for the world to witness is a new low, especially with their subscriber count of over 700,000.

So some of you I hear out there asking "Where's Child Protective Services? This can't be legal!" It takes a lot for CPS to step in, as in unless the parents were smoking reefer and leaving the kids to fend for themselves for food, there's little that can be done, and even if CPS was to step in, they're pretty gutted as they're overloaded and underfunded, the procedure to take a child out of a home is a monumental task as in it's time consuming, and if in fact the kid is taken into foster care or adoption, until he/she gets adopted there's potential for worse abuse. What's more is that Heather isn't even Cody's biological mother, as the court system screwed his original mom for custody.

Now again, the parents and even the kids insist that no funny business is going on, but the proof's in the pudding. Abuse isn't limited to physical scars but mental scars, but the fact is kids don't know that, so when they say "We're not being abused" they're basically repeating what they've been told. These kids are going to grow up thinking that being yelled at when they cry or constantly told there's something wrong with them is normal behavior, and just so mommy and daddy can turn a profit, and then pass the buck to people like Boogie and Philip DeFranco who are doing the right thing exposing these bastards for what they are. And they have the nerve to only put their videos on private instead of taking them down outright and then make a half-assed apology video which has acting so bad, I take back every bad thing I've said about Tommy Wiseau. The good news is everyone is catching wise to their bull and calling them out in the comments.

There is simply no excuse to abuse your children and showcase it to the world wide web. Honestly child abuse is a despicable, evil, act of cowardice on its own but it's cranked up to 11 in a case like this. As much as I'm disgusted by Mr. and Mrs. Martin's attacks, I have a feeling they're mentally unhinged and it's taking a toll on their ability to raise their kids. Of course this is just me putting my psychologist hat on but it's not outside the realm of possibility. It doesn't excuse any of their actions thus far but if that's the case, at least we have a reason.

It felt amazing to let all of that out. Hopefully I'll be updating this page more often rather than every few months, so stay tuned!

Links:

Philip DeFranco's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfpzCsXGxQg

MisterMetokur's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp9jye0q2ZQ

Boogie2988's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tS3jxKvqBs

Keemstar's interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwkjOhSFpfI