Yeah we all hate the guy but I'm having trouble explaining exactly why he's so despicable, like in a cohesive way. Yeah he makes people jump through hoops for crumbs but that feels like it's not the whole of why he's abhorrent.
Charity is authoritarianism, and few people make this as blatent and clear as Mr. Beast.
He's the Elon Musk of kids youtube. Born into money, does all of the cringe thing that youtubers who target kids do, but gets a bigger result despite having half the talent because he can put on a bigger show than any of them can hope to. Unlike the paul brothers who constantly upped the ante with negative behaviors, Beast constantly ups the ante with "wholesome" ones - but his giveaway videos are equally as fake as their pranks were. Like Musk whose antics are to build a brand as a smart rich tech guy, Beasts antics exist to build a brand of a rich saint. There's something deeply insincere about his whole online persona, from the way he poses in every thumbnail to his big gotta-keep-the-kids'-attention energy as a presenter.
You could also argue that he launders the image of a nice rich guy in a time when we need to be building a universal underrstanding that the rich are our enemies, but I think that that argument pales in comparison to this one: he's cringe.
It chills me to the bones to see juice boxes with his face on them next to :heated-gamer-moment: branded juice boxes when I go grocery shopping. And yes, kids ask for him by name. :agony-minion:
Yes. I see it every time I go grocery shopping. :joker-shopping:
I live in the shadow of Silicon Valley, so there may be some market differences. It may not be nationwide. Yet.
I'm not in the US, so thankfully I haven't seen this shit. Yet.
He’s the Elon Musk of kids youtube.
It doesn't surprise me how much he jerks off :my-hero: on Twitter, too.
probably because he's a propagandist primarily targeting children
there's also something insidious about how his entire thing is this extravagant, reckless use of his wealth, right? but in reality it's all very meticulously planned to hit the right buttons on the YouTube algorithm and get in the heads of the audience. But it has an air of spontaneity of this rich guy living it up spraying money everywhere. It's presenting an unspoken danger that he could very well lose all his money on this next wild scheme of his, but that danger doesn't exist. It's all theatrics and he's still going to be rich. It's like how modern country artists pretend like they're working class.
He literally gets sponsors to pay for his videos. He may have been at financial risk at first with his older videos, but he takes no risk at all now
I mean even with earlier videos wouldn't he be able to tax hole such losses via his company or though his own individual business expenditures as a small time business owner?
You can get not taxed on revenue from losses but you don't like get anything I think
Still helps the rich stay rich and not suffer for business related failures.
Self employed people can also deduct their professional expenses from their taxes, but most people take the $12k standard deduction.
Really pales in contrast to the $250,000 that most petite bouge can take out
everyone making good points but honestly I find the general vibe of mainstream youtubers aggressively annoying and that would be enough on it's own
They're all just so fucking shameless and if selling your soul to the devil for earthly rewards was real they would be the first in line.
When I go to YouTube on an unsigned in account his stupid fucking face shows up on my screen.
Worst part, I immediately know I’m not signed in because I get blasted with :soypoint-1:
He's a microcosm of the concept of "philanthropy" being a performative grift done by the rich to whitewash their images and get richer doing it.
An ex worked in shark conservation. The donor demographic she targeted was 9-digit millionaires and billionaires. Despite the entire model of their business in some way devastating the oceans as a whole, they could greenwash themselves by paying a $100k indulgence to make one particular legal protection for one particular species of apex predator in one particular area. Now those pigs are known as philanthropists despite destroying the underlying food chains of every shark and the natural systems that generate them.
It's atomising whatever systemic issue can be rendered into seemingly positive indulgences, then recuperating that issue away from radicals. Philanthropy is one of those areas of spectacle that's so parasitic.
His smug, soulless gaze gives me such a visceral urge to drop kick him in the face.
Yeah he makes people jump through hoops for crumbs
This and his pseudo philanthropy do it for me.
he makes people jump through hoops for crumbs
Do you need any more than this though? Well okay then; He's a con artist that pretends to do charity work while exploiting children and the poor. His donations cost him nothing while he pretends it does, and any good he does fails to solve the root of any issue while presenting the false idea that it does. He profits off of humiliating desperate people for crumbs. In short, he is a propaganda artist and a parasite.
I was musing the other day he's basically the evolution of shitty Japanese game shows where they humiliate people for entertainment tailored for a young western audience.
I know this is a cringe meme, but he is basically what Squid Game warns about. Like to the point where he made a real life Squid Game to cash in on Squid Game when it was popular. :agony-shivering:
The Onion is about to go broke because the real world has become satire
he literally did a squidgame
i think he literally gets the wall
Project Trees planted like 5% of America's annual deforestation metric and called it a day.
There was that time his editor (and like 11 other people) came forward about being treated like shit and then Mr Least just kind of kicked back and waited for his army of serfs to coerce them into compliance.
The fear of losing a chance at free money is enough to encourage actively silencing his naysayers. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets offers from fans to be his private security.
Liv has done a bunch of stuff about him, https://youtu.be/3D2U4crkdB0 and her work tends to be founded in [academic] philosophy
Really, watch liv's video. Others have made valid critiques of his actions and whatnot, but what makes him TRULY uncanny is something that is much deeper and related to the way that all the content is really a heartless, cheap, and undetailed simulation of what it is meant to represent
liv points out in the Mr Beast does Squid Game video, that beast, instead of having the contestants play the titular Squid Game in the final round, makes them instead play musical chairs. Because to beast what matters is not a faithful representation of the object or act, but rater a grand opulent display they can point to to say "hey look we did squid game in real life" to generate clicks
he has a young audience who will consume his content without knowing that his content was created from exploiting people. because of that, they will think that he is a saint who wants to give to people in need, him knowing this while exploiting people for content is what makes him particularly despicable.
