If you have been paying a little attention to YouTube drama. You may have noticed a tea-pot tempest with a hoard of offended feminists and feminist offenders on one side and YouTube commentator Thunderf00t on the other. Seems that thunderf00t pissed off the wrong people eh?
Well – not exactly. 
The simple truth is -Thunderf00t happens guilty as sin (as a matter of fact.) Of three huge transgressions.
- He’s very intelligent, more than they are.
- He’s more articulate than they are.
- He tends to call people on their bullshit.
So, predictably he gets into little flame wars where he calls somebody on their bullshit, (like Anita Sarkeesian) the “somebody’s” fanboys (or fan girls) make (sometimes) semi retarded comments on his YouTube channel. He responds with calling out their bullshit and the cycle continues. It continues until “somebody” responds directly to him – he of course responds calling out their bullshit directly which inflames somebody’s fanboy and girls even more.
One of these fan entities is a sort-of anonymous YouTuber called “Bewildered Ape” who may or may not be the pen-name of another character in this little drama. Bewildered Ape (BE) seems to delight in making a host of unfounded statements (like atheists on YouTube are all potential mass murderers because some recent mass murderers were both atheists and YouTubers.) BE tangled with thunderf00t on several occasions which culminated in him (her or it) sending letters to TF’s employers to try and get him fired.
Another was a complete goof called “HannibalThevictor13” (HV) who took umbrage to TF’s calling out a couple of feminist YouTubers – this was during the so-called “gamergate” affair when just hoisting a shingle saying one is a feminist and feminist supporter would get one viewers. HV found an old interview with TF where he was asked some convoluted question about Natzi Germany and what kind of role he might have played in that regime. TF (as I recall) answered … more or less honestly saying he didn’t know. He also mentioned somewhere that Hitler never killed any Jews (which is literally true.) Hitler was RESPONSIBLE for the German programs of the 1930s and 40s. Hitler was also responsible for Godwin’s law (which has more to do with this than you might imagine.)
TF’s foes all called out a mutual “ah ha!” and started branding him a mass murderer of jews (which is patently absurd for a myriad of reasons. ) That’s like saying if one is a US citizen one automatically favors the extermination of native Americans and slavery! I’m well aware that many Amuricans DO favor these things. Let’s just say most people in the US are not particularly proud of their ancestors and don’t bring them around for dinner.
But let’s be honest, none of these characters were after TF because of his opinions. They don’t like him because – he’s a lot smarter than they are, he’s articulate and tends to call them on their bullshit.
Remember that because it’s important.
So – enter another YouTuber by the nom-de-plume “laughingwitch” (LW) started bashing TF over his calling the bullshit. So; forgetting that TF is a lot smarter than her AND he’s articulate (and he also has a large following) she not only bashed TF (which had no consequence because of the kind of commentary TF is famous for, and he’s smarter than most people and very articulate. So LW started another gambit to “remove TF from YouTube altogether.” She started a letter writing campaign to his employer and the local police – Informing them he was a Nazi, that he advocated killing million of Jews etc- so fourth. Then she placed her own dox on her YouTube presentation saying she was “the boss of her company and was not afraid that TF could get HER into trouble for attempting to ruin his life.”
Their logic was thus; if one says something that gets them upset – true or not. It is the person making the statement’s responsibility for ANY action by the viewer (and their upsettedness) from that moment on. They are saying in so many words that they have no control over themselves. That they are vile meat-puppets of the people they don’t agree with and have no responsibility for their OWN actions therefore.
To quote Thunderf00t – “bollox!”
Well; TF responded. He displayed the letters that LW wrote including all of the insane accusations. Pointed out that his employer was well aware of his YouTube hobby and should he get fired (which was unlikely) – since he made pretty good money with his YouTube hobby he would just do that full time and make MORE “objectionable” vids for people to complain about. TF also flashed a screenshot of LW’s doxing herself and mentioned that her family business could be in jeopardy due to this kind of harassment and that LW didn’t feel anyone could hurt her.
As any troll might imagine; the internet responded with a loud “CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!”
A few people started taking down LW’s plumbing business. Mostly by creating Yelp reviews pointing out that “the boss” of the company liked to harass people whose opinions she didn’t agree with. The truth mostly.
LW realized that – hey! Attempting to destroy the reputation and the livelihood of a person with over 40,000 subscribers on YouTube (who’s also smarter than her – very articulate and calls out bullshit) might not be the best idea. She ditched all the stuff on her YouTube channel and responded with a single locked “apology” which falls well short of an apology. Mostly it appeals to TF to call off his massive Internet army and take down his videos about her.
LW (and the real owner of her business, her husband) went to their local news channel to complain about “that bad-bad man who’s harassing them out of business.” Also they’ve been trying to get people to bail them out – for some sort of tax issues that have nothing to do with the harassment.
Also; from some of the things she said. She may actually be the Anon YouTuber BewilderdApe too.
But let’s get back to the root cause of all this. Somebody disagreed with somebody else, they made their case. They offered evidence to back up their case. And that should be it right? Or the target of the disagreement can (and probably should) offer a rebuttal or just go away. But no’; the target gets all bent out of shape, begins a series of personal attack on the person who disagrees.
The upshot of all this?
A lot of people on YouTube are behaving just like people who have interest in the paranormal.
This is a cautionary tale. Not just for the likes of Laughing Witch, Bewildered Ape, HanibleTheVictor13 and people like that. But to thunderf00t as well. TF has become a role-model for a lot of people (who are far less intelligent than him) all over the Internet. With just a suggestion, and it was really LESS than a suggestion. Several people took it upon themselves to go after a person who’d attempted to destroy him and bragged about it.
There is a lot of power here and moreover many of the people observing this will create content of themselves. IF they become popular they will be called all kinds of vile names like sociopath, psycho, terrorist, Nazi and even mass murderer. This is the consequence of fame. This is the consequence of being correct too. When people start flinging crap, it’s a clear sign of exposed nerves and one gets exposed nerves by being wrong and trying to cover it up.
It’s not that Thunderf00t is offensive or that he’s more often correct than incorrect. This is because he’s smart and people are intimidated by intelligence. Or more prosaically. Un intelligent people are VERY intimidated by intelligent people.
We are talking about criticism – an attack on ideas vs harassment an attack on a person and that which they value. See the difference? many people can’t for some strange reason. The realms paranormal are full of folks like this. People who don’t hesitate to take any debate personal. Who think any disagreement is an attack on them. I can understand this because I’ve had people do similar things to me.
Look; it’s OK to disagree. It’s not OK to be disagreeable.
And by the way; I disagree with Thunderf00t in two ways.
1) I don’t agree that Islam is incompatible with the Western world. Sure it’s backwards, sure they do ridiculous things and even vile things like sacrificing animals. But Islam is no more backwards than any of the Abrahamic faiths. Even the ones that no longer sacrifice animals. And several of them still do are are not Islam.
2) I don’t think doxing people is a good idea. Even if they dox themselves, just re-publishing their own doxing of themselves is an instance of doxing. For no other reason than they can’t control what you publish and cannot (now) withdraw the information. Also it encourages other people to dox people online. Doxing is bad.
Thanks for reading my funseekers. Hope to see you soon!
The Odd Emperor.