I want to do something different today, so this is addressed to all the Yognauts out there. For perspective's sake, I am an American, and I love the Yogscast,. I've seen every of Simon and Lewis' videos, and I think they are brilliantly funny, and genuinely good people. I watched their “Minecraft - Remote Control Mod “ video a few days ago. Simon makes a joke at 00:51 seconds in... about 9/11, and I had to put my head down. I'm from New Jersey. I sat in a classroom as students called home to see if their parents had escaped the Twin Towers. I'm closer to this event than most Americans, and I am not offended. I'm not heartless, but listening to the joke, I knew that it hadn't been said with hate, or in a celebratory manner. It's just a racy joke, a tasteless one, but a joke nonetheless. I put my head down because I already knew the comments section was a mess, and against my better judgment, scrolled down. Some people were offended.
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Though not offended by the joke, I understand why people are. To me, hearing a Brittish man make a joke about an American tragedy, is like hearing a white guy make a “nigger joke”, it makes me cringe, but another racist guy might get a laugh out of it. But, remember who the largest demographic on youtube is. So in this case, it's like a white guy making that joke in a predominantly black comedy club. If you are not part of the group you're laughing about, and though you may be completely innocent in telling it, doesn't make it a good idea.
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It doesn't even matter there isn't something inherently wrong about the joke. This is Youtube, not a lecture. We aren't looking for facts, we are looking for entertainment. This isn't about right or wrong, it's just about doing something stupid, and pissing of a sizable percentage of your audience probably falls into that category.
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Thinking about the Joke a bit more critically, It's not so simple. Anyone who's a fan of Youtube's other gaming celebrity TotalBiscuit, has probably heard him note that trolls actually do more good than harm. A troll is adding to the uploader's view count by clicking on the video they want to attack, which in turn means more money for users with partnerships. I believe that the joke, and it's response, were both well calculated on the Yogscast's part, and I absolutely refuse to believe that the Yogscast did not realize how offensive the joke may be. Yogscast could have very easily edited that bit out, deliberately decided not to.
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That's not to say I think this is a bad thing. These videos are their livelihood, and though I don't necessarily like it. The reason for stirring up the viewers at least makes sense to me. I'm more concerned with how the commenters are so easily lead, and how a joke turned into political mudslinging. I don't know who started it. People who defend things on the internet tend to preempt complaints before they're made, so it's possible that either group could have been the first to attack the other. I don't think it matters. What's disappointing is that people from two civilized nations, would resort so quickly to such childishness over a joke. This paints neither side in a good light, and no matter how badly they want it to, mudslinging will never change anything, for the better, anywhere, ever.
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