Here's the thing for me. It's been obvious for a while that mental illness affects a lot of people in the Youtube community. Not all, of course, but more than one would hope. Many people have come out to discuss their battles with depression, anixety, abuse, addiction, even suicide. The environment and culture of the work seems to only exacerbate it. You work long hours as basically a one person Live TV production crew, "performing" for hundreds to thousands of people who expect not only a certain quality of production but also constant interaction. You wear a version of yourself and open yourself up to all the horrors of fame with few of the luxuries we think it affords. So trust, I do think there needs to be a serious discussion about the Youtube and Twitch scene, the people it attracts, and what it can do to someone. Especially as the years roll on and more young people are drawn to it as a potential occupation.
That said, we (meaning the "community" in general, not just Era) gotta stop bringing it out as a defense every time one of these cats does something racist or homophobic. I'm not saying I don't believe Etika has issues. I genuinely believe he does. That said, it doesn't excuse these stunts nor does his potentially having some mental illness means he deserves some sympathy for this shit. He is a grown ass man, and if he's going to truly overcome his issues, he's going to have to be confronted with the reality of what he's doing and have it made perfectly clear with no room for interpretation that this shit isn't going to fly. The longer we make excuses for him or any of these cats, the longer shit is going to stay bad as it is.
God, gamer culture and YouTube celebrity is just so fucking exhausting at this point.
Totally.
What makes me sad is knowing how many of these cats - both viewers and content creators - are young people. They're spending so much time in these toxic ass spaces that it seems normal to them, so they don't do anything about it for the most part.
I don't want to discount the good these spaces have done for a lot of people, but the bad shit isn't even beneath the surface anymore. It's in your face constantly now.
