@@spacecowbo7716 he's a psychopath. sociopaths can see the damage they do, but their desires outweigh the damage and is therefore "justified." psychopaths are oblivious to their effect on other people. logan paul is a psychopath.
I absolutely love the way you said "He doesn't experience Italy, he happens to it". It's a perfect statement to describe what went wrong when Logan went to Japan.
I think most of the outrage comes not from the fact that he did it but from the fact that he was so oblivious that he didn't understand how inappropriate it was to upload.
Thanks so much for this video. I showed it to my 11-year-old son. He doesn't watch Logan Paul but is generally fascinated with the culture of RUclips celebrity and wants to be a RUclipsr himself. He's also a naturally critical, skeptical person, and I'd like to him to apply this trait to the media he consumes (and not just what he learns in school). I think he got a LOT out of watching this, and I really appreciate you taking the time to make it.
And you know, there's nothing per se wrong with being a RUclipsr. There are so many people on here who explore the world and show it to people as it is, by inviting it into their hearts and minds and researching things as deeply as they can rather than using everything as a backdrop. Some do art. Some do tech and science, they make things and they share with others. But i guess acquiring a skill comes first, i don't believe that a value comes from a place of minimum effort.
Wow. Who knew that a video about Logan Paul could consist of such an intellectual, empathetic analysis? I’m not a fan of Logan Paul, but I’m very impressed by you!
So basically what he's done, is completely desensitize himself to the concept that himself, his audience, and his brand, aren't the only things in the world, so he was able to almost senselessly take footage of a dead body, and go through the editing process, without once considering that the dead body was once a person, who likely felt great grief to end up hanging themselves, or that his young, impressionable fans, shouldn't deal with the trauma of seeing a real dead body on the internet, or that any of it was against RUclips rules and guidelines, because to him, at that moment... It's just not a person, it's just not a big deal, and what he's focused on is getting out a 'be sure to like, subscribe, and buy my maverick merch.' Fucking dystopian.
ThisDude137 yeah wow it's almost like privileged RUclips boys have no comprehension of their ability and power to cause extreme negative impacts, I wonder what facets of society caused That™
An excess of symbolism/symbolic-value can desensitize anyone from experiencing or considering reality. American psycho deals with something similar isnt it?
The scarier thing is what this video has been telling us -- Logan's NOT a complete heartless psycho. He started off as a somewhat normal guy just doing vlogs for fun. True horror.
@@bringingoutthedead3079 I'm assuming they knew that the video would create a whole shit load of controversy, in turn would get more views, then finally, would make more money... He's much more famous, or infamous after that stunt then before. I'm pretty sure that translates to more money.
There is something inherently disgusting about the way he rains money down on his own mother like shes a stripper. Not even decent enough to hand it to her by hand; instead she has to pick it up off the floor.
I can imagine Logan Paul being a huge object of psychological study in a couple hundred years. He’s a prime representation of the current American era, and how overwhelming influence can change people.
That made a lot of sense actually. You humanized him in my eyes, when all along I've kind have viewed him like unhealthy snackfoods that teens consume too much of, or at least something instead of someone. Thank you for your perspective.
I have the sneaking suspicion he never had a "connection" to severe in the first place. He walks high above such things. A different plane of being altogether.
Cory Mck Sir, i am afraid we can't openly sell a dead corpse to our 12-14 year old customers. Well well James, get me an advertising agency to apologise on my behalf. Oh, and find a way to increase our sales throughout the process.
Jenny also half of the pseudonym, Sherclop Pones, who created Friendship is Witchcraft. I got off the pony wagon when they (literally) jumped the shark, but FiW is still comedy gold. Thanks, Joel, for the excellent articulation about what made Logan Paul's early work so uniquely attractive and where and how it went off the rails. It was a well made video and it definitely made sense to me :P
ahhh speaking of Greek tragedy, i have been reading Eliade's 'the sacred & the profane' and.. yeah, in our modern desacralised world, Paul pretty much did a lil apotheosis here and made himself a god with his own religion *so* fascinating
My reading on Logan Paul isn't that it's life affirming or aspirational... it's just a shallow vlog for vulnerable, insecure kids that ultimately got too obnoxious for its own good. His conduct in Japan was appalling even before the suicide forest incident.
Logan is as funny as getting cancer and is as interesting as a sheet of white plastic. But hey, perhaps I am out of the loop. Maybe getting cancer and looking at white plastic is all the rage these days. Which is depressing. Why not spend your time doing something creative or interesting? Watch a video by someone inspirational rather than some moron complaining about having to work out!
+tigermunky People don't always want the bold and inspiring. Sometimes they just want someone to relate to, even if it's mundane, even if it's boring. Maybe you never feel that way?
"You know, you have a good point. Thanks for showing me a different perspective." Holy shit, I think this is the first time I've seen that said in a youtube comment section. Or even the internet in general, honestly. That is beautiful.
he's probably not especially sad honestly. like, this video is designed to imply he probably is in some way, or that at least he is something that makes some people want to interpret him as being sad, but you can't really tell anything about his fundamental emotional state from a video like this
Is it just me or does Logan Paul’s career follow the plot of the Stranger by Camus. Starts with a funeral has interesting emotions around it, interacts with the world like a set piece and ends up with a dead man.
Well, to properly understand PB, you need to be pretty 5head. It is by far not the most trivial movie to digest, even for a mature, erudite person. What you are suggesting is futility.
But doesn't that comment in itself reduce Logan Paul to a cardboard prop in our own lives? If the video is describing Logan becoming more and more distanced from the world until he's only able to see everything else as material in his one man show, aren't we doing the same if we turn him into disposable creepypasta for our own personal shows?
MCVessels Isn't that how life works though? We're the protagonists of our own, and others are just a part of it good or bad. It's just your choice on who you want to care about, and take with you.
I think his entire channel is the single best representation of what Fight Club warned us about. Thinking that mass market reproduceable and personality-less merchandise represents someone's personality and how unique they are. Like how the iPhone was marketed as product of someone's freedom and personal choice, something that broke the norm, to then be bought by everyone ever - and to be the new norm. By thinking your escaping from society, you fuel its continuous grasp on you.
"We aren't drones like 99% of society who do what people tell them. Now let's all prove that by going and buying the same pair of socks from a salesman on RUclips".
"You are ALL individuals!!" Everyone in unison: "Yes, WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS!!!" "You are ALL different!!" Everyone: "Yes, WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT!!!" One man: "I'm not!" Everyone: "Shut up!"
+ Malony the Pony After watching this video, I think Logan Paul has Peter Pan Syndrome. I really dwelled on this concept and I believe it fits. Considering his fanbase, he always caters and interacts with children and tweens in particular. He's always having the high life like he's a child who can't stop having fun. He lacks the full understanding of knowing what he did wrong. The only reason he has to apologise is because he apparently has to. Similar to how a child's mother will tell her child to say sorry. The child doesn't know why they have to say sorry, they just do. They don't have to be sincere, but have to do so because mommy told them to.
Obama's Stand to me deflaring someone as inherently evil is a heavy accusation, so i tend not to do so if there’s any reasonable doubt to their evilness. Logan doesn’t actively harm, or cause harm. He shows massive disrespect and lack of understanding, but doesn’t pursue damage. I think his lack of understanding is emblematic of a problem with society, a symptom rather than cause. so, i think there’s doubt to his evilness. but you don’t have to define good/bad that way, that’s up to you.
This applies pretty well to celebrity culture in general, actually. All celebrities are compelled to glorify consumerism and uphold capitalism once they become symbolic consumer products themselves. Super fascinating.
I completely agree with you. Also I think for most celebritys there is this need to give "spectacles" to the fanbase. Even negative attention mean publicity, only the lack of attention is bad. Hence the need to do crazy things in this different countries... just enjoing venice strolling around etc. there is plenty of stuff out there. But jumpng into the canal/getting arrested means spectacle and "grants" views. And I think to be able to do something like that kind of requires some detachment of the country and the culture.
Anthony Garcia tbh I don't expect to radicalize someone via a RUclips comment, but I find it worth questioning the grander systems at play. It's my thinking that Logan Paul would not have identified with his merch sales if the systems surrounding Logan Paul did not require merch sales in the first place. I like to compare it to a board game, like monopoly. When people play monopoly, they act in greedy ways, because the rules of the game implicitly necessitate greed in order to win. But that doesn't make them greedy by nature - they were just momentarily caught in the system created by the game's rules. In a similar vein, in order to "win" capitalism, you need to constantly make profits via any means you can. In the case of everyone from corporate shareholders to Logan Paul, this can mean slowly sacrificing morality in order to optimize profits. If the incentive for that greed - profits - were taken away, Logan Paul would have no reason to act the way he did. That's my hot-take. Again, I don't expect you to agree with me, but if you were really curious, that's where I stand.
Anthony Garcia, Alex Accidently: I get notifications of your comments and I'm refreshed the reasonable arguing and respect for the other persons opinion by both of you... truly something rarely seen in todays youtube video comment section... good job and a thumbs up from a stranger for you :)
Anthony Garcia Yes, the simple idea of I give you something and you give me something is a great ideal, but, like you said, our society doesnt always live up that ideal. I do believe you must be able to place some blame on the system. Weather it be capitalism or what have you. Because, if you cant criticize the system, then it will remain extremely flawed. I understand that you think people have a choice in this instance and I think that is a good philsophy to have, but there are some things that people are subjected to outside of their control as byproduct of a certain system. In this instance, since capitilsm is a man made construct and methodology, we should have the right to criticize it and attempt to make it better. Whatever that entails (I have no idea I'm not an economist). But my point is we should have the ability to think about what we could do to improve it and other systems. Everyone at all times is a product of their enviornment and themselves, its a constant push and pull and I think its good to acknowledge that. Thus its almost impossible to say Logan wasnt influenced by external pressures. And I don't think saying he wasn't at all influenced by the state of our economic system is a very fair thing to say. Currently, our society really loves to question the system. Government, capitalism, race relations yadda yadda. And when done improperly, it looks like ur trying to make excuses for yourself. On the other hand completely ignoring our systems is also folly! The answer is somewhere in the middle as it usually is. Hope that made some sense haha.
Logan, and people like him, are the embodiment of every negative aspect of the American dream. There is nothing wrong with being unique and working to make a name for yourself. The problem lies in letting those things control you. Being yourself is fine as long as it's not at the expense of others' feelings and beliefs. Having money is fine as long as you know it isn't everything and put it to good use. Being wealthy is fine as long as you don't let the desire for it control you into being fake or doing whatever you can to keep it, even disrespecting and hurting others. The Paul brothers seem to do all of these things. I'm sure Logan would be a cool guy, albeit very obnoxious, if he didn't fall into the pit of greed. Fame does crazy things to people.
@@AT-tu4iu I didn't say the American dream was inherently good or fair, just that you don't have to be a douche if you do strive for all those things and succeed. Unfortunately, most people do fall prey to all the negatives that come with the positives. Such is human nature.
you're a genius. im not quite sure your formula, but the way you can explain things, even explain a person. it has caused me to take a second look on how i view people. in just 10 minutes you had a cynic like me feeling a bit sorry for a guy i would have said i hated if someone asked yesterday. i know its just a stupid comment from someone you've never met, but stay around man, i think you could do a lot with yourself.
I find the pauls cringy and super inappropriate for their demographic. They are incredibly misogynistic and materialistic. Being a parent of a 10 year old, these are not ideals I want my son to aspire to. Thankfully I've instilled a strong sense of equality, empathy and individuality into my child his entire life. Hopefully his dad and I are the leading voices in his development but without completely sheltering him from the outside world (which I don't believe in doing) there's no way to keep negative and dangerous outlooks from him. People that are in a position of power (being a role model for an entire generation, reaching millions if children is very powerful) should be somewhat mindful of their viewership and of the values they are preaching to them.
I've seen a couple parents comment on this video now, and I'm glad you're taking the time to learn about some the role models of kids today. I can imagine that it's a little scary, seeing people like Logan Paul who have so many tweens and teens following them and watching them put out content like the stuff described in this video. I feel the same way about my younger family members who are heavily involved in the internet and maybe don't have the same critical thinking skills as older teens to understand what kind of messages they're taking in. A lot of parents don't know what kind of people kids look up to on the internet, good OR bad, so thank you for taking the time to watch videos like this, I think you'll be a more knowledgable person for it.
Rachel Magowan If I might offer my perspective, I would caution against offering even the best ideals to a child as cut-and-dry values beyond doubt or question. Any teaching of values that is direct, tends to take the form of an argument from authority and that does not imprint positively in a child's psyche, it carries the sense of an external value, something given and not produced by one's own mind and intellect. If there is one urge parent could do well by restraining, that would in my opinion be the urge to control their child's points of view. I think it's best to let the child know that morality is just a matter of perspective, one in which opinion depends on conviction as much as rationality and that it is not always as straight-forward as one might wish. The best you can do is to make yourself an example of your moral perspective and help the child contextualize every moral framework in terms of choice and consequence and rational deduction, and not of moral arbitration. That is to say to present value-systems and their results and make yourself available for frank conversation, explain your own beliefs, rather than just asserting them as self-evident truths. The point here, is that even helpful notions, such as "equality empathy and individuality", need to be taught in a an open way to be effective. They need to be conclusions of the child, ideas cultivated by rational discussion, philosophical experimentation and observation of the world. Too often do parents use tactics and techniques to promote their values that more closely resemble indoctrination than actually presenting an argument; and while the child might not be mature enough to detect that or to properly respond to that, the sense of uncertainty that comes with such an improper, "forced" teaching creates emotional conflict that may later manifest as a crisis, a denunciation of previously held values, or even an inexplicably harsh and loud conscience. One might imagine the parent who employs violence or extreme emotional coercion, but really even simpler influences, just taking a child to the church and having it hear that non-believers burn in hell or telling a child that cheating is wrong and providing no reason for that might be as malignant, and that even extends to the most pure and widely accepted standards of morality. Some might question why I hold such a stern position against parents for really, only trying to teach their children morality using means that are not overtly sinister and even socially celebrated at times. To this I would like to answer that parents who lived by very different, and volatile belief systems (religious extremism, Nazism, cultist doctrines) had no less love for their children and confidence in their own moral nature and yet; had they employed the latter rather than the former method, that of free-thought and indirect participation in the shaping of the child's personality, they might have given their child a chance at a better moral perspective. That was my view on the subject. Hopeful I made some interesting points. I would be interested in any potential response or rebuttal.
@@willnash7907 Well, I wouldn't say that morality is merely a matter of perspective, but it is important to be able to see things from different perspectives. I think that morals should be taught, but teaching a moral isn't just saying that something is good or bad, it's explaining why something is good or bad, and developing empathy and imagination are actually quite big parts of that. If they can't put themselves in someone else's shoes and consider what that would feel like from that perspective, then morality is very much external to their thought process. I think that's where the right wing mindset comes from, it's why they think morality cannot exist without being propped up by an external source, whether they think it is God or the mass media "brainwashing" people, their problem is twofold, they can't imagine being in someone else's situation, and they can't imagine that anyone else is different from themselves. So if they have a job, then of course the homeless guy can get one... because they can't imagine what the homeless guy went through to end up there, parents on drugs, abused as a child, went to a school with a lot of gang violence, dropped out to start working a minimum wage job to get away from his home situation, if it could even have been called a home, developed cancer, got stuck in the hospital with huge medical bills, got fired from work because he couldn't show up... but nah, that guy was just a lazy bum to them because being a bum is the only way they can imagine ending up that way because of all the advantages they had. Books, especially fiction, can be a great way to teach morality, they get to experience a first person look at things from a voice that isn't an authority figure in their lives. Be a bit careful about which books though... as there are also some that advocate the worldview I described above. It's not that children should be censored forever, just until they've gotten their bearings, you can get out Call of Duty after they understand why killing is wrong, what terrorism is and why it is wrong, what the cold war was and the context surrounding that, why nuclear weapons are so terrifying and how their depiction in that series of games is only the tip of the iceberg, explain radiation sickness, etc... If not before, then at least when introducing the games to them, use that to have those conversations. Read "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" with them. Call of Duty is just an example of course, we could be talking about any number of other influences. For instance Logan Paul. If you're going to let your kid watch Logan Paul, then the myth of Narcissus is a good place to start, then maybe A Christmas Carol, and take a historical look at parallels between Logan and Trump, and apparently working conditions in Japan, work/life balance, death, misogyny and sexism, and existentialism considering just how much of a loose canon Logan Paul is. I'm probably leaving some out, but there's a lot of ground to cover, Logan Paul probably isn't appropriate for kids of any age, it's probably ok to let them watch once you know your child has strong values and good sense, but I somehow doubt they'll find him appealing at that point.
You say in this video that it wasn't that long ago since you were 12 or 13 and then you go on to do a perfect analysis of the emptiness of vapid celebrity narcissism, an analysis that could probably apply to a HUGE number of celebrities and public figures. You're brilliant. I believe you have a very promising future in the FBI as a criminal psychologist. Good luck.
@@CP-ir3ft It's true. A lot of people that don't live in US, feel negative towards the country. Most of us feel like the US is a nuisance that pesters people too much.
ik i'm late to the party here but he's essentially pre-2016 donald trump. he has vapidly branded himself as fame and success with the unspoken promise that buying his merchandise will give off that same image for you. in the process, he seems to have lost all sense of self in the pursuit of fame. it IS horror.
I so love how non-judgemental you are. You analyze things and people wihout ever being condescending, and that is so rare. This is why I'm here, keep it up!
He is a brand. He cannot be anything but the brand. Since the brand is authenticity and he is the brand he is authentic. He has preached this uniqueness and believes it so hard. We talk about Logan Paul in my marketing class because everything he did worked but at what cost? He sold his soul to his brand and in some way that makes Logan's brand, cheap, inauthentic, egotistical, and it is only through a young teenage audience who does not look deeper into their hero that he maintains popularity. His style of outrage marketing is impressive and I can't deny that this guy is genius but I hope he hasn't destroyed himself. I am curious to know if he can ever stop being a brand and restart being a person.
Mike tbf it's used differently in a philosophical context than this would imply (in relation to knowledge and what is knowing and stuff). It's not like this philosophy train of thought actually says treat people like shit ir act like you're the only one to exist (some actually take the opposite approach due to this philosophy)
There is also an element I haven't seen discussed much regarding him but seems obvious to me. Everything he is and does is so... american. The ultimate lack of care about the rest of world, ego, profit, stupidity and charm, cheesy words and actions and a hint of a dream life, all that is exactly how foreigners see USA.
I definitely agree with you that there is something uniquely American about Logan Paul. In fact, I strongly considered including a section on how Paul's international exploits can be read as a weird metaphor for modern American colonialism. I didn't include it in the end, but yeah, I definitely agree with you here.
Max Theawesome no, they aren't that different. The fact that they're both pretty distasteful isn't even relevant. It's that they both have similar philosophies, worldviews and desires. They share a need above all others to be talked about and liked and cheered on. In this way, Donald Trump was ahead of his time. His egotistical desire for attention is the same driving force as these kids. I'm not talking about Donald Trump the president by the way, I'm talking about Donald Trump the millionaire tabloid celebrity who has been doing this since the 70s.
Krombopulos Michael yeah they are similar in a lot of ways as well. Nice explanation, its good to see people staying calm. I guess the biggest difference is age now. Who knows what Logan is capable of considering how young he is.
Wow i never thought about this before. Imagine being so detached and egocentric that nothing and no-one around you exists anymore. That is a truly horrific thought. I kind of pity him now, what a lonely person he must be.
Unfortunately, I can see a Logan Paul movie biopic being made at some point. I mean think about how nuts of a concept that is. It would be a darkly comedic, unintentional horror/found footage/drama. Yet, I don’t see it as a complete impossibility, Especially with someone like David Fincher at the helm. Also Miles Tellar would crush the role, for better or worse.
I can see one being made too. However, this one is directed and written by Logan and makes himself look like a god and a hero. He's so egotistical I seriously wouldn't put it past him.
Jeffrey dahmer recently got his own film, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if something along the same lines was made about Paul. I'm willing to see what path this takes.
Interesting essay Also...I know this sounds kind of stupid but I kinda liked those socks with the parrot...? They look cute. And has a bird! But how are some freaking socks a "dent in the Universe"...? Damn
Millie Don't fall for this as Logan Paul is a CIA shill. I know this as I have documentation on the logang and their activities and from this have concluded that Logan is Dare I say it A brainlet
Definitely the most thorough response to the whole Logan Paul thing when it comes to analyzing his past as it pertains to the choices he made that led to him posting this video, and I've watched a good number of "reactions". I think your video talks about what others haven't -that if you really analyze his vlogs, personality, and character, you realize this suicide video was an inevitability.
That's what makes it almost tragic--I mean, what does Logan Paul think he's going to do at age 40? Or 60? He's not gonna be able to sustain this kinda output, and all he's going to have to look back on is a career in comforting middle schoolers. Which, to be fair, is a worthwhile endeavor. Just.. maybe you want to, I dunno, help them do something productive? Or understand the world better instead of doling out the junk food of meaningless identity that is material stuff?
mzyatpa same and After watching 'Matty Love 2 debunks' he proves that the breaking-in and skydive, suicide vlogs, and dead rats were all staged and fake.
It doesn’t make me feel any sympathy, or think what he did is excusable, but I do understand how his content came to be this. The problem lies in that he doesn’t (or didn’t? I hope it’s didn’t) know how wrong his behavior is, how disrespectful and awful he was to Japan, and the world in general. Even in the twitter apology with the last hashtag...I hope what happened has been a rude awakening and that he’s seen the repercussions of his actions and decided to change for the better. You can’t erase the past but you can learn from your mistakes. All his goals and aspirations to Hollywood fame are probably dead, and that’s a good thing. He’s been made an example as to what happens when you cross the line, and that fame and fortune don’t mean you’re free to do anything, break laws and disrespect cultures. And also, him having a wider audience might make him even more reckless and detached from reality
Idk he’s so obsessed with being the ‘biggest entertainer’ that I think he’ll push through this and still try to become Hollywood famous. He talks passionately in his vids about taking losses and coming back stronger, he was already crazy motivated and I think this just fuelled his motivation even more
I don't know, i'm afraid there are are plenty of famous scumbags in Hollywood. I think he'd fit right in! Do you think he's sorry about what he did, or does he mourn the repercussions? Or maybe not even that? He didn't stop gaining subscribers from the incident, he never lost subscribers, indeed the whole scandal might as well be a successful publicity stunt by a RUclipsr whose peak popularity has been reached last summer (according to Socialblade) and that was now on the decline - but now his name is everywhere, and when this shit blows over, the people will forget the deed but be primed for the name, people automatically click on keywords and images that seem distantly familiar.
Siana Gearz he didn’t lose much according to social blade, but his reputation with anyone above 15 is forever tarnished. People won’t forget, not something like this, especially if he were to star in a movie or show, that’ll for sure put them off watching it. His chances in Hollywood are probably dead, but I’m sure he’ll still try very hard to get in. Yeah there are scumbags in Hollywood, but they hide it well, this guy straight up acts like a psycho with no disregard for anyone else.
it's funny how the whole maverick brand is "structured" around the idea of being unique and putting yourself out there, not "being drones like 99% of society", and then you could jumpcut to the entirety of the logang wanting to be exactly like him. if he were actually trying to foster a community full of creatives and showcasing people and their work to spread to a wider audience it could've been amazing. instead, he's preying on kids wanting to be cool and popular by selling them merch. it's...sad.
Y'know, Logan... I understand everyone grieves differently. When I was a preteen, my dad died in a sudden and rather violent way, and I chose not to attend the viewing. I didn't want to see him like that. So I stayed home with my aunt and played Smash Bros (on the N64, in all its polygonal glory), showing her all the characters and their different move sets. It was a welcome distraction from the fact that I was completely numb, stunned, and deep in denial. Sometimes you need to pretend things are normal. You do whatever's necessary to take care of yourself in the moment. I get it. That said, I wouldn't have capitalized on that shit for views. You wanna have a Nerf fight with your family to lighten everyone's mood? Great. But if you don't want to look disingenuous, *don't do it on camera.* Handling it the way you did comes off like you're making the entire situation about you and what a great brother/cousin/etc you are. It's kinda tasteless to show genuine sadness and then flip back to silliness in the same video (you couldn't have saved that crap for the next one? The tone whiplash is real). They say integrity lies in doing the right thing even when no one's watching. Would you still have given those kids that much-needed fun moment if the cameras weren't running? Do good deeds mean anything to you if you know no one will see you carry them out? Can you still appreciate the moments of your day that occur when no one's filming? I think it's time to back away from the cameras to not only gain some perspective, but a life that's truly and wholly your own.
The best video would be seeing Logan Paul in jail.He has broken a ton of laws in Japan in previous videos. He was throwing stuff underneath moving cars, trashing people's cars, refusing to leave stores and buildings and constant racism. If any of us said racist stuff in the street, we would be escorted or arrested or attacked. People only cared about his video in suicide forest but he did a lot of bad stuff in Japan. People talk about those with 'white privilege' and all that nonsense but this guy truly does have privilege since everyoe else would be arrested. He is also an embarrassment in every country.
I feel immensely sorry for that parrot. His species is most likely endangered and he has to put up with a manchild. Could you imagine, the human race being endangered, and you are stuck in the house of a creature who is essentially a chaos god when compared to you. You can do nothing to escape, nor can the few remnants of your species. You just have to wait it out until you die. Unless if you are religious, you will believe you will cease to exist in the control of the Devil. Uhh, I mean your mom have big gay lol.
Malvenrot he isn’t against having parrots as pets or any pets for that matter. Someone from peta would be against adopting a dog or a cat. It’s not unreasonable to think Logan might not be the best owner.
I'm amazed at the fact that a man so educated and intellectually refined (for only such a person could make an analysis so sophisticated) had the patience to watch such empty, superficial drivel as the titles in the video description suggest. Was it all done with the explicit goal of making this essay at the end? If so, THANK YOU for holding on. Your mental sacrifice has given us all an awesome gift.
It was a weird process. He watched a few vids, thinking this guy was super interesting and weird, then decided overnight to make some kinda video about him, and only after all that excitement came to recognize that Logan Paul videos are really really boring and samey instead of bad in an interesting and fun to watch way. So it sorta transitioned from watching the videos for their own sake to a ridiculous slog.
16:13, no, I would argue that to Logan, the entire world including himself is cardboard. When you live an empty lifestyle that's what happens. If he doesn't show care for himself or his family or even his friends, it's hard to care about anything. His lifestyle is only status oriented and it makes him hollow. Just my opinion.
*Soooo...he's a filthy rich, emotionally stunted, materialistic narcissist?* And 12 year olds idolize him? God. I feel old. My 12 year old ass idolized Steve Irwin and Xena. I shudder at the thought of impressionable kids mimicking his worst traits.
But that's the thing. It's like culture - a construct. We shape culture as much as it shapes us, it can seem meaningless and vapid but there can be underlying reasons as to why it exists.
Ehh, not much of a social constructionist or cultural relativist myself, too much of an essentialist to flock with that crowd, but yes, Paul's is a case-study of a psyche that's very apparently malformed by his active role in internet culture. It reveals something uncanny - such thinly-veiled business tactics can bleed into an individual's very personality when taken to such lengths. Difficult to determine where Logan 'the man' begins and Logan 'the brand' ends, where that blurring took hold, and whether it's his rapaciousness or his fanbase's enabling force that is to blame.
one of those "Holy fuck I can't stand the guy and what happened with him but when you step back and stop looking at it as an isolated incident I kinda pity the guy for what his life has become" moments.
Stumbled onto your other video essays and have been watching each one here and there. I know "underrated channel" comments are a dime a dozen, but Joel, you do excellent work. I'm honestly surprised your channel hasn't exploded yet to the likes of other video essay channels. You'll get your time to shine. Keep up the great work. Edit: I'mma retract calling you Joel and call you Henry, since I'd like to think we are homies. Love ya.
I found this to be the most insightful piece of commentary on this that I've seen. Very interesting and thoughtfully put together. I think he makes his case very well.
I love how you explain what you like about him in this essay. So many video essays polarize their subjects. You don't. That's part of why I subscribed to you. Great work. I'm looking forward to more.
All of this kinda reminds me of Marx's theory of alienation, how people can over time be subsumed into the products they produce and consume and ultimately lose touch with their humanity in order to participate in the market.
"Capitalism didn't, can't, and won't work" despite the fact that it can, has, and does work, so much to the point that the epidemic of starvation and scarcity that plagued humanity for most of its history has been nearly wiped off the face of the earth as a byproduct of the machinations of global capitalism. But yeah, capitalism bad.
Honestly, I don't care what kind of utopia you can imagine in your head but I'm certain it seems a lot better than what we have now. However, just because you can imagine something better does not mean it's a feasible solution in reality. I am not saying we shouldn't work to improve the world and make life better for everyone but what I am definitely saying is that we have it so unfathomably good right now compared to the vast majority of human history and it is so easy to lose what we have that it would be not only ill-advised to attempt to institute massive revolutionary change, it has all signs of being downright disastrous. Capitalism is not perfect because people are not perfect but it has consistently produced the freest and most stable and safe societies for everyone and to attempt to disassemble it is to work counter to the best interest of everyone. A lot of what you asserted axiomatically as truth was simply opinion and I for one do not agree with your assessment. I've read what you have to say and I find it lacking.
The guy's a symptom. Whoever thinks he is responsible for making viewers materialistic or obnoxious, haven't taken a look at the bigger picture. Look at the people in his videos - adult people sucking up to him because he has money. That's really how society works, whether pleasant or not. There's obviously a virtue in trying to change things for the better once you have influence - but unless you believe 20-something youtubers are the arbiters of public morals, one could just as well argue that Logan is teaching kids necessary truths about society. You either make money, or you're a loser. Way worse is Pewdiepie, who acts holier-than-thou, but also behaves loud and obnoxiously, advertises his goddamn chair, clickbaits every video, and compromises artistic quality for monetization (e.g. not cursing). But that's supposedly not as bad because he does it with sarcasm and self-awareness? Or my personal least favourite: h3h3, who pretends like he's some spokesman for youtube good guys - only to shamelessly use Paul brothers' names in video titles to get that extra bonus check.
@@GriffinWelch "It's easy to have that perspective when content isn't your livelyhood." at this point poodiepie has enough money to buy earth and all the heavens he doesnt NEED more to survive so he basically does all that shit for his own ego, to stay №1 on the platform so your dumbass argument immediately collapses
A bit dismayed that when i scrolled down to the comments after watching that there was no “big joel unmasked!” comment. Anyway, this made sense! I read about the suicide forest video but i had no idea about the socks and everything else. Dark and hilarious all at once
Great video. One thing i found jarring about the suicide forest video was how he interrpretted it, like you said, the world is cardboard and he is the only one with dimention. He described it as happening to him. The whole event was so that he could learn someting and experience it and vlog it. There is no sense that he understand the existance of anything outside of his self focus.
There were so many aspects to this video I found incredibly interesting. I liked the way you portrayed Logan Paul, asking questions about his motivations without trying to pretend to be able of truly analysing him psychologically. I was afraid you'd do that and lose sight of the fact that he is as much an individual person as he is the phenomenon "Logan Paul Vlogs". One thing you pointed out is the kind of emotional vulnerability he shows, which you called "safe" or "non-threatening". I found that idea, that emotional vulnerability could become threatening in some way, especially fascinating. And I started asking myself why he didn't allow himself, if he truly shows all his emotions on cam, to ever cross that line and stop limiting the emotions he portrays. Unfortunately, I also felt that these questions, while interesting, left one really important thing unanswered. While Logan Paul may be a fascinating individual, his person is not the most problematic aspect to him IMO. It's the phenomenon Logan Paul that I find most disturbing. The best example for this was his "cover" of the Flobots song No Handlebars, which unfortunately you did not cover in this video. I also think Logan could be considered likeable as a person. Still, without a second thought, he takes the worst elements of pop culture, like misogyny, and reproduces them in that video. A certain fascination with extreme material wealth has always existed in Pop culture, like on MTV in the 90s and early 2000s, but the scope of that has never reached the level of Logan Paul. He flaunts money in ways that I can only call disgusting. When he "lets it rain" on his mother, I was so perplex, I didn't know what to say. His life in no way represents anything tweens live in this country nor something they should aspire to be. And I think that ultimately, he is not "potentially helpful" to his audience, he does not enable tweens to deal with the real existential questions of their lives, his form of entertainment only alienates them and distracts them from reflecting their experiences. Which is a shame, because they could gain so much from hearing a young man talk about his experience of going to funeral for the first time.
out of the many, many video essays i have watched, might i say this is my all time favorite. i completely understand truly the horrific life of logan paul, but in more of an organic way. you speak in a way that just makes me feel sad, but relieved that someone finally gets it. so, thank you.
I came to rewatch this, and what's crazy is that this is just 19 minutes long. From the length these kinda videos are at nowadays, I could have sworn this is at least 45 minutes.
This video is seriously incredible. I haven't seen something this insightful and poignant on RUclips in a while. You turned an easy, justified target of hate into a much more multifaceted issue about our choices and the things which shape us, to the point where it even makes me reflect on my own life. This is what a video essay looks like at its best. Keep it up dude, holy shit.
It made sense. This is the ONLY video/ critique/ exposé that I've watched featuring LP that I both enjoyed, and did leave feeling aboutly furious or disgusted. You did an amazing overall job. You beyond earned my subscription and I can't wait to browse your channel.
Joel you're my favorite big brain intellectual man I don't know how you don't have a 2 million + subscribers with the quality of your content. You're a gem big man Joel.
This video originally struck me about 25 minutes ago due to its malleable title. Before watching I even took a screenshot and sent it to some friends just from the pure meme-ness that it has in it. Now that I've actually seen it, I'm quite surprised with you lengths you went to make such an astounding video. The extent of my knowledge before this was "Logan Paul filmed a dead body in a Japanese forest wearing an alien from Toy Story hat, and he made that one song throwing shit at his brother for no reason." Now I feel like I understand a lot more than I ever thought I would. Thank you.
One of the best video essays.... actually one of the best videos I've seen in a long time. I wish I could give you RUclips gold. *tips fedora* nice work!
This is an amazing analysis, from start to finish. You can tell that it comes from an empathetic place; rather than shaming him for what he did, you accurately explained why fame and fortune at such a young age (especially coming from an already well-off family) can be really detrimental to mental health and maturity. I honestly feel for the guy and I hope he can figure himself out one day.
Fascinating. Watching this video I feel like Logan is the anti - Evan Hadfield. (Chris Hadfield's son, his channel is Rare Earth... which I guess he shares with his dad) Adam doesn't try to be ostentatious. He doesn't go out of his way to try to make people laugh. He goes to experience other perspectives, and share those, with no easy answers and sometimes no happy ending. He's had opportunities and doors opened up for him that most people can't dream of and his way of giving back appears to be spreading a collective message of humanity. Not selling his brand, his dad would probably murder him for that. It's a shame that Evan doesn't have nearly as large a following among tweens, but he doesn't offer a safe world. He offers reality, but a refreshing and earnest perspective towards it. The world needs more of him, and fewer Pauls.
Oh fella i found ur channel some hours ago and ur work is amazing ,i think i can learn a lot from you keep carry on this project , greetings from chile southamerica
“To Logan, the world is made of cardboard. He’s the only thing that has any definition. Everything else feels like a prop.” Spot on.
okay im sorry to bring this up again but that’s pretty much the definition of a sociopath.
@@spacecowbo7716 he's a psychopath. sociopaths can see the damage they do, but their desires outweigh the damage and is therefore "justified." psychopaths are oblivious to their effect on other people. logan paul is a psychopath.
@Mr Temporal
Except superman is genuinely a fictional character in a setting that focuses on him. Paul isn't.
@@Graknorke Also Superman tries not to break stuff because he's an elephant in a china shop.
0
I absolutely love the way you said "He doesn't experience Italy, he happens to it". It's a perfect statement to describe what went wrong when Logan went to Japan.
I think most of the outrage comes not from the fact that he did it but from the fact that he was so oblivious that he didn't understand how inappropriate it was to upload.
alexandra galici Quinton Reviews did a very interesting video about this subject-- you should check it out! ruclips.net/video/UEVWIeIowyM/видео.html
True. It's also his unwillingness to grow up just so he can continue to "appeal" to his younger demographic.
I really like your comment and agree please could you not use the word retarded next time no offense
It's a common phenomenon in our society called lack of empathy.
@@Anonymous_Gambito Empathy is getting harder to find, especially among the younger generations.
Thanks so much for this video. I showed it to my 11-year-old son. He doesn't watch Logan Paul but is generally fascinated with the culture of RUclips celebrity and wants to be a RUclipsr himself. He's also a naturally critical, skeptical person, and I'd like to him to apply this trait to the media he consumes (and not just what he learns in school). I think he got a LOT out of watching this, and I really appreciate you taking the time to make it.
And you know, there's nothing per se wrong with being a RUclipsr. There are so many people on here who explore the world and show it to people as it is, by inviting it into their hearts and minds and researching things as deeply as they can rather than using everything as a backdrop. Some do art. Some do tech and science, they make things and they share with others. But i guess acquiring a skill comes first, i don't believe that a value comes from a place of minimum effort.
Sounds like a smart kid.
Why can't I have a good father figure? I hate my sad excuse of a dad so much ugh can't wait till I'm out of this shithole.
hippitus hoppitus Harsh.
@@peterk.9571 i hope you're okay dude
Beware Logan Paul,
who sees corpses above him,
and thinks himself tall.
Shit dude that's legit poetic!
Did you just summarize everything bad about Logan Paul in a motherfucking haiku?!
That's it, that's the perfect comment, tenouttaten.
Whoa
That's a haiku!
That is a haiku!
You are very poetic.
So I did the same.
him showering his mother with money was the tackiest thing ive ever seen. pay off some of her debts or buy her a nice meal or something. damn.
She looked genuinely uncomfortable
Yup if he really cared about her he would have done something nice for her without filming it and trying to exploit his 'good deed' for profit/fame.
maybe his mom is a bad person? idk
"i haven't done anything super nice for my family." bless him, what a good person.
Logan Paul is like a black mirror episode
This^
Which one?
Except it's real, and we live in the same world as him. Terrifying.
A season 5 episode most definitely!
absolutely
Wow. Who knew that a video about Logan Paul could consist of such an intellectual, empathetic analysis? I’m not a fan of Logan Paul, but I’m very impressed by you!
So basically what he's done, is completely desensitize himself to the concept that himself, his audience, and his brand, aren't the only things in the world, so he was able to almost senselessly take footage of a dead body, and go through the editing process, without once considering that the dead body was once a person, who likely felt great grief to end up hanging themselves, or that his young, impressionable fans, shouldn't deal with the trauma of seeing a real dead body on the internet, or that any of it was against RUclips rules and guidelines, because to him, at that moment... It's just not a person, it's just not a big deal, and what he's focused on is getting out a 'be sure to like, subscribe, and buy my maverick merch.'
Fucking dystopian.
ThisDude137 yeah wow it's almost like privileged RUclips boys have no comprehension of their ability and power to cause extreme negative impacts, I wonder what facets of society caused That™
Approving of himself while desensitizing others; it seems something a real psychopath would do.
An excess of symbolism/symbolic-value can desensitize anyone from experiencing or considering reality. American psycho deals with something similar isnt it?
The scarier thing is what this video has been telling us -- Logan's NOT a complete heartless psycho. He started off as a somewhat normal guy just doing vlogs for fun.
True horror.
@@bringingoutthedead3079 I'm assuming they knew that the video would create a whole shit load of controversy, in turn would get more views, then finally, would make more money... He's much more famous, or infamous after that stunt then before. I'm pretty sure that translates to more money.
There is something inherently disgusting about the way he rains money down on his own mother like shes a stripper. Not even decent enough to hand it to her by hand; instead she has to pick it up off the floor.
I can't believe you're the only one who addresses this. It's pretty sad.
This is absolutely correct.
To him, his mother is made of the same cardboard as the rest of the world.
I only just found big Joel hence I'm only just seing this video, and that really grossed me out.
@@mrinternetguy3625 perhaps for the rest of us there are no words..?
I can imagine Logan Paul being a huge object of psychological study in a couple hundred years. He’s a prime representation of the current American era, and how overwhelming influence can change people.
He is almost completely ignored just 6 years later, sorry lol
That made a lot of sense actually. You humanized him in my eyes, when all along I've kind have viewed him like unhealthy snackfoods that teens consume too much of, or at least something instead of someone. Thank you for your perspective.
Same!!
the snackfood analogy is spot on
It makes tons of sense- this man fed himself to his own brand. He severed his connection with other human beings to sell socks. It's a damn tragedy.
Tim Cuatt A modern Greek tragedy where Logan's failings were his own. Not caused by anyone or anything else. Just his own shortcomings.
I think that's the natural course of video blogging.
tfw you feel genuine unironic sadness for logan paul
I have the sneaking suspicion he never had a "connection" to severe in the first place. He walks high above such things. A different plane of being altogether.
peter the rabbit your suspicion is wrong
Is Logan Paul an analogy for late stage capitalism?
Logan Paul -is- late-stage capitalism.
He is one of millions of products of late stage capitalism.
Yes
Cory Mck
Sir, i am afraid we can't openly sell a dead corpse to our 12-14 year old customers. Well well James, get me an advertising agency to apologise on my behalf. Oh, and find a way to increase our sales throughout the process.
Isn't everything?
This is the video I've been wanting
congrats on getting a comment from the coolest girl on the internet
jennNNNNNYYYY NICHOLSON
my queen
JENNNNNYYY!!! When are you giving us some more in-depth fanfiction analysis?
Jenny also half of the pseudonym, Sherclop Pones, who created Friendship is Witchcraft.
I got off the pony wagon when they (literally) jumped the shark, but FiW is still comedy gold.
Thanks, Joel, for the excellent articulation about what made Logan Paul's early work so uniquely attractive and where and how it went off the rails. It was a well made video and it definitely made sense to me :P
I love this dissection of Logan Paul as if he's the main character in a Greek tragedy. Well done!
wait, he's _not_ the main character in a greek tragedy?
ahhh speaking of Greek tragedy, i have been reading Eliade's 'the sacred & the profane' and.. yeah, in our modern desacralised world, Paul pretty much did a lil apotheosis here and made himself a god with his own religion
*so* fascinating
He’s redeemed himself too
My reading on Logan Paul isn't that it's life affirming or aspirational... it's just a shallow vlog for vulnerable, insecure kids that ultimately got too obnoxious for its own good.
His conduct in Japan was appalling even before the suicide forest incident.
TheArtkaw i guess you could say hes just an aPAULing human.
Logan is as funny as getting cancer and is as interesting as a sheet of white plastic.
But hey, perhaps I am out of the loop. Maybe getting cancer and looking at white plastic is all the rage these days. Which is depressing. Why not spend your time doing something creative or interesting? Watch a video by someone inspirational rather than some moron complaining about having to work out!
+tigermunky People don't always want the bold and inspiring. Sometimes they just want someone to relate to, even if it's mundane, even if it's boring. Maybe you never feel that way?
You know, you have a good point. Thanks for showing me a different perspective.
"You know, you have a good point. Thanks for showing me a different perspective."
Holy shit, I think this is the first time I've seen that said in a youtube comment section. Or even the internet in general, honestly. That is beautiful.
Logan Paul is a far sadder being than I ever imagined.
You can be sad all you want, ima still watch his vlogs.
wisemage0 he said logan, not himself is sad. lol
This comment. Lmao.
@@wisemage0 u must be a tween?
he's probably not especially sad honestly. like, this video is designed to imply he probably is in some way, or that at least he is something that makes some people want to interpret him as being sad, but you can't really tell anything about his fundamental emotional state from a video like this
Is it just me or does Logan Paul’s career follow the plot of the Stranger by Camus. Starts with a funeral has interesting emotions around it, interacts with the world like a set piece and ends up with a dead man.
Well it's plenty absurd :P
it makes total sense to me, its a study case of detachment
Woooah, spoilers?!
i just finished that, and after watching this the similarities are there. 0:
Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know.
The horror of utterly losing yourself to your own icon.
Logan should watch Perfect Blue.
Logan is the modern adaptation to perfect blue we never knew we needed
Don't disrespect Perfect Blue like that
Well, to properly understand PB, you need to be pretty 5head. It is by far not the most trivial movie to digest, even for a mature, erudite person.
What you are suggesting is futility.
everybody should watch that movie. It is bloody brilliant.
I love this analysis of this like the whole logan paul saga is a creepypasta.
But doesn't that comment in itself reduce Logan Paul to a cardboard prop in our own lives? If the video is describing Logan becoming more and more distanced from the world until he's only able to see everything else as material in his one man show, aren't we doing the same if we turn him into disposable creepypasta for our own personal shows?
MCVessels Oh well, what the hell ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I'm not moral. morality is hazy anyway
integrity as strong as wet cardboard lmao
MCVessels Isn't that how life works though? We're the protagonists of our own, and others are just a part of it good or bad. It's just your choice on who you want to care about, and take with you.
@@MCVessels I think he deserves it. It's like a lesson: "What you wish was not done unto you, do not do unto others."
I think his entire channel is the single best representation of what Fight Club warned us about.
Thinking that mass market reproduceable and personality-less merchandise represents someone's personality and how unique they are. Like how the iPhone was marketed as product of someone's freedom and personal choice, something that broke the norm, to then be bought by everyone ever - and to be the new norm.
By thinking your escaping from society, you fuel its continuous grasp on you.
c a t
Rick and Morty
Purple Shrek wat
"We aren't drones like 99% of society who do what people tell them. Now let's all prove that by going and buying the same pair of socks from a salesman on RUclips".
"You are ALL individuals!!"
Everyone in unison: "Yes, WE ARE ALL INDIVIDUALS!!!"
"You are ALL different!!"
Everyone: "Yes, WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT!!!"
One man: "I'm not!"
Everyone: "Shut up!"
You are the ultimate people watcher, I can tell. No one is boring, there is interest, even in the mundane.
"too boring to fake"
I'm dead
Iana Araújo loved it! Funny cause it's true!
"I'm dead"
Looking to guest star in a future Logan Paul video?
DefineAGod HARSH
DefineAGod holy shit
DefineAGod damn...
Really really interesting. I understand him better now. I still don't like him though.
You got yourself a new subscriber.
Dont subscribe for this....
This guy is defending logan paul.
Paul is a sick part of culture that is only causing damage.
Drugs cause comfort too.
+ Malony the Pony After watching this video, I think Logan Paul has Peter Pan Syndrome. I really dwelled on this concept and I believe it fits.
Considering his fanbase, he always caters and interacts with children and tweens in particular. He's always having the high life like he's a child who can't stop having fun.
He lacks the full understanding of knowing what he did wrong. The only reason he has to apologise is because he apparently has to. Similar to how a child's mother will tell her child to say sorry. The child doesn't know why they have to say sorry, they just do. They don't have to be sincere, but have to do so because mommy told them to.
Obama's Stand
to me deflaring someone as inherently evil is a heavy accusation, so i tend not to do so if there’s any reasonable doubt to their evilness.
Logan doesn’t actively harm, or cause harm. He shows massive disrespect and lack of understanding, but doesn’t pursue damage.
I think his lack of understanding is emblematic of a problem with society, a symptom rather than cause.
so, i think there’s doubt to his evilness.
but you don’t have to define good/bad that way, that’s up to you.
Obama's Stand drugs are good
xavi xavi id rather die than watch pewdiepie
This applies pretty well to celebrity culture in general, actually. All celebrities are compelled to glorify consumerism and uphold capitalism once they become symbolic consumer products themselves. Super fascinating.
I completely agree with you. Also I think for most celebritys there is this need to give "spectacles" to the fanbase. Even negative attention mean publicity, only the lack of attention is bad. Hence the need to do crazy things in this different countries... just enjoing venice strolling around etc. there is plenty of stuff out there. But jumpng into the canal/getting arrested means spectacle and "grants" views. And I think to be able to do something like that kind of requires some detachment of the country and the culture.
Anthony Garcia tbh I don't expect to radicalize someone via a RUclips comment, but I find it worth questioning the grander systems at play. It's my thinking that Logan Paul would not have identified with his merch sales if the systems surrounding Logan Paul did not require merch sales in the first place.
I like to compare it to a board game, like monopoly. When people play monopoly, they act in greedy ways, because the rules of the game implicitly necessitate greed in order to win. But that doesn't make them greedy by nature - they were just momentarily caught in the system created by the game's rules. In a similar vein, in order to "win" capitalism, you need to constantly make profits via any means you can. In the case of everyone from corporate shareholders to Logan Paul, this can mean slowly sacrificing morality in order to optimize profits. If the incentive for that greed - profits - were taken away, Logan Paul would have no reason to act the way he did.
That's my hot-take. Again, I don't expect you to agree with me, but if you were really curious, that's where I stand.
Anthony Garcia, Alex Accidently: I get notifications of your comments and I'm refreshed the reasonable arguing and respect for the other persons opinion by both of you... truly something rarely seen in todays youtube video comment section... good job and a thumbs up from a stranger for you :)
Aw, thanks!
Anthony Garcia Yes, the simple idea of I give you something and you give me something is a great ideal, but, like you said, our society doesnt always live up that ideal.
I do believe you must be able to place some blame on the system. Weather it be capitalism or what have you. Because, if you cant criticize the system, then it will remain extremely flawed.
I understand that you think people have a choice in this instance and I think that is a good philsophy to have, but there are some things that people are subjected to outside of their control as byproduct of a certain system.
In this instance, since capitilsm is a man made construct and methodology, we should have the right to criticize it and attempt to make it better. Whatever that entails (I have no idea I'm not an economist). But my point is we should have the ability to think about what we could do to improve it and other systems.
Everyone at all times is a product of their enviornment and themselves, its a constant push and pull and I think its good to acknowledge that. Thus its almost impossible to say Logan wasnt influenced by external pressures. And I don't think saying he wasn't at all influenced by the state of our economic system is a very fair thing to say.
Currently, our society really loves to question the system. Government, capitalism, race relations yadda yadda. And when done improperly, it looks like ur trying to make excuses for yourself. On the other hand completely ignoring our systems is also folly! The answer is somewhere in the middle as it usually is.
Hope that made some sense haha.
Logan, and people like him, are the embodiment of every negative aspect of the American dream. There is nothing wrong with being unique and working to make a name for yourself. The problem lies in letting those things control you. Being yourself is fine as long as it's not at the expense of others' feelings and beliefs. Having money is fine as long as you know it isn't everything and put it to good use. Being wealthy is fine as long as you don't let the desire for it control you into being fake or doing whatever you can to keep it, even disrespecting and hurting others.
The Paul brothers seem to do all of these things. I'm sure Logan would be a cool guy, albeit very obnoxious, if he didn't fall into the pit of greed. Fame does crazy things to people.
DarkMajick completely agree
This is so vague
Lmao the American dream sucks
It’s built to do all the things you just said it shouldn’t be
@@AT-tu4iu I didn't say the American dream was inherently good or fair, just that you don't have to be a douche if you do strive for all those things and succeed. Unfortunately, most people do fall prey to all the negatives that come with the positives. Such is human nature.
you're a genius. im not quite sure your formula, but the way you can explain things, even explain a person. it has caused me to take a second look on how i view people. in just 10 minutes you had a cynic like me feeling a bit sorry for a guy i would have said i hated if someone asked yesterday. i know its just a stupid comment from someone you've never met, but stay around man, i think you could do a lot with yourself.
I find the pauls cringy and super inappropriate for their demographic. They are incredibly misogynistic and materialistic. Being a parent of a 10 year old, these are not ideals I want my son to aspire to. Thankfully I've instilled a strong sense of equality, empathy and individuality into my child his entire life. Hopefully his dad and I are the leading voices in his development but without completely sheltering him from the outside world (which I don't believe in doing) there's no way to keep negative and dangerous outlooks from him. People that are in a position of power (being a role model for an entire generation, reaching millions if children is very powerful) should be somewhat mindful of their viewership and of the values they are preaching to them.
I've seen a couple parents comment on this video now, and I'm glad you're taking the time to learn about some the role models of kids today. I can imagine that it's a little scary, seeing people like Logan Paul who have so many tweens and teens following them and watching them put out content like the stuff described in this video. I feel the same way about my younger family members who are heavily involved in the internet and maybe don't have the same critical thinking skills as older teens to understand what kind of messages they're taking in. A lot of parents don't know what kind of people kids look up to on the internet, good OR bad, so thank you for taking the time to watch videos like this, I think you'll be a more knowledgable person for it.
Rachel Magowan
If I might offer my perspective, I would caution against offering even the best ideals to a child as cut-and-dry values beyond doubt or question.
Any teaching of values that is direct, tends to take the form of an argument from authority and that does not imprint positively in a child's psyche, it carries the sense of an external value, something given and not produced by one's own mind and intellect.
If there is one urge parent could do well by restraining, that would in my opinion be the urge to control their child's points of view. I think it's best to let the child know that morality is just a matter of perspective, one in which opinion depends on conviction as much as rationality and that it is not always as straight-forward as one might wish. The best you can do is to make yourself an example of your moral perspective and help the child contextualize every moral framework in terms of choice and consequence and rational deduction, and not of moral arbitration. That is to say to present value-systems and their results and make yourself available for frank conversation, explain your own beliefs, rather than just asserting them as self-evident truths. The point here, is that even helpful notions, such as "equality empathy and individuality", need to be taught in a an open way to be effective. They need to be conclusions of the child, ideas cultivated by rational discussion, philosophical experimentation and observation of the world.
Too often do parents use tactics and techniques to promote their values that more closely resemble indoctrination than actually presenting an argument; and while the child might not be mature enough to detect that or to properly respond to that, the sense of uncertainty that comes with such an improper, "forced" teaching creates emotional conflict that may later manifest as a crisis, a denunciation of previously held values, or even an inexplicably harsh and loud conscience. One might imagine the parent who employs violence or extreme emotional coercion, but really even simpler influences, just taking a child to the church and having it hear that non-believers burn in hell or telling a child that cheating is wrong and providing no reason for that might be as malignant, and that even extends to the most pure and widely accepted standards of morality.
Some might question why I hold such a stern position against parents for really, only trying to teach their children morality using means that are not overtly sinister and even socially celebrated at times. To this I would like to answer that parents who lived by very different, and volatile belief systems (religious extremism, Nazism, cultist doctrines) had no less love for their children and confidence in their own moral nature and yet; had they employed the latter rather than the former method, that of free-thought and indirect participation in the shaping of the child's personality, they might have given their child a chance at a better moral perspective.
That was my view on the subject. Hopeful I made some interesting points. I would be interested in any potential response or rebuttal.
Thanks for being a good mom. I hopefully won't have to call your son a little shit and have to deal with them in the future.
Rachel Magowan
You’re awesome
@@willnash7907 Well, I wouldn't say that morality is merely a matter of perspective, but it is important to be able to see things from different perspectives. I think that morals should be taught, but teaching a moral isn't just saying that something is good or bad, it's explaining why something is good or bad, and developing empathy and imagination are actually quite big parts of that. If they can't put themselves in someone else's shoes and consider what that would feel like from that perspective, then morality is very much external to their thought process. I think that's where the right wing mindset comes from, it's why they think morality cannot exist without being propped up by an external source, whether they think it is God or the mass media "brainwashing" people, their problem is twofold, they can't imagine being in someone else's situation, and they can't imagine that anyone else is different from themselves. So if they have a job, then of course the homeless guy can get one... because they can't imagine what the homeless guy went through to end up there, parents on drugs, abused as a child, went to a school with a lot of gang violence, dropped out to start working a minimum wage job to get away from his home situation, if it could even have been called a home, developed cancer, got stuck in the hospital with huge medical bills, got fired from work because he couldn't show up... but nah, that guy was just a lazy bum to them because being a bum is the only way they can imagine ending up that way because of all the advantages they had. Books, especially fiction, can be a great way to teach morality, they get to experience a first person look at things from a voice that isn't an authority figure in their lives. Be a bit careful about which books though... as there are also some that advocate the worldview I described above. It's not that children should be censored forever, just until they've gotten their bearings, you can get out Call of Duty after they understand why killing is wrong, what terrorism is and why it is wrong, what the cold war was and the context surrounding that, why nuclear weapons are so terrifying and how their depiction in that series of games is only the tip of the iceberg, explain radiation sickness, etc... If not before, then at least when introducing the games to them, use that to have those conversations. Read "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" with them. Call of Duty is just an example of course, we could be talking about any number of other influences. For instance Logan Paul. If you're going to let your kid watch Logan Paul, then the myth of Narcissus is a good place to start, then maybe A Christmas Carol, and take a historical look at parallels between Logan and Trump, and apparently working conditions in Japan, work/life balance, death, misogyny and sexism, and existentialism considering just how much of a loose canon Logan Paul is. I'm probably leaving some out, but there's a lot of ground to cover, Logan Paul probably isn't appropriate for kids of any age, it's probably ok to let them watch once you know your child has strong values and good sense, but I somehow doubt they'll find him appealing at that point.
You say in this video that it wasn't that long ago since you were 12 or 13 and then you go on to do a perfect analysis of the emptiness of vapid celebrity narcissism, an analysis that could probably apply to a HUGE number of celebrities and public figures. You're brilliant. I believe you have a very promising future in the FBI as a criminal psychologist. Good luck.
haha thank you so much.
Says the FBI recruiter for the Department of Criminal Psychoanalysis.
No, I'm Professor Moriarty and I'm looking for a worthy nemesis.
Well played Mister Moriarty
Dan ReptileHouse Cooper A pleasure to have come across you, Professor.
"He doesn't try to understand a country, he just happens to it."
Jake Paul is AMERICA personified.
All of his travelling videos are exactly how we percieve american tourists here
@@kafka9627 lmao
@@CP-ir3ft It's true.
A lot of people that don't live in US, feel negative towards the country.
Most of us feel like the US is a nuisance that pesters people too much.
This is horror.
He's weaponised consumerism. It's actually sinister.
ik i'm late to the party here but he's essentially pre-2016 donald trump. he has vapidly branded himself as fame and success with the unspoken promise that buying his merchandise will give off that same image for you. in the process, he seems to have lost all sense of self in the pursuit of fame. it IS horror.
He lost his head and became the mask.
Oh god. We're going to make him president aren't we?
This is such a horror story.
I so love how non-judgemental you are. You analyze things and people wihout ever being condescending, and that is so rare. This is why I'm here, keep it up!
Yes!!!
Ok fine stop recommending me this youtube...
Shit this is actually some good content lol
My thoughts exactly haha
fuckin same.
Brown cheese is gud m8
RUclips secretly knows everything you want, even if you don't know it yet.
So yes, you should click on that "epic roblox prank gone wr0ng!!!!" video.
lol thats how i ended up here too
He is a brand. He cannot be anything but the brand. Since the brand is authenticity and he is the brand he is authentic. He has preached this uniqueness and believes it so hard. We talk about Logan Paul in my marketing class because everything he did worked but at what cost? He sold his soul to his brand and in some way that makes Logan's brand, cheap, inauthentic, egotistical, and it is only through a young teenage audience who does not look deeper into their hero that he maintains popularity. His style of outrage marketing is impressive and I can't deny that this guy is genius but I hope he hasn't destroyed himself. I am curious to know if he can ever stop being a brand and restart being a person.
solipsism: the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist
Seems about right
Mike tbf it's used differently in a philosophical context than this would imply (in relation to knowledge and what is knowing and stuff). It's not like this philosophy train of thought actually says treat people like shit ir act like you're the only one to exist (some actually take the opposite approach due to this philosophy)
I think he intended this in a derisive manner.
+acidbath32 I giggled quite strongly at this
Sounds like an audio-log done by Sophia Lamb from Bioshock 2
"We aren't drones like 99% of society"
I'm sorry Logan, you *are* 99% of society.
Sick burn is sick.
What about the Shrek lovers, Bee Movie memes, evil vacuum cleaners, Pokemon Go addicts, and armchair politicians?
One way to sell stuff to people is to tell them they are a special snowflake like all the other special snowflakes.
My thoughts exactly...
Who's the other 1%? Jake Paul?
...
...
LOGAN PAUL IS THE 99%!!!!
There is also an element I haven't seen discussed much regarding him but seems obvious to me. Everything he is and does is so... american. The ultimate lack of care about the rest of world, ego, profit, stupidity and charm, cheesy words and actions and a hint of a dream life, all that is exactly how foreigners see USA.
I definitely agree with you that there is something uniquely American about Logan Paul. In fact, I strongly considered including a section on how Paul's international exploits can be read as a weird metaphor for modern American colonialism. I didn't include it in the end, but yeah, I definitely agree with you here.
He's a youtubing version of Donald Trump, what more is there to say?
well the fact they are two different people is something to say. they are very different its just that you dislike both so you generalise them.
Max Theawesome no, they aren't that different. The fact that they're both pretty distasteful isn't even relevant. It's that they both have similar philosophies, worldviews and desires. They share a need above all others to be talked about and liked and cheered on. In this way, Donald Trump was ahead of his time. His egotistical desire for attention is the same driving force as these kids. I'm not talking about Donald Trump the president by the way, I'm talking about Donald Trump the millionaire tabloid celebrity who has been doing this since the 70s.
Krombopulos Michael yeah they are similar in a lot of ways as well. Nice explanation, its good to see people staying calm. I guess the biggest difference is age now. Who knows what Logan is capable of considering how young he is.
Wow i never thought about this before. Imagine being so detached and egocentric that nothing and no-one around you exists anymore. That is a truly horrific thought. I kind of pity him now, what a lonely person he must be.
Unfortunately, I can see a Logan Paul movie biopic being made at some point.
I mean think about how nuts of a concept that is. It would be a darkly comedic, unintentional horror/found footage/drama. Yet, I don’t see it as a complete impossibility, Especially with someone like David Fincher at the helm.
Also Miles Tellar would crush the role, for better or worse.
I can see one being made too. However, this one is directed and written by Logan and makes himself look like a god and a hero. He's so egotistical I seriously wouldn't put it past him.
Jeffrey dahmer recently got his own film, so it wouldn't surprise me in the least if something along the same lines was made about Paul. I'm willing to see what path this takes.
Interesting essay
Also...I know this sounds kind of stupid but I kinda liked those socks with the parrot...? They look cute. And has a bird!
But how are some freaking socks a "dent in the Universe"...? Damn
Millie Don't fall for this as Logan Paul is a CIA shill. I know this as I have documentation on the logang and their activities and from this have concluded that Logan is
Dare I say it
A brainlet
Patrick Turner wtf
Definitely the most thorough response to the whole Logan Paul thing when it comes to analyzing his past as it pertains to the choices he made that led to him posting this video, and I've watched a good number of "reactions". I think your video talks about what others haven't -that if you really analyze his vlogs, personality, and character, you realize this suicide video was an inevitability.
That's what makes it almost tragic--I mean, what does Logan Paul think he's going to do at age 40? Or 60? He's not gonna be able to sustain this kinda output, and all he's going to have to look back on is a career in comforting middle schoolers.
Which, to be fair, is a worthwhile endeavor. Just.. maybe you want to, I dunno, help them do something productive? Or understand the world better instead of doling out the junk food of meaningless identity that is material stuff?
This is the best video on Logan Paul I have ever seen. Well done.
Lindsay Ellis tossed this video my way from her Twitter and I'm glad she did. It's great. You earned a sub.
Same
mzyatpa same and After watching 'Matty Love 2 debunks' he proves that the breaking-in and skydive, suicide vlogs, and dead rats were all staged and fake.
Uhh, I saw that Matty loves 2 debunk on the suicide video. I would say he proves nothing.
Would you say that you need it like a wild ape?
Oooh no wonder youtube's recently started recommending Big Joel to me!
I want to be a RUclips Intellectual when I grow up.
I can't tell if I'm joking.
You have the dry and methodical nature of shaun and the topics of lindsay
I'll be sticking around!
Woah what a dream compliment. Thank you!
Pleasure! Just make more! Your 50s video was uncomfortably good
Who's Shaun?
Im amazed to see Shaun referenced but it's quite an apt compatison.
+Cubester64 He's a really cool skull man who makes videos about politics and such in a very engaging way ruclips.net/channel/UCJ6o36XL0CpYb6U5dNBiXHQ
It doesn’t make me feel any sympathy, or think what he did is excusable, but I do understand how his content came to be this. The problem lies in that he doesn’t (or didn’t? I hope it’s didn’t) know how wrong his behavior is, how disrespectful and awful he was to Japan, and the world in general. Even in the twitter apology with the last hashtag...I hope what happened has been a rude awakening and that he’s seen the repercussions of his actions and decided to change for the better. You can’t erase the past but you can learn from your mistakes.
All his goals and aspirations to Hollywood fame are probably dead, and that’s a good thing. He’s been made an example as to what happens when you cross the line, and that fame and fortune don’t mean you’re free to do anything, break laws and disrespect cultures. And also, him having a wider audience might make him even more reckless and detached from reality
Really good analysis, you’re good at being objective. Though the end, lmao.
Idk he’s so obsessed with being the ‘biggest entertainer’ that I think he’ll push through this and still try to become Hollywood famous. He talks passionately in his vids about taking losses and coming back stronger, he was already crazy motivated and I think this just fuelled his motivation even more
I don't know, i'm afraid there are are plenty of famous scumbags in Hollywood. I think he'd fit right in!
Do you think he's sorry about what he did, or does he mourn the repercussions? Or maybe not even that? He didn't stop gaining subscribers from the incident, he never lost subscribers, indeed the whole scandal might as well be a successful publicity stunt by a RUclipsr whose peak popularity has been reached last summer (according to Socialblade) and that was now on the decline - but now his name is everywhere, and when this shit blows over, the people will forget the deed but be primed for the name, people automatically click on keywords and images that seem distantly familiar.
Siana Gearz he didn’t lose much according to social blade, but his reputation with anyone above 15 is forever tarnished. People won’t forget, not something like this, especially if he were to star in a movie or show, that’ll for sure put them off watching it. His chances in Hollywood are probably dead, but I’m sure he’ll still try very hard to get in. Yeah there are scumbags in Hollywood, but they hide it well, this guy straight up acts like a psycho with no disregard for anyone else.
Hi I'm from the future and he's still famous and took up boxing and sucks at it much less than you would think.
it's funny how the whole maverick brand is "structured" around the idea of being unique and putting yourself out there, not "being drones like 99% of society", and then you could jumpcut to the entirety of the logang wanting to be exactly like him. if he were actually trying to foster a community full of creatives and showcasing people and their work to spread to a wider audience it could've been amazing.
instead, he's preying on kids wanting to be cool and popular by selling them merch. it's...sad.
Y'know, Logan... I understand everyone grieves differently. When I was a preteen, my dad died in a sudden and rather violent way, and I chose not to attend the viewing. I didn't want to see him like that. So I stayed home with my aunt and played Smash Bros (on the N64, in all its polygonal glory), showing her all the characters and their different move sets. It was a welcome distraction from the fact that I was completely numb, stunned, and deep in denial. Sometimes you need to pretend things are normal. You do whatever's necessary to take care of yourself in the moment. I get it.
That said, I wouldn't have capitalized on that shit for views. You wanna have a Nerf fight with your family to lighten everyone's mood? Great. But if you don't want to look disingenuous, *don't do it on camera.* Handling it the way you did comes off like you're making the entire situation about you and what a great brother/cousin/etc you are. It's kinda tasteless to show genuine sadness and then flip back to silliness in the same video (you couldn't have saved that crap for the next one? The tone whiplash is real).
They say integrity lies in doing the right thing even when no one's watching. Would you still have given those kids that much-needed fun moment if the cameras weren't running? Do good deeds mean anything to you if you know no one will see you carry them out? Can you still appreciate the moments of your day that occur when no one's filming? I think it's time to back away from the cameras to not only gain some perspective, but a life that's truly and wholly your own.
Very good in depth video. Best video about Logan I've seen
thanks!
AGREED!
The best video would be seeing Logan Paul in jail.He has broken a ton of laws in Japan in previous videos. He was throwing stuff underneath moving cars, trashing people's cars, refusing to leave stores and buildings and constant racism. If any of us said racist stuff in the street, we would be escorted or arrested or attacked. People only cared about his video in suicide forest but he did a lot of bad stuff in Japan. People talk about those with 'white privilege' and all that nonsense but this guy truly does have privilege since everyoe else would be arrested. He is also an embarrassment in every country.
Mr S
It's nice to have something unique you like to do but please don't force it onto others k
Blockbird force it? Join me.
Great video! Just placed my order for my Big Joel socks! So excited!
He reminds me of the wealthy characters in The Great Gatsby. Something about his shallow, consumeristic tendencies really echo with the book's theme.
Andrew Hodge well they both show how shallow achieving the American dream is, so there’s that.
I feel immensely sorry for that parrot. His species is most likely endangered and he has to put up with a manchild. Could you imagine, the human race being endangered, and you are stuck in the house of a creature who is essentially a chaos god when compared to you. You can do nothing to escape, nor can the few remnants of your species. You just have to wait it out until you die. Unless if you are religious, you will believe you will cease to exist in the control of the Devil.
Uhh, I mean your mom have big gay lol.
Hey there Peta.
Lol a kakapo imagine if had a rhino in his backyard.
Malvenrot he isn’t against having parrots as pets or any pets for that matter. Someone from peta would be against adopting a dog or a cat. It’s not unreasonable to think Logan might not be the best owner.
I think it made sense :) thanks for the video! Glad I stumbled upon you, I love video essays and you seem to have a bunch of great ones!
Aww, thank you so much!
PLEASE make another. This was so good. I love how your videos actually change my perspective on things
I think H3 could benefit from seeing this. So could Jordan the kid
I would honestly love if they saw it haha
I'm amazed at the fact that a man so educated and intellectually refined (for only such a person could make an analysis so sophisticated) had the patience to watch such empty, superficial drivel as the titles in the video description suggest. Was it all done with the explicit goal of making this essay at the end? If so, THANK YOU for holding on. Your mental sacrifice has given us all an awesome gift.
It was a weird process. He watched a few vids, thinking this guy was super interesting and weird, then decided overnight to make some kinda video about him, and only after all that excitement came to recognize that Logan Paul videos are really really boring and samey instead of bad in an interesting and fun to watch way. So it sorta transitioned from watching the videos for their own sake to a ridiculous slog.
This was a really good video, you should be proud
16:13, no, I would argue that to Logan, the entire world including himself is cardboard.
When you live an empty lifestyle that's what happens. If he doesn't show care for himself or his family or even his friends, it's hard to care about anything. His lifestyle is only status oriented and it makes him hollow. Just my opinion.
Wow, a video exploring youtube drama in the fresh and compelling way? Nice, but those video titles...you poor thing
the real maverick movement is here
you have been chosen for your illuminati initiation ritual
ruclips.net/video/XI89vQTvgqI/видео.html
*Soooo...he's a filthy rich, emotionally stunted, materialistic narcissist?*
And 12 year olds idolize him?
God. I feel old. My 12 year old ass idolized Steve Irwin and Xena.
I shudder at the thought of impressionable kids mimicking his worst traits.
I miss steve
This is a fantastic analysis. Very impressed. You've been able to turn the actions of someone so vapid into something fairly poignant.
I wouldn;t say 'poignant' (haha) but at least understandable as a human with odd, shifting motivations.
But that's the thing. It's like culture - a construct. We shape culture as much as it shapes us, it can seem meaningless and vapid but there can be underlying reasons as to why it exists.
Ehh, not much of a social constructionist or cultural relativist myself, too much of an essentialist to flock with that crowd, but yes, Paul's is a case-study of a psyche that's very apparently malformed by his active role in internet culture. It reveals something uncanny - such thinly-veiled business tactics can bleed into an individual's very personality when taken to such lengths. Difficult to determine where Logan 'the man' begins and Logan 'the brand' ends, where that blurring took hold, and whether it's his rapaciousness or his fanbase's enabling force that is to blame.
one of those "Holy fuck I can't stand the guy and what happened with him but when you step back and stop looking at it as an isolated incident I kinda pity the guy for what his life has become" moments.
Stumbled onto your other video essays and have been watching each one here and there. I know "underrated channel" comments are a dime a dozen, but Joel, you do excellent work. I'm honestly surprised your channel hasn't exploded yet to the likes of other video essay channels. You'll get your time to shine. Keep up the great work.
Edit: I'mma retract calling you Joel and call you Henry, since I'd like to think we are homies. Love ya.
Aww thank you so much. I started this channel around six months ago, and I'm honestly already pretty happy with the way people seem to be responding.
I found this to be the most insightful piece of commentary on this that I've seen. Very interesting and thoughtfully put together. I think he makes his case very well.
I feel like if they ever made a biopic about him, David Cronenberg would be the perfect choice to write-direct.
bellejunie Shit, I might just throw together a script for it.
I love how you explain what you like about him in this essay. So many video essays polarize their subjects. You don't. That's part of why I subscribed to you. Great work. I'm looking forward to more.
All of this kinda reminds me of Marx's theory of alienation, how people can over time be subsumed into the products they produce and consume and ultimately lose touch with their humanity in order to participate in the market.
William Hubbert yes
What's wrong with Marxism?
"Capitalism didn't, can't, and won't work" despite the fact that it can, has, and does work, so much to the point that the epidemic of starvation and scarcity that plagued humanity for most of its history has been nearly wiped off the face of the earth as a byproduct of the machinations of global capitalism. But yeah, capitalism bad.
"Elon Musk is bad for science"
Your argument is worthless.
Honestly, I don't care what kind of utopia you can imagine in your head but I'm certain it seems a lot better than what we have now. However, just because you can imagine something better does not mean it's a feasible solution in reality. I am not saying we shouldn't work to improve the world and make life better for everyone but what I am definitely saying is that we have it so unfathomably good right now compared to the vast majority of human history and it is so easy to lose what we have that it would be not only ill-advised to attempt to institute massive revolutionary change, it has all signs of being downright disastrous. Capitalism is not perfect because people are not perfect but it has consistently produced the freest and most stable and safe societies for everyone and to attempt to disassemble it is to work counter to the best interest of everyone.
A lot of what you asserted axiomatically as truth was simply opinion and I for one do not agree with your assessment.
I've read what you have to say and I find it lacking.
The guy's a symptom. Whoever thinks he is responsible for making viewers materialistic or obnoxious, haven't taken a look at the bigger picture. Look at the people in his videos - adult people sucking up to him because he has money. That's really how society works, whether pleasant or not. There's obviously a virtue in trying to change things for the better once you have influence - but unless you believe 20-something youtubers are the arbiters of public morals, one could just as well argue that Logan is teaching kids necessary truths about society. You either make money, or you're a loser.
Way worse is Pewdiepie, who acts holier-than-thou, but also behaves loud and obnoxiously, advertises his goddamn chair, clickbaits every video, and compromises artistic quality for monetization (e.g. not cursing). But that's supposedly not as bad because he does it with sarcasm and self-awareness? Or my personal least favourite: h3h3, who pretends like he's some spokesman for youtube good guys - only to shamelessly use Paul brothers' names in video titles to get that extra bonus check.
It's easy to have that perspective when content isn't your livelyhood.
@@GriffinWelch
"It's easy to have that perspective when content isn't your livelyhood."
at this point poodiepie has enough money to buy earth and all the heavens
he doesnt NEED more to survive so he basically does all that shit for his own ego, to stay №1 on the platform so your dumbass argument immediately collapses
A bit dismayed that when i scrolled down to the comments after watching that there was no “big joel unmasked!” comment. Anyway, this made sense! I read about the suicide forest video but i had no idea about the socks and everything else. Dark and hilarious all at once
Great video.
One thing i found jarring about the suicide forest video was how he interrpretted it, like you said, the world is cardboard and he is the only one with dimention.
He described it as happening to him. The whole event was so that he could learn someting and experience it and vlog it. There is no sense that he understand the existance of anything outside of his self focus.
There were so many aspects to this video I found incredibly interesting. I liked the way you portrayed Logan Paul, asking questions about his motivations without trying to pretend to be able of truly analysing him psychologically. I was afraid you'd do that and lose sight of the fact that he is as much an individual person as he is the phenomenon "Logan Paul Vlogs". One thing you pointed out is the kind of emotional vulnerability he shows, which you called "safe" or "non-threatening". I found that idea, that emotional vulnerability could become threatening in some way, especially fascinating. And I started asking myself why he didn't allow himself, if he truly shows all his emotions on cam, to ever cross that line and stop limiting the emotions he portrays.
Unfortunately, I also felt that these questions, while interesting, left one really important thing unanswered. While Logan Paul may be a fascinating individual, his person is not the most problematic aspect to him IMO. It's the phenomenon Logan Paul that I find most disturbing. The best example for this was his "cover" of the Flobots song No Handlebars, which unfortunately you did not cover in this video. I also think Logan could be considered likeable as a person. Still, without a second thought, he takes the worst elements of pop culture, like misogyny, and reproduces them in that video. A certain fascination with extreme material wealth has always existed in Pop culture, like on MTV in the 90s and early 2000s, but the scope of that has never reached the level of Logan Paul. He flaunts money in ways that I can only call disgusting. When he "lets it rain" on his mother, I was so perplex, I didn't know what to say. His life in no way represents anything tweens live in this country nor something they should aspire to be. And I think that ultimately, he is not "potentially helpful" to his audience, he does not enable tweens to deal with the real existential questions of their lives, his form of entertainment only alienates them and distracts them from reflecting their experiences. Which is a shame, because they could gain so much from hearing a young man talk about his experience of going to funeral for the first time.
out of the many, many video essays i have watched, might i say this is my all time favorite. i completely understand truly the horrific life of logan paul, but in more of an organic way. you speak in a way that just makes me feel sad, but relieved that someone finally gets it. so, thank you.
I am amazed at how much he acts like a normal person in the first LA vlogs
This has got to be the greatest video I’ve ever seen on RUclips
this channel is too much. I wish more movie review style channels would psychoanalyze youtubers through there works. Love your stuff
The way Joel describes Logan's antics with the same style that he critiques art and film is just everything to me
Maybe Logan would understand himself better if he watched this.
👏👏👏👏
I came to rewatch this, and what's crazy is that this is just 19 minutes long. From the length these kinda videos are at nowadays, I could have sworn this is at least 45 minutes.
Very in depth. Keep up the hard work. Not easy making 20 min vids!
An exellent study of the events, this is a very good addition to the conversation of youtube as a whole. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
This video is seriously incredible. I haven't seen something this insightful and poignant on RUclips in a while. You turned an easy, justified target of hate into a much more multifaceted issue about our choices and the things which shape us, to the point where it even makes me reflect on my own life. This is what a video essay looks like at its best. Keep it up dude, holy shit.
Dude your channels so underrated!! Ily
It made sense. This is the ONLY video/ critique/ exposé that I've watched featuring LP that I both enjoyed, and did leave feeling aboutly furious or disgusted. You did an amazing overall job. You beyond earned my subscription and I can't wait to browse your channel.
Joel you're my favorite big brain intellectual man I don't know how you don't have a 2 million + subscribers with the quality of your content. You're a gem big man Joel.
Great video - probably the best analysis of logan paul's behaviour that I've seen!
This video originally struck me about 25 minutes ago due to its malleable title. Before watching I even took a screenshot and sent it to some friends just from the pure meme-ness that it has in it. Now that I've actually seen it, I'm quite surprised with you lengths you went to make such an astounding video. The extent of my knowledge before this was "Logan Paul filmed a dead body in a Japanese forest wearing an alien from Toy Story hat, and he made that one song throwing shit at his brother for no reason." Now I feel like I understand a lot more than I ever thought I would. Thank you.
Found out about this video and creator from Lindsay Ellis. So glad I did. You got a subscriber. I hope I'm the latest in a long, long line of them.
Same here!
The Nostalgia Chick?
Logan Paul and existential horror are two things I would never expect to be in the same sentence
One of the best video essays.... actually one of the best videos I've seen in a long time. I wish I could give you RUclips gold. *tips fedora* nice work!
*tips fedora*
This made sense. And it's the best video on Paul I've seen. Keep up the good work, looking forward to seeing more of your essays.
This is an amazing analysis, from start to finish. You can tell that it comes from an empathetic place; rather than shaming him for what he did, you accurately explained why fame and fortune at such a young age (especially coming from an already well-off family) can be really detrimental to mental health and maturity. I honestly feel for the guy and I hope he can figure himself out one day.
Fascinating. Watching this video I feel like Logan is the anti - Evan Hadfield. (Chris Hadfield's son, his channel is Rare Earth... which I guess he shares with his dad)
Adam doesn't try to be ostentatious. He doesn't go out of his way to try to make people laugh. He goes to experience other perspectives, and share those, with no easy answers and sometimes no happy ending.
He's had opportunities and doors opened up for him that most people can't dream of and his way of giving back appears to be spreading a collective message of humanity. Not selling his brand, his dad would probably murder him for that.
It's a shame that Evan doesn't have nearly as large a following among tweens, but he doesn't offer a safe world. He offers reality, but a refreshing and earnest perspective towards it. The world needs more of him, and fewer Pauls.
This guy is persuasive...I don't want to like those socks but they're fun and they have a parrot
IKR I thought i was the only one who liked those socks because they have a parrot on it lol
I just want the bird
actually same. I dont like him or his content but looking at the merch its something id probably wear cause of that bird lol...
thanks for the name i just googled it and theyre too precious ty ty
Nealy Cook Sun conures are parrots...
this is one of the best video essays on youtube. congrats. amazing analysis
Wow. That is actually really depressing. It's like watching what was once a normal mind becoming diluted and corrupted.
Each time I watched one of your videos I learned something. Thank you for making them
Oh fella i found ur channel some hours ago and ur work is amazing ,i think i can learn a lot from you keep carry on this project , greetings from chile southamerica
Loved this video when it came out and just found out today that its on the syllabus for my philosophy class this semester!!