The Final Paper

Chris Kurz
ENG 121
Paper 3 Final Draft

Down the Tubes
Lately in America, people are performing ridiculous acts just to get their shot at fame. Whether it is the endless parade of reality television shows or holding up a sign at a ballgame, the fame seeking has gone too far. We have become a culture that is obsessed with fame. One needs only to look at the packs of paparazzi that follow the every move of potentially newsworthy celebrities for an example of out of control fame worshipping.  The Internet site YouTube helps contribute to this pursuit of fame by allowing people to post videos for the whole world to see. Most of what appears on YouTube are events that make our society look bad. Instead of focusing on video arts, YouTube is all about the individual quest for fame and laziness. YouTube is, and will continue to be, a contributing factor to our fame mongering culture until the website makes some changes.
In the last month, a group of teenagers decided that they were going to make a video to post on YouTube. This alone is not an abnormal occurrence; however, everything that followed was highly abnormal. A group of girls that felt they had been disrespected by another girl decided that they would set up an ambush of the girl and record it all on video. The girls cornered their victim while two boys stood guard outside. The girl was beaten badly enough to sustain hearing damage. All of this transpired in order to exact revenge on a girl by posting her beating on YouTube. For a while these girls felt famous. What is worse is that the television show Dr. Phil bailed one of the girls out just to get a chance to interview her.
Dr. Phil obviously made this gesture strictly as a move for a ratings bonanza. Any hot topic in pop culture becomes fodder for the daytime televisions circuit to cash in on. Dr. Phil and his staff took a huge bite of the bait that these girls presented them. They wanted everyone to know that they had beat this girl up and when Dr. Phil decided keep the story going by bailing out, and then interviewing one of the attackers he just gave these girls more of what they wanted; recognition of their attack. In this instance YouTube acted as the initial platform for fame and Dr. Phil’s television show provided the piggyback to keep the unwarranted fame spiral spinning out of control.
YouTube is becoming a venue for rhetoric for American teenagers. Unfortunately, the form of persuasion that teenagers are practicing involves videos that attempt to prove their point regardless of who gets hurt. These videos are the language of the teenage generation that uses their commonplace videophones instead of face-to-face communication. As Chinua Achebe stated, “It has long been known that language, like any other human invention, can be abused, can be turned from its original purpose into to something useless or even deadly” (597). Achebe’s words summarize exactly what this video form of language has become. Not only is it useless, it is only a matter of time until someone’s death is posted and watched on YouTube.
This is not to say that all that YouTube has to offer is useless. Recently the University of California at Berkley decided to start posting lectures on YouTube. Closer to Bozeman, The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center has posted instructional videos about properly assessing avalanche danger in the backcountry. There are also many filmmakers who post their work on YouTube as a means of possibly getting discovered by Hollywood. If everything on YouTube was as constructive as these two examples, then there would be far less controversy about the site. Alas, this is not the case. YouTube has become the forum of videos about nothing. The website has opened the door for anyone to walk through and post a video that does not have to mean anything to anyone except the videographer. YouTube is trolling for sensationalism in the Dead Sea of videos. No doubt the era of paparazzi and home videos has contributed to this wide-open forum.
Ever since mass media decided to start reporting on the lives of Hollywood stars, America’s obsession with fame has snowballed. Now there are mountains of magazines, television shows, radio programs that deal solely with the rich and famous. People want to know where their favorite star eats for dinner and what they are wearing. The average American sees these people as examples of the American dream. That is why so many people watch reality television shows. There are millions of Americans that dream of a better life that includes fame and fortune. The problem is that it is not easy to become famous. And even if one does become famous, very few famous people contribute anything to society other than entertainment.
The obsession with fame leads to an entire generation of people who know that a taste of fame is only a couple of mouse clicks away. These days almost everyone has a cell phone regardless of their social class. Most of the phones available today also offer a video camera. Now everyone can film their own videos and post them on YouTube. If the video is popular enough, fame and fortune await. Your best friend’s video of his friend wiping out on his skateboard could be right next to a short film on YouTube that stars Will Ferrell. In this scenario the difference between being rich and famous and someone with a video on YouTube is minimal: however, in three months no one will be watching the skateboard video, while Will Ferrell will be releasing another feature film.
The fame that most YouTube users are seeking is the type of fame that does not last. YouTube showcases the differences between famous, infamous, and fleeting familiarity. Some Hollywood actors and actresses use YouTube to showcase short films that take them back to their roots in film. This is where YouTube has the right idea in letting entertainers do their entertaining in area where the viewer doesn’t have to pay as if they were seeing a movie. Other people like to post their pratfalls, wrecks, and other shortcomings. These videos either end up as infamous or just a passing fancy. To become truly infamous one must create something dubious that sticks in the mind of all society. John Hinckley Jr. is infamous for trying to kill Ronald Reagan. The majority of the videos on YouTube do not qualify as being infamous. They just end as a tidbit in the back of most people’s minds.
YouTube has become an outlet for so many people. These people are searching for a place to express themselves in a way that they cannot in a normal setting. Unfortunately, some people take this freedom of expression too far. They use YouTube as a place to release all that is pent up inside of them. Octavio Paz wrote about the Mexican fiestas that each small town had once a year. These fiestas are place where Paz wrote, “…the silent Mexican whistles, shouts, sings, shoots off fireworks, discharges his pistol into the air. He discharges his soul” (348). Events like those that Paz wrote about took place once a year in each Mexican town. People could release tensions and act out for a day. Their goal was not to hurt anyone, it was to realize that life is hard and everyone needs to vent some steam every once in a while. YouTube is becoming a Mexican fiesta that is available every day of the week.
If you go to the website youtube.com you can view millions of videos from people all over the world. The majority of these videos are mindless snippets that range from a monkey peeing on another monkey, to someone using a video phone to record the latest episode of a television show they think is entertaining. In Mo Tzu’s writing he said, “It is the business of the benevolent man to seek to promote what is beneficial to the world, to eliminate the harmful and to provide a model for the world’ (284). YouTube does not contribute in any way like the benevolent man that Mo Tzu wrote about. Instead YouTube promotes a world frivolous escapes and lack of responsibility.
The lack of responsibility starts with the content that YouTube allows on their site. There are numerous pending lawsuits against YouTube for copyright infringement. This affects many artists who are trying to earn money by productively using their talent to make a living. Additionally, YouTube has fought to have footage of hostages being tortured reinstated to their website. While YouTube is entitled to free speech, they straddle a fine line between sensationalism and freedom of expression. There is no need for people to see someone being tortured or a puppy-throwing contest. Videos such as these contribute nothing towards society.
In conclusion, YouTube is not going to contribute much to society if it remains in its present form. The company should look seriously at making changes to the content it allows.  The site could exist as a place for filmmakers and lecturers without all of the useless videos that involve violence and injury. Thankfully, the girls who orchestrated the beating are being tried as adults for their crimes. Perhaps this will discourage any possible copycats from creating a similar video. Our society cannot have a web site where anyone is allowed to exact revenge on another human for the whole world to see. It is time for YouTube to make some changes before someone’s life goes down the tubes.

Works Cited
Achebe, Chinua. “Language and the Destiny of Man.” Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. Ed. Michael Austin. New York: Norton, 2006. 592-99.
Mo Tzu. “Against Music.” Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. Ed. Michael Austin. New York: Norton, 2006. 283-87.
Paz, Octavio. From “The Day of the Dead.” Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. Ed. Michael Austin. New York: Norton, 2006. 346-51.