There is DEFINITELY a Problem...

Matt Brown
October 5th
ENGL 2123
BLOG Assignment

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5MzRn60irvc&mode=related&search=

YOUTUBE. Wow. Anyone that can figure out how to work a digital camera and turn on a computer can broadcast whatever they want to the entire world. But, why? Is it a release? Is it a way to reach out to people? Or is it a way to just get your name out there? I’d say it’s a little bit of all of these. One person that uses all of these options is Chris Crocker. Most famous for his “Leave Britney Alone” video, I chose to take a deeper look at this video. What we know of Chris Crocker is that he’s a very opinionated gay man with a slight case of Schizophrenia, as diagnosed by his boyfriend. But, what are Chris Crocker’s motives? Sandra Leong of the Singapore Times hits the nail on the head when she asks “is the world of me-me-me blogging self-expression or self-indulgence?”

If you’ve ever seen any Chris Crocker video, or if this is your first one, there should be no doubt in your mind that this is a disturbed man. To me, Chris Crocker is undoubtedly a Schizophrenic or suffering from some other type of chemical imbalance. I believe that this video is somewhat of a cry for help but I also believe that Chris is using YOUTUBE as a way to express his exhibitionism. After watching several videos of his it is apparent to me that this particular one is just another one of his self-indulgent clips. I am not convinced that he cares about anyone but himself. “Mr. Robin Yee, and online journalism lecturer at the School of Film & Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, points to the advertising tag-lines and consumer products like Apple’s iPod and iTunes and StarHub’s iMode – the cult of ‘i’ – as contributory factors” (Leong). Could this be true? If you’ve noticed, there has been a lot of attention on the individual in recent advertisements. Some websites like “myspace” advertise the “culture of ‘I’” right in the name. With so much focus on the individual how can exhibitionist needs not be expected? It’s almost to the point of a race – a contest to see who can write a longer “about me,” who can post more pictures of themselves, or who has the most friends. The initial intention, I believe, was to promote self-expression – a shy, introvert expressing themselves in a setting where they feel comfortable writing some things about themselves. But fueled by the competitive nature of people to compete with one another, self-expression becomes a contest where winning is the most important thing - even if it involves twisting the truth a little bit.

With this ongoing battle where the next person is constantly striving to outdo the last I can’t help but question the credibility of some of the videos I see, including this one. Are the crazy noises and faces by Chris in between phrases necessary? Is he truly having a schizophrenic episode or is he putting on an act for shock value? Smart money is on the latter. This isn’t any news to anyone, but still we continue to log on to YOUTUBE and watch these over-the-top videos. So, we as a society continue to feed these self-indulgent people whose egos increase exponentially with each hit their video gets. Robert Atwan might argue that these videos are merely an emerging art form, but I feel that the problem is deeper-rooted than that (Antawn 155). I won’t exclude myself when I ask, “don’t we have more productive things to do?” Every time I get onto the computer and watch someone like Chris Crocker talk it drives me nuts. I fear that if enough publicity is given to these people that they will become more powerful than they need to be - and for what? For being a nut? But, I guess it comes down to the fact that “it is hard not to be captivated by the potential of witnessing something uncensored, no matter how banal” (Diller + Scofido

Bibliography
Atwan, Robert. (2005). Convergences: Message Medium Method. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Online Source is http://www.lexisnexis.com.libezp.lib.lsu.edu/us/lnacademic/results/docview/docview.do?risb=21_T2222595349&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resultsUrlKey=29_T2222595354&cisb=22_T2222595353&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&selRCNodeID=8&nodeStateId=411en_US,1,2&docsInCategory=1&csi=144965&docNo=1 by Sandra Leong