Caveat Emptor

Caveat emptor, translated into English meaning "buyer beware".

It's an interesting phrase that many fail to take to heart when deciding to spend their money on any type of service.

Back when it was first coined, there were very few protections for consumers of purchased products. There were no consumer protection agencies or false advertising regulations, you might have been able to lodge complaints with a guild or a local magistrate but you were lucky if your complaint was ever heard, let alone resolved. It was generally assumed that if you're capable enough to earn money to spend, you should be responsible for how it was spent.

For a long time I failed to learn that lesson. Whenever I went shopping I would impulse buy or grab what was easiest and as a result the product would often fail, it wouldn't work as advertised, or it would be the wrong item I had intended to buy, and the fault lay completely on my shoulders. I've since realized that if I simply took a little extra time to compare details, ask questions, and observe how something functioned, I could save myself a lot of money, time, and mental anguish.

The reason I bring this up was due to various conversations I've had regarding the current state of the Youtube skeptic community and how it just seems to keep devolving into nonsensical drama. Every few months another scandal is revealed and the content creators involved get raked over the coals or reap the benefits of a new surge views and superchat donations.

At one point content creators like Sargon of Akkad, Thunderf00t, Jeff Holiday, Kraut & Tea, and so many others stood as a bastion for those that wanted to see unethical behavior challenged. Fast forward two short years and nearly all of them have been tainted by the very unethical behavior they railed against and the stances they once held have devolved into nothing more than Jerry Springer level drama fests.

One has to remember that at the end of the day, Youtube content creators are entertainers and drama is entertaining. They must follow trends if they want their channel to grow along with their income through fan support and the crowd tends to get bored with someone who is consistent, which is why you often see content creators straying from what they've done. The reasons are myriad but the most common theme is the money; they come to depend on the income they've made and don't want to lose it, so they sacrifice the ideals they held so high in order to stay above water.

Another explanation that I've seen has been flat out deception. Ever since the Kilroy debacle occurred we've seen not just inconsistency of the character of the Youtuber, but the fact that they've been projecting an image the whole time. Creators like Jeff Holiday, Kraut, and Based Mama, who all once stood for freedom of speech and proclaimed liberal ideals, were later revealed to be very leftist and had no problem with silencing other creators they disagreed with and now recently with the fiery wreckage that is Sargon of Akkad, he too spouted the high ideals of freedom of speech and reasoned debate until his incompetence was challenged and he threw it all away in obvious attempts to silence those challengers.

Another thing to consider is viewer investment, and in this instance I'm not talking about money. Viewers personally invest themselves in Youtubers to such a degree that they often fantasize that the person behind the camera is a trusted friend or a type of paragon of righteous action and in that mindset, they fail to see the changes in character that have been hidden or come slowly over time.

During this change content creators become cults of personality and less like voices of reason, with this level of fan investment the fans fall to the tribalism that is so prevalent in our species and will fight to protect who they now view as their friend. The creators themselves react to this treatment, seemingly believing the praises they've been showered with and begin to act in tribalistic ways, creating drama or seeking it out to charge forward in their newly founded crusades.

Look at how the fan bases of those creators tend to attack one another when shots are inevitably fired, discourse is a shadow of what it once was, and where rationality once reigned, knowledge is used as a mace to bash as many people as possible to protect their idol. As a result you have a massive split of the fan base; one side taking up the drums of war and the others who are either disappointed or outraged that their hero has let them down.

On the contrast, there are content creators like TL;DR, Stardusk, Bunny Blackwell, Last of the Rhodesians, and a handful of others that have, so far, stayed consistent with their particular ethics. Their fans tend to be those that are looking, not for crusades to wage, but intelligent and insightful commentary on sociopolitical, academic, and historical topics and simply ask their fans to think for themselves and always question your idols. Those fan bases tend to be relatively smaller but are far more loyal. That's not to say there aren't zealots among even their numbers but that's simply human nature.

In closing I want to summarize the point; buyer beware. Instead of throwing money and personal investment at every rising content creator you come across because they currently have a great message, or they tickled your funny bone, or you find the person in any way attractive, be observant and understand that the person you're watching is still a human being and still capable of failing in some way or another.