alyaza [they/she]A YouTuber was accused of plagiarism. His apology highlighted a larger issue among creators.
MJBruneThis whole thing is wild.
I honestly can’t fully feel good about HBomberGuy’s video. While it was important to point out a prominent plagiarist. While HBomberGuy always starts off his videos as “don’t attack this person.” Realistically his fans always seem to show up and bash on the person he’s exposing or attacking. He’s kind of being a bully. I mean, a bully with a decent reason, but still a bully.
Content Warning: Mental Health, Suicide.My biggest concern is that James Somerton doesn’t seem like the most stable person, admitting he just got out of the hospital. Taking that in good faith it could mean that this event drove him to do something to put himself in there. I question if Hbomber’s next video might cause someone to take their own life. Someone who can’t handle the influx of hate from a community much bigger than theirs. James Somerton only had 330 subs, a 4th of what Hbomerguy has. You are then dealing with an influx of people that is potentially as big as your community all angry at you. Many people have taken their own lives or attempted to because of these exact reasons. Maybe I don’t see it but it doesn’t feel like Hbomberguy is considering this as a factor in his videos.
What would you have expected as an alternative? What other way could the plagiarism have been addressed? It had been brought up in multiple other instances over the last year and James brushed it off saying it was not true and led harassment campaigns against those that questioned if he had stolen others work.
Frankly, I do not believe James’ woe is me bit is anything other than an act and emotional manipulation of his audience. He still has thousands of subscribers on Patreon and it is to his personal benefit to keep them as in the dark as possible or to believe that he is still deserving of their money and attention. If he does have mental health issues stemming from this, then he should have just deleted all his accounts, accepted responsibility from his actions, and moved on to something else and work on his mental health.
James also did not only have 300 subscribers. He had almost 3,500 on Patreon. He was raking in tens of thousands of dollars per month using stolen work.
Frankly, I do not believe James’ woe is me bit is anything other than an act and emotional manipulation of his audience
I believe it is entirely plausible that Somerton is suicidal over this. If he can’t muster up the willpower to write any of his own words in his videos, I doubt he can muster up any emotional resilience. Shame, guilt, and despair are appropriate emotions for Somerton to feel right now. These are emotions that teach us to do better, when they’re properly controlled. I doubt Somerton can control his emotions. And uncontrolled shame and despair can lead to suicidal impulses. So I am willing to believe Somerton has attempted suicide because of H’s video.
But I agree with you that that’s not anyone else’s problem, nobody owes Somerton anything, and we shouldn’t let our opinions of him be swayed by what he’s saying. I don’t think it matters that it’s true. Shame is the only way Somerton can possibly feel over what he’s done. It’s his own fault. And it is right that he be faced with appropriate consequences for his actions. We’re looking at a choice between Somerton in the hospital and Somerton stealing money from queer writers who have actual integrity. I’d rather a Somerton in the hospital.