I have a confession to make and you might crack up laughing; so please, empty your bladder at this time. Here goes: I was totally naive about a particular social media outlet and never realized how much drama would be involved in partaking in/on said platform.
I'm actually not talking about Facebook, which I've abandoned once again in order to scrub my brain thoroughly due to some of the downright insanity that unfolds over there. I refer to the wacky world of YouTube, henceforth known as YT.
I'm not sure if I have mentioned this or not but I have a channel on YouTube which is listed under my name. (For those who have never read this column in your lives, that last statement is rather sarcastic as I tend to “mention” the YT thing more oft' than not. Just thought I'd let you in on the secret. Not to mention, I just digressed and in these fancy brackets to boot. That is another task that I try to work in on a weekly basis. You will get used to this unless you've already burned the paper whilst reading it. Stop that! It's dangerous.)
I will tell you a few of the silly sagas that have unfolded recently. Every Sunday I play a live interactive game with those who attend, to whom I lovingly refer as “loungers.” The reason for this is my little “show” is called “Lounging with Lisa.”
Often times I will honor a lounger who is having or has had a birthday. I do this by using the day, month and year and coming up with trivia about those dates, etc. Also the person's hobbies are thrown in for good measure. I try to be clever and sometimes I fail but at least I give it a shot.
Many people on YT do not use their real names as they want to remain incognito for one reason or another. I have people named Vesper Martini, Babel Fish and DIFreighter Watcher, to name three, who attend on a regular basis. The last person we celebrated in the lounge in terms of a birthday goes by “Osama Number 5,” or just “Osama” for short.
It's a different kind of name but it has nothing to do with his ACTUAL character, of course. Well there was a rather new person who dropped in during the game and evidently could not get beyond the fact that someone would use “Osama” as a fake name on YouTube. Not only but he simply couldn't fathom that I would honor such a person complete with cartoon pictures of the actual Osama, cards and banners. It was hilarious.
We all tried to explain to this other fellow who goes by something like “Outer Heaven,” that YES—we are celebrating Osama's birthday! (I've come to know Osama pretty well outside of YouTube and he is the sweetest person. He even sent me things from the Waltons Mountain Museum near his city because Perpetual and I had to cancel our plans to go there a few years ago. He's anti war, tender and is just a lovely person in general.)
I was trying to conduct the game by doing the intro and all that jazz and this Outer Heaven person simply could not get beyond the whole name scenario. I could feel pearls being clutched clear through cyber space, for crying out loud. So, the next thing I knew, BOOM, he left the lounge! I mean honestly ladies and gentlemen? Really?
That is just one example of some of the goof balls who enter our lives when we decide to have a channel on the tube.
Then, there are those who think that every member of their channel, which are actually called subscribers, are friends of theirs in reality. I have made videos explaining to people that NO—your subscribers are NOT your actual friends nor are they your family.
There are several exceptions to that rule, of course. Take Babel Fish for one example; she has visited here and she is also the one who looks over this column for me on a weekly basis. We MET on Facebook and indeed morphed into REAL LIFE FRIENDS. (She's Judith M. Villenueve of Maine.) This isn't the norm really but it simply worked out that way for us.
There are probably a handful of people with whom I've become close because of my channel. However, they are not my family, which is another overused “thing” on YT. “I hope you have a good day FAM,” said Person X. “Hey FAM, just dropping in to show support,” Person Y stated. These sorts of comments are oft' spotted when one goes out and about on YT.
I don't want to sound cold-hearted or rude as I'm generally a delight, so let me explain a bit here before you reach for the pitchforks. I DO know that some people are lonely and don't have any actual family members left in their flesh and blood lives. I speak of people who have families and friends in reality who seem to think that YT is some big “FAM reunion” of sorts.
I hope that explained it but I'm sure some snowflake will take offense. There is one in every crowd these days. WOW! Now I am getting downright mean. Sorry.
Also feuds oft' take place on this outlet, which I honestly did not know until recently. I told you I've been naive about this stuff. Anyhow, there are some people who take the whole YT experience WAY too seriously and their lives actually revolve around their channels.
Now, I do understand that some people make a living from YouTube and I'm not speaking about them. I speak of just your average Joe or Josephine who have kids, husbands, wives, animals and other things with which to occupy their time, but they choose to devote every waking moment to going live on YT or making videos constantly. I'm floored over this. Perhaps I'm a bit jealous? Ah, maybe not, now that I ponder. If I had nothing to do at all other than to go live or do videos, I might think seriously about purchasing a life from someone.
Just one more thing, I think. There are also some individuals who LITERALLY (and you know I only use that in a literal manner) go live to complain about a person with whom they are having a fight! I'm NOT talking about young kids or even teenagers or millennials or whatever they are called. I speak of GROWN adults—even older than I, who carry out this unsavory public display of socially unacceptable behavior. That was a mouthful, was it not?
There was one individual who shall remain nameless and faceless (Person A) who was having a dispute with Person B. Person A actually demanded that people take his/her “side” in this. Many people don't even know the true reason for the falling out but that did not matter. Some were told they either side with Person A or Person A will take his/her toys AND subscribers, and leave!! I'm more of a neutral peaceful kind of chick so I was ditched like yesterdays' news in that example above. I just have enough to do in real life and do not want to partake in online shenanigans. I know, I know, I'm silly.
WHEW! I believe I'm done. I just had to share this with you as it's so shocking, lurid and true. My brother told me a long time ago when I started this whole deal to not let it run my life. I took his advice and I so wish others would follow suit.
THE END (Interstate Crosscheck, AIPAC, “War is a Racket” by General Smedley Butler, Weather Modification History dot com on the internet—all one word no caps needed)