OPINION: Shock horror videos need to leave

As the brother of Jake Paul, Logan Paul furthers the family business of being a horrible person by making a video displaying true horror: “We found a dead body in the Japanese Suicide Forest.”

It sounds far-fetched, but Paul thought uploading this video to his 15 million subscribers was a good idea. No one in his team or his editors told him this would be a bad idea. Paul instead, decided that promoting this content as a shock factor would garner the most views, disregarded moral values and posted the video.

“Buckle the f*** up because you are never going to see a video like this again,” Paul said at the start of his video. Words that not only prove that he does not care about what he is doing, but that he sees no wrong in his actions.

Paul idolizes the “savage,” which he describes as a person who does not care for society’s standards. He dubs his breed of savages, “Mavericks.” An antisociety YouTube gang might be interesting if it was going against restrictive societal standards, but his view of breaking the normal is smashing plates in his apartment and placing dead fish on a Japanese taxi driver’s car without him noticing. Paul, despite what you believe, you’re not breaking boundaries; you’re just being a nuisance.

What constitutes right from wrong in the YouTube community is based off of audience and a set of morals. Most YouTubers understand that if one’s audience is full of young children, one would want to direct them to have good moral standards. That is why for a man like Paul, whose fans range from 10-14, one would not expect him to promote such obnoxious behavior.

“I can’t even imagine some of the conversations some parents have had to have with worried or frightened and upset kids all over the world,” YouTuber Zoe London said through Twitter. She followed
this tweet with a list of emotional distress hotlines.

Despite international backlash, Paul’s main audience is unbothered, defending the star. Of course, some fans disagree with his actions, but the large majority defend him. This is most likely because Paul uses manipulation tactics in his videos, calling his fans the best in the world. This creates a mob mentality (remind yourself: the majority of his audience are impressionable kids), and whenever conflict comes his way, his fans defend him. He is taking advantage of young minds and teaching them how not to react
when someone one loves does wrong.

What Paul should be teaching his fans is that the dead should be respected. Especially when visiting
a country that is not one’s own, respect is necessary.

“It’s really disrespectful to the person who took their life,” Senior Sarah Blake said. “How would
you feel if it was a family of yours that committed and it was posted online?”

The promotion of shock horror delegitimizes other YouTubers who use the site as an expression of their art. At one point in time, YouTube’s “Featured Videos” option focused on content that the site felt deserved to see a wider audience, but today’s “Trending page” is all about numbers.

It is up to the YouTube community and the company itself to make sure content like this does not get promoted. Lately the website has been cutting back on monetized content, prioritizing family friendly videos. However, their strict standards missed Paul’s video. Though YouTube disabled his Google preferred (the ad program that runs on the top YouTubers videos) and cancelled his future YouTube Red prospects, millions were exposed to a disturbing image. The company has to do better—not make up for it after the fact.

As society becomes hyperaware, entertainers like Paul will be pushed out of the spotlight. Let Logan Paul be a lesson to all uploaders who push dramatics in order to obtain views: the era of clickbait is over; people wish for honest content now. And posting dead bodies for views? It will ruin careers, not boost viewership.