PewDiePie is a Swedish YouTube personality who lives in the United Kingdom. Primarily, he is known for his Let’s Play commentaries, which is when people record themselves playing through video games while commenting on the points that prove interesting to them. Through these as well as other videos, PewDiePie has managed to make himself the most subscribed user on YouTube with more than 57 million subscribers, meaning that he has a fair amount of influence over a significant number of YouTube users.
What Has PewDiePie Done Now?
Recently, PewDiePie has received a fair amount of criticism for making some rather controversial jokes. In particular, there was a video in which he had hired a couple of people through Fiverr to hold up a sign stating “DEATH TO ALL JEWS” in exchange for $5. Following criticism by the Wall Street Journal, PewDiePie apologized for making the video, stating that he was not anti-Semitic and that he was not a supporter of such sentiments, though this was not enough to prevent some of his business partners from cutting ties. Regardless, a fair number of other YouTube personalities stood by him, which was often combined with criticism about how the Wall Street Journal and the rest of the traditional media had handled what they saw as just a joke made in bad taste.
Even more recently, PewDiePie called someone else by a rather infamous racial slur while live-streaming a video game. Once again, he has apologized for his actions, but considering that this is not the first time that something like this has happened, one cannot help but feel that his apologies might be rather wanting. For that matter, while a lot of people swear in the heat of the moment, his unthinking use of that particular slur seems rather striking to say the least.
Why Is This Such a Bad Thing?
It remains unclear whether PewDiePie holds racist beliefs or not. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter because either way, his statement contributes to the normalization of racist behavior in society. Something that is particularly concerning because of his enormous influence with YouTube users.
Some people might wonder why the normalization of racist behavior is such a terrible thing. For starters, being targeted by racist behavior is a rather unpleasant experience, meaning that such normalization helps to make society a more unpleasant place for a lot of people. Furthermore, the normalization of racist behavior can result in more and more outrageous things being accepted as a normal part of society, which can lead to horrific outcomes in the long run should the trend continue unchecked. Historically, more than one genocide has been preceded by extensive propaganda against the targeted group, which served to normalize the idea so as to put the perpetrators into the right state of mind. While genocides are extreme examples of this trend, the normalization of racist behavior does embolden those who want to take things further than just voicing their hate, thus increasing the chances of something horrible happening.
On a final note, while provocative jokes are a time-honored component of comedy, there is such a thing as going too far with them. For that matter, while people can say things that they don’t believe, people who keep on saying things that they don’t believe have rather unfortunate tendencies of internalizing them with sufficient repetition because human beings just aren’t that good at keeping such things separate from one another. As a result, even if someone isn’t racist, it is not unknown for them to become so by being bombarded with racist beliefs, as shown by the direction of more than one online community over the years.
Follow Us
