Clickbait, Sarcasm & Marcus Butler

Clickbait, Sarcasm & Marcus Butler

Hi everybody, Mary here.

Today I am going to be angry, just because I want to.

And I'm going to talk about this recent scandal around Marcus Butler's most recent video, entitled "Why I want to quit YouTube", and how I am utterly pissed off by it.

So this is my message to Marcus (because yes I have time to waste and I love bashing my keyboard uselessly !!!!1!!1!1!1! /sarcasm)

First of all, yes please, Marcus, this is clickbait. The only reason for which I clicked on your video was because I was curious. I mean, I knew you wouldn't quit YouTube, because in the end, it's your job and I don't think you have another one at the moment so you would be pretty much jobless if you decided to throw your entire career (that is entirely dependent on YouTube) through the window.

So yes, I had a few doubts through the video (the glass and faking the crying part and the fake calls sounded very cringey so I was like, seconf-hand embarassed), but in the end, you also had a few valid points that have been brought up by other YouTubers recently.

Because yes, I do believe that all big YouTubers are the same (or at the very least very similar, maybe not in content but in quality of content and point of views on the community in general and how the job of YouTuber is percieved and the reality of it), and also that all big YouTubers are caught up in this race for money, for numbers and for brand deals.

Who are we to blame, though ? After all, it's your job, and you have to do it, no matter what. You have to pay your bills and survive. But this is not an excuse to clickbait and trick your viewers (and me included, who rarely watches your videos !!!!!) and gain views for... nothing I guess ?

I mean, not only your video was pretty bland and tasteless, not funny and fucking tiresome, but also you made fun of people who "don't get sarcasm", saying repeatedly that "[you] can't do anything for [us]". Well I am going to help your little ignorant head out of this bullshit and waves of hate you created around yourself (aren't I nice ?).

1) You asked us "how should [you] have titled it ?" : well, very easy : JUST ADD [sarcasm], [parody], [skit], [sketch], [humour] AT THE END OF THE TITLE !!!!!

But you know damn well that your video wouldn't have gotten the effect it got, it wouldn't have tricked (CLICKBAITED) your viewers, you wouldn't have gotten half of the views you got if you had added just ONE of these words at the end of your title !!!!!

But now I think you've tricked enough people, so if you want to stop the influx of hate comments on this video, it would take you seriously FIVE SECONDS to add ONE WORD to the end of your title. I mean, I could have enjoyed your video if I knew what I was going to get.

2) Please stop making fun of people who "don't get sarcasm". Calling us "eight-year-olds", infantilising us, and out-right ridiculising us is mega-shitty and you should stop. It's not "just young people" you just bashed by incenting hate on them ; you are mocking deliberately anyone who "doesn't get sarcasm" (for example, mentally disabled folks & autistic folks like myself).

And it's pretty ableist from you to say that "everyone should get sarcasm". Because sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. And it's okay. I can't believe I'm fighting you over the lack of ONE word in your title that could have gotten you less views (because less people would have been clickbaited) and less "fun" I guess, but you could have avoided all this feud and hate, just by adding one word out of the five I suggested you.

3) Your "excuse" isn't even an excuse. And there are ways of using clickbait that are definitely smarter than this.

For example, the other day, I watched a video made by Annie Elainey, called "How to spot a fake disability" ! And because I knew that Annie is disabled and talking about ableism in her videos, I knew (and she revealed her true intentions by 30 seconds in) that it was sarcasm, because it wouldn't align up with her videos to say "here are the fakers, chase them !!1!1!1!!1!1!"

Also, another example is Ashley Mardell and wanting to make a sarcastic video called "Why I'm Voting For Trump". Ashley being LGBTQ+ and Trump wanting to send our community to conversion therapy camps, I knew this wouldn't align with her usual content and that she would never vote for someone like Trump ! So, when I will watch her video, I will already know that it's sarcasm !

(And even if I didn't know these YouTubers, this use of clickbait ends up in educating content that is nice to watch and not mocking people for perceiving the video as something else that you wanted personally lmao)

And the other examples you showed in this "apology" video ? These are very obvious clickbait titles that are so ridiculous they are uncomparable to the video you just made. However, the video you just released was more dubious and since it held some truths, I was very confused about whether to believe it or not.

In the end, Marcus, please don't do this. I'm not saying "never make sarcasm ever again". But just put a heads-up in the title. I can't believe I'm wasting my time and energy just to say one thing : DON'T BE A DOUCHE AND PUT ONE WORD OUT THE FIVE I SUGGESTED ABOVE. Nothing more.

I will see you soon with a new post.

And as usual, our last word : KIDNEYS !