#8jb

gaaaaassssssssed well done

fairytale of new york

At no point throughout that whole ordeal was I convinced that Alex was some kind of evil manipulative villain who preyed on people and wanted to take advantage of people, and I think the assertion that he is is bizarre

but that’s sort of what happens when internet mobs form, accusations pile on and it gets to the point where people have this extreme, non-nuanced view of something and it’s so loud that defending yourself is impossible

but perhaps I have this perspective because I was also once a dumb horny kid who didn’t know anything about consent, mainly because no one ever talked about it and when i was Alex’s age it would have made perfect sense to me that someone going along with what you’re doing in and of itself constituted consent

i can tell you with 100% certainty that I was no rapist, I wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something with someone that I thought wasn’t into it, the thought was and is horrifying

but I WAS dumb and I was horny and I was selfish, and I overvalued ‘getting laid’ but I wasn’t evil, i wasn’t a villain, I did not intend to hurt anyone and I think it’s the same with Alex. so maybe i kind of feel like I relate to him because I learned all the lessons he talked about learning

I learned most of those lessons far before YouTube or tumblr existed though and the ones I've learned recently I was able to figure out quietly through personal reflection. Unfortunately for him, this all happened publicly and at the height of his YouTube popularity, right after he’d charted singles, right before his book was about to be released, right after he’d hit a million subscribers on YouTube. and maybe being “famous” gives you more responsibility and people are allowed to judge you more when you make mistakes or something? I don’t know really. I have a couple friends who have done some super dumb fucked up shit but they have worked through it and talked it over with people and moved on with more wisdom, but they are still my friends because human beings are complex and it’s weird to me to one day admire and love someone and the next day hate and mistrust them

and probably some people are going to misconstrue this as me ‘defending’ or ‘justifying’ his actions, which i’m obviously not, but i’m at the point where i don’t really give a shit about maniacal tumblr people who are not interested in even attempting to see what you’re actually trying to say

Alex Day was one of my all-time favorite YouTubers before this shitstorm happened and he took his hiatus, and I am happy to watch his videos again. And to be honest, I never thought that me enjoying someone’s videos was a tacit approval of everything that person has ever said and done anyway. (it’s kind of absurd if you think about it) 

hell yeaaahhh man