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If you’ve spent any time on YouTube recently, you’ve most likely come across a video titled something like, “I WENT TO THE MOST GHETTO PLACE IN AMERICA” with some pasty white guy on the thumbnail, mouth agape as he’s surrounded by superimposed men toting guns and other paraphernalia. These guys have names like Tommy G, Brandon Buckingham, and Tyler Oliveira. They call themselves journalists, but all these guys seem to do is create the most sensational slop possible. One of these videos starts with YouTube’s Anderson Cooper, Tommy G, splicing together videos of men, women, firearms, and drugs into a compilation of news stories about homicides within the Memphis area. What should be a pretty sobering moment is then interjected with Tommy G saying, “What’s up, guys, we just dropped a bunch of new hoodies on the website!”
Take Brandon Buckingham, for example. Buckingham is an ex-kindergarten art teacher who quit his profession to become a YouTube journalist. Which is a completely true statement. He is most known for his internet beef with alt-right creators Sneako and Danny Mullen. He was recently in Chicago, and while creating a video on members of the ‘Bloodhounds’, Buckingham was involved in a shootout that ended with his cameraman getting shot in the neck. Now, like any normal person, the Cameraman immediately picked up the camera and started recording his reaction to getting shot. Which is a commitment to the YouTube clout grindset I can respect. Hell, Brandon even titled the video “I Almost Died in Chicago”.
Brandon Buckingham’s videographer, Matt, as seen in his video, “I Got Shot in Chicago.. | Hood Videographer for Brandon Buckingham”
Despite how awesome these two examples are in an “I love America” way, I can’t help but think these guys have developed attention-induced mania. There seems to be an earnestness in what they do. As if they think reporting on underground rappers is a net benefit to the world. Buckingham, who has a young daughter, did not take his cameraman being shot as a life lesson and seemed to double down with his last three videos being titled, “Life on Courtlandt Ave | Inside The Bronx’s Notorious Hood”, “We Bought 4 Cars Just to DESTROY THEM”, and “Blowing Stuff Up with That Mexican OT”. This might be a sign of some frontal lobe damage or maybe a trauma response.
Speaking of frontal lobe damage, I forgot to talk about Tyler Oliveira, who is an ex-Mr. Beast contestant. Tyler is probably the worst one because he leans into the right-wing grift. Just this month, he released a video called “I Deported Illegal Immigrants with ICE!” which only leads me to believe that we need a Nuremberg-style trial for these guys.
The video itself shows Oliveira recording as ICE agents deport undocumented immigrants, and him harassing people at an anti-ICE protest. I mean, the guy’s an idiot, and I hope not to sound like a free-speech abolitionist, but how is this stuff even allowed on YouTube? Just a decade ago, creators were getting kicked off and deplatformed for much less. Now it rakes in nearly two million views.
And here’s where my real problem comes from. These guys get so many views, millions on average, and with more and more young people getting information from social media, we’re going to create a generation hooked on sensationalism – more so than we have presently.
Can you imagine being 15 and seeing a guy deporting immigrants with ICE, and then he calls himself a journalist? Your brain’s going to be instantly fried. The frame of reference for journalism and truth is formatted within the lens of attention. And correct me if I’m wrong, but in the past decade, I’ve seen very little truth being the main topic of discussion. It is, of course, much easier and successful to highlight sensational realities than to promote anything nuanced.
It seems that once again, money and attention have carved a sizable chunk out of a medium, and maybe this is what we deserve. Everyone enjoys a little bit of slop every once in a while. I myself am an avid FaZe Rug watcher, and he’s not much better than the rest. I mean, he’s not out doing ICE raids, but his videos are the 2010 pop music of YouTube. Perfectly curated to keep you enthralled while providing very little substance. What I find myself worried about is a cycle where the slop we consume becomes the regular day content. Where success, even in a ‘hate-watch’ sort of way, is recognized by the algorithm and is then the only thing we’re recommended. Sure, CNN and FOX even are ‘better’ and arguably ‘more intellectual’ products, but their validity is null and void at this point. Somehow, that spot legacy media once inhabited has been filled by something much worse and stupider.
