DEBATE: Logan Paul, a video blogger on social media site YouTube, is facing controversy and hate over a viral video.
By Celeste Johanson, Staff Writer
Logan Alexander Paul is a twenty-two year old American video blogger, or “vlogger” and actor who first gained fame through his videos on the social media website “Vine”. He had successfully vlogged everyday from September 12, 2016 to January 1, 2018 on his YouTube channel “Logan Paul Vlogs” gaining over 15.8 million subscribers. However, his career is in recent debate among the YouTube community.
On December 31, 2017, Paul and his friends were filming a vlog where they would camp in Japan’s “Suicide Forest” for 24 hours to highlight the haunted aspect of the forest. I, as a viewer, could already tell that something was going to go wrong. He and his friends made jokes about how scary the forest would be and how they can’t say “dead” in the suicide forest. When Paul screamed, “Just a couple of dumb Americans camping in the suicide forest!” upon entering, I couldn’t help but ironically laugh and nod my head in agreement.
After going into the forest, with the parking lot still visible, Paul and his friends go off the path and find a spot to set up their camp. The shot cuts to a wide-eyed Logan Paul. “I hate to say this, but I think there’s someone hanging right there. I’m not even ******* kidding. Do you see it? I’m not even- this isn’t a ******* joke guys! That’s a ******* person!” They filmed the body, and all I could think was: “Turn it off turn it off turn it off don’t show that” but he continued to film. After hearing Logan ask, “Bro, did we just see a dead person in the suicide forest? Hanging?” I, and millions of others, were left speechless.
They called authorities and while waiting, he was pacing, throwing things, cursing and contemplating all his life choices. “What am I still doing here?” Paul asked before getting all his equipment and bolting as fast as he could out of the forest. I could tell that he was upset and hurt and confused and scared. He began laughing and making jokes. Many people who saw the video were upset with his behavior and forgot that laughter is an auto-response to stressful and traumatic situations. “Me smiling and laughing is not a portrayal of how I feel about the circumstances. I cope with things through humor,” Paul stated.
At the end of the video Logan Paul gave a true and serious opinion on the situation. “Suicide, mental illness, depression, these are very very real things. There are people that love you guys. There are people that care about you. Suicide is not the answer. Don’t feel like you have to hide your feelings. Stay strong,” are a few of the words he ended his video with.
Logan Paul is an idiot; I agree. Logan Paul is a bad role model for young teens; I agree. Logan Paul should be taken off of YouTube for being disrespectful to the suicide victim; I strongly disagree. Logan Paul did not hurt the victim. He did not kill the victim. He did not do anything disrespectful to that man at all. He filmed the body, which was definitely uncalled for and he should have cut that out of the video completely, but he didn’t. He didn’t go searching for it and he didn’t stay there when he did. He laughed because it was a coping mechanism. He was not disrespectful, he was doing the only thing he could do; try to save his mental health.
After getting hate and having his video flagged and taken down, Logan apologized. He was sorry that his video hurt people. He is taking full blame and full responsibility for a stupid mistake. His career is on the line because people are too hurt to realize that YouTube is the one to blame. Yes, Logan was the one who uploaded the video but YouTube didn’t monitor the video and restrict it from young audiences. Youtube allowed anyone to see it for a few days which caused to it trend and reach millions of people.
YouTube is designed so that important news is shown more than entertainment. If something is talked about in the news, it is more likely to be in the trending tab and among people’s recommended videos. Since Logan’s video was talked about in almost every news site known to man, YouTube’s algorithm recognized it as an important thing to see and therefore promoted it more. YouTube advertised Logan’s video, making it more popular, because the news couldn’t shut up about it. Once the managers at YouTube saw that it was bad, they took it down. They apologized but because of this, but YouTube’s algorithm will drastically change again, which, inturn, will hurt other YouTubers who are trying their hardest to make good, quality content.
Logan Paul went into the suicide forest, stumbled across the body of a victim, filmed it and uploaded it. That was his only mistake. He mentioned mental illness not because he believes people with depression are mentally ill. He mentioned mental illness because there are people with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia who might hurt themselves or others because of their illness and people dismiss it. We shouldn’t punish Logan for what he did. Having the video taken down and having his salary cut by YouTube is more than enough to teach him his lesson. Forgive Logan for the things he said and did. Forgive him because he is really sorry and he is trying to make it better. Forgive him for being human and making a mistake.