On Judging Instead of Doing

August 4, 2021

Adam

Mocking others for their unconventional pursuits may provide fleeting satisfaction, but it ultimately stifles your own potential and leaves you behind as they find success.

Musings

Lets be honest. Its pretty fun, easy and somewhat cathartic to pour scorn, ridicule and belittle those doing strange, novel and unconventional things. But this is not only arsehole behaviour. It’s also pretty detrimental for the person responsible.

Back in 2006, when a nascent YouTube was becoming more widely-known, I sifted through the then limited range of videos on offer. YouTube’s catalogue back then seemed like nothing more than cat videos and home video clips, but among these were also people simply recording themselves speak about mundane and asinine topics.

I mockingly laughed at people and remember wondering what kind of weirdo would make these videos. I dismissed the video-makers and judged that only rejects, virgins and bully victims could be so isolated as to seek solace in speaking in front of a camera. Embarrassing themselves jus to find company in an army of individuals anonymised by the internet. I even shared what I thought were some of the most pitiful videos with friends, so that we could laugh at the pathetic souls speaking to the camera. And judging by the comments left below the videos, I was not alone in my obnoxiousness.

The years fluttered by, and as I and the other YouTube commentators found new targets to deride and jeer, these shy weirdos kept recording themselves. They refined their output and slowly began to produce content that caught the imaginations of a younger demographic. In the process they became pioneers of a new medium of entertainment that was pulling people away from their television screens and towards their computer, and eventually, phone screens.

Fifteen years later these rejects, virgins and bully victims are now worth millions. They are celebrities in their own right, generating enormous amounts of views among their vast fanbases. Meanwhile, I am working in a call-centre, girlfriendless and being berated by an anonymous face in a suit for almost minimum wage.

You may not be a budding YouTuber or a pioneer of a new medium of entertainment. But you have an idea.

Don’t let the scorn, ridicule and the belittling of the insecure, butter and directionless rob you of your future, otherwise you could also end up in the suffocating call-centre cubicle next to me.