Why Keemstar and YouTubers like him are a bigger threat to gamers than furrys

YouTuber Keemstar of the channel Drama-Alert, with approximately 4.5 million subscribers and covers topics of controversy on the platform, found himself in one of his own involving the furry fandom this week. On his twitter account he made a quote of saying that furries “must be deleted” and that he wished to make a video game in which you hunt and kill furries.

Furries are the biggest threat to the gaming community. They must be deleted. pic.twitter.com/eyFzicdbKD

— KEEM ???? (@KEEMSTAR) February 26, 2019

The Context

These statements come at the heels of what has been dubbed as the Second Adpocolypse. Where YouTube has lost yet more advertisements as an ex-Tuber running under the name “MattIsWhatItIs” brought to the attention of the world videos that contained children having very concerning comments being used to highlight the young ones in suggestive situations, despite the situation in the video being mostly harmless in the full context. Because of these commentators, and the blow-back, YouTube has cracked down on revenue on videos including children in any manner that have problematic comments. They also did a hard ban on the accounts making the comments.

Keemstar noted in his video of on the subject that MattIsWhatItIs was just a ex-YouTuber himself using his frustration of not getting a viral video during his creepy content creator days to attack the livelihood of the YouTube community. In this video he noted that it was unfair for Matt and advertisers to take actions against the entirety of the YouTube community for the actions of a few pedophilic users in the comment sections, which the platform dealt with by deleting the accounts of the bad actors.

That Keemstar would utilize pedophiles as his excuse for saying the furry fandom should be deleted only a few days later is a truckload of irony, doing so after complaining YouTube shouldn’t be dismissed in it’s whole for the same issue. It is irony that someone could easily write another article about. But on the heels of another curtailing of advertisements it seems problematic for a high profile YouTuber using language threatening to kill a group of people, despite if it was done tongue in cheek or seriously.

So today, we need to discuss the actual problem that YouTube seems to have. One that its content creators may not want discussed, or feel uncomfortable discussing. That is of the problems with the platform’s content creators themselves and how they are obstructing the ability for it to grow as a business and platform.

The consequences of continued Ad-Pocolypses

The biggest concern here is about the culpability of large YouTube stars when they make statements wishing to kill off a group of people, or other such heinous statements. How their words harm the platform directly when they go forward and represent their community with such comments. If this goes unchecked, then advertisers will continue to flee, and money will continue to be taken from the platform. This can only go on for so long before something breaks in those that work hard making sure the video site stays online.

If people think the Ad-pocoloyses were bad, just wait until the investors and the financial departments continue to see themselves going further underwater with YouTube as a platform. Wait until they realize that no amount of algorithmic tweaks can prevent the situations that make the site unattractive to investors and advertisers. Wait until they decide to have a human step in and clean the house. Not to look into the demonetization issues, but into the very things that caused that to have to be implemented in the first place: their partners.

In the alarmist language of the internet I predict such an event will be denoted as the YouTube Genocide. But people that don't have such an emotional and dramatic predisposition will call it what it is: layoffs. It will be the day in which the bosses running the site of YouTube finally realize that they are an employer and their content creators are mere employees. They are under no obligation to retain a person on the payroll that is problematic to the company’s mission. The fact that they work from home is irrelevant. The fact they own their own equipment equipment is irrelevant. They have the right to terminate that relationship, for any reason of character. Once they realize it’s the only thing that will move YouTube forward in the public relations situation, they will use that power.

All thanks to a handful of creators, like Keemstar in situations like the tweet outlined above, creators will receive far more pointed letters of reprimand from the platform. It will warn them if they slip up in public ways that they will reserve the right to remove their channels to protect the YouTube brand. No appeals, no groveling, pack up your boxes and get out.

Channels will be deleted and videos erased. While some of their largest yet controversial stars will be tossed by the wayside, new ones will take their place. Those that are more deemed more advertiser friendly. Maybe even take in more content from the major network providers trying to reach YouTube’s audience. Those who use the platform as consumers have already noticed the leadership of the video site moving in that direction, hosting late night comedy shows and news from major cable networks.

You may state that I’m being alarmist and that my prediction holds no teeth. But to those that are new here, I indirectly predicted Donald Trump’s political victory on March 2016 based on a review of the Disney film Zootopia when criticizing the antagonists methods to acquire power in the film as convoluted— and I voted against the guy and had no interest in him winning. I don’t make toothless claims based on personal fantasy or desired outcomes. I am a stark realist. And the reality is that YouTube is untenable as a platform if it continues to allow people to work for it that are making its growth as a company more difficult, all the while those problematic employees have the gall to take money from the company in income.

In the words of Ton from Aggretsuko. As an accountant it is their job to see how much someone is bringing in versus what they are taking out in the relationship. If someone continually takes more than they give, don’t be surprised to see their stuff on the lawn.

So someday, either the content department at YouTube is going to grow a backbone, or if they refuse to take action, their overseers are going to fire the spineless ones and replace them with ones willing to crack some eggs to make that omelette of profitability. And before you cry for creators like Keemstar if they so happen to be caught in this crossfire, remember that this is a normal environment for those that work off of YouTube. Any employer can fire any employee for any reason; besides those that are skin deep like race. And if an employee went online and said they were going to make a video game where you kill a group of people and that statement caused a stir that reached the desk of their boss, that boss could very well toss them out if they thought it’d bring their business controversy.

The harsh realities of the free market

There are those that will note that they should be able to present their ideas or jokes, no matter how abhorrent, to the free market of ideas. And as they continue to do so, they are finding that the market speaks back. Advertisers continue to flea these platforms in droves. The markets have listened to their ideas and rejected them outright. And because of these behaviors that are causing the companies to flee, the bastions of free expression where users are able to receive a penny for their thoughts and toils are continuing to be eroded by those not seeing the harm they are doing to the very platform they claim to support by their unprofessional behaviors both on camera and off.

It’s a bit of an interesting situation, where it can appear the free market and desire for customers is the thing standing in direct opposition to the concept of the “free market of ideas”. However, it’s not a contradiction, the concept of a market means that a person is free not to buy into the concept. If you’re forced to buy something that’s no longer a free market; that’s either a tax or an insurance premium. And as such, Google is well within its rights, in a free market, to fire an employee for appearing to threaten a group of people that are its customers.

The free market of ideas is joined at the hip with the free market, you must believe the later is good to believe the former is good. But it must be noted that if it’s the one thing free markets loath, it is the idea that killing its customers is a swell idea. Dead people can’t buy products. So any free market finds presenting the concept of killing people unmarketable; except maybe if you work in guns, caskets, or cremation jars. So don’t be surprised when the market’s response in kind to your threatening their revenue stream is to not offer you money for working for them.

So when it comes to who the bigger threat is to gamers, it is those like Keemstar and YouTubers who are quick to exhale verbiage that makes a YouTube marketer’s jobs near impossible. With coworkers like that, who needs competitors? Other gamers that create content while keeping in mind to be welcoming to a wide audience and keeping their tie straight are the ones who will be continually punished with smaller revenues because of the fallout caused by the more wild cards claiming to be the face of the gaming YouTuber scene. I would be loath to have someone harming my future dreams saying they represented the omnibus of being what my fellow enthusiasts are all about. For their false claims of representation is more of a taxation to the growth of being a YouTube gamer as a livelihood.

A plea to popular YouTube creators

I hope time proves me wrong and I am being alarmist. A bunch of hard working people shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few. But, I feel this needs to be said so that those who impulsively want to post things on the internet without thinking about the consequences to their fellow content creators think twice. That they, for once, think of someone other than themselves and their most blood-thirstiest fans.

I end this rant on a simple request. Both gamers and furries, and those who are both, want the idea of YouTube to succeed. It is a privilege that is incomprehensible to our parents that we can produce our own shows that can reach the world. You used to have to rely on the very rich to let you use their toys for that. There are some of those rich guys hoping people still have to, and they want to see YouTube fail. So let it not be our own actions that salts these opportunities for our descendants. Let’s not chum the water with bait that will attract the sharks of the major media corporations waiting to gobble up YouTube when we keep poking holes in the ship.

It’s up to us to do better, before someone else decides we’re out of chances.