ok, yikes, I hate posting actual opinions here, but anyway.
Don't take this as me shouting at you
blackdenim, but lol, I guess I'm here to meet your expectations
blackdenim wrote:
It seemed like a very throwaway, surface level mention to me, I didn't see anything offensive or wrong with it, the stuff he showed is a quick Google away and on the tamest end of what you can find with a cursory search, too. No promo, no D&P in the thumbnail or tags.
By using this theory in a video, for his millions of viewers to see, he more than likely exposed the concept of Phan to people who'd never heard of them, or otherwise would never have done any google searches. Even if it was very basic "proof", I think for Shane to be the one to expose it to those previously clueless viewers, that was disrespectful to Deppy. Who historically don't want to talk about it, and I don't think they want other people talking about it either (youtubers or not).
I imagine if he hadn't mentioned them at all the comments would have been overwhelmed by people demanding he cover Phan next time - as many videos about Youtubers that don't mention D&P are. I felt like such a quick mention indicated he was just trying to avoid that.
Youtube commenters can't make anyone do anything, no matter how many begging Phannies he could've gotten in that comment section, they wouldn't have had him at gunpoint. He could have been a decent guy and not toyed with his colleagues' obviously private relationship at all, no one made him or could've made him talk about Phan.
Shane doesn't need views or subs from the Phandom, he doesn't need them to keep liking him or keep watching him the way that other YTers that clickbait them (coughMarcuscough) might. I agree that suggesting they are queerbaiting was perhaps a bit irresponsible, but... I'm torn. I imagine a lot of the YT community who don't think D&P are together probably do think they're queerbaiting. I go back and forth on whether or not they're together and in the times when I think they're not, I think they're queerbaiting too.
I am about Shane's age. We had our teen years in the middle of the emo explosion, when Gerard Way and Frank Iero were making out on stage ostensibly just for attention, and everyone was convinced Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump were together. So I see queerbaiting as quite normal and to be honest, not even that bad of a thing to do. I understand why it is and I know I have to change my thinking on that, but I can also imagine myself making an offhand comment to a friend about D&P 'doing it for attention' without realising the full connotations of what I'd said. In fact I think I probably have said stuff like that. And I can imagine Shane, as not the most PC person, probably doing the same - but unfortunately to 9 million people instead of one friend.
I also think the suggestion to a broad audience was irresponsible, because it normalizes it. Queerbaiting isn't acceptable and shouldn't be brushed off by anyone like it is. I'm glad you recognize you should be challenging your thinking on this, which tbh sounds condescending but I mean it. I believe you when you say you understand the issue, but I'll be annoying and explain further anyway. Queerbaiting
(I'm so sick of this damn word omg) delegitimizes actual experiences and relationships of LGBT+ people. Like it's just a fun facade to put on, and then be done with. It's hurtful to me, as an all around queer person, to see people use my identity as a stunt, prank, money-grabbing tactic, etc.
For Shane, with his audience, to present "proof" of the theory seriously, and then say at the end "lol but they just fuckin with u tho. they just think it's funny to pretend to be queer." is yes... problematic, to say the least. I can't personally excuse him for this because he's not a PC guy, he should've thought this through, considered the effects more, and not theorized about D&P at all.
But for real, maybe it's going to be about the furry business. He might finally wanna clear some things up. Or maybe it's about something else altogether.
