Zero Creativity, Zero Honesty: Onision & the Amazing Atheist in 2020.

my girlfriend said to me that she could
not believe that a Nissen passed up the opportunity as a comedian to make a joke or make some kind of social commentary Oh to the fact that Chris Hanson this TV news broadcaster showed up on his doorstep my girlfriend said to me why didn't a Nissen run to his closet get out his banana costume and come and meet this guy at his doorstep singing and dancing like a banana something anything if you are a comedian why can't you step it up and take advantage of this opportunity comedian but we can also say if you're a political commentator if you're an activist if you're a social justice warrior whoever you think of yourself advocating for a cause or a message some kind of attempt to make the world a better place then also these opportunities why can't you step up you know and have something meaningful to say take advantage of it in that way to deliver some kind of message to examine some kind of social or political problem as soon as you commit to that idea of yourself as a crater creating content for an audience there's something much much scarier than losing the audience and that is the possibility of losing your own voice as a creator um initia knew one of the most dramatic and disastrous examples of a guy who just plain ran out of talent in a more subtle but no less obvious way we can look at a guy like the amazing atheist and the reinvention of his channel that at one time had scripted comedy that one time had a more actively creative world and we can actually see I think a closely parallel form of creative exhaustion this video is partly talking about a youtuber named the amazing atheist it's partly talking about a youtuber named initia and it's partly talking about the meaning of YouTube itself of doing YouTube and I want you guys in the audience to keep in mind every single one of you could start uploading videos tomorrow there's no barrier here between the audience and the creators role in the past it's not as if you could go to a Hollywood movie you know being projected onto the silver screen in a theater it's not as if you could sit there in the audience and say oh tomorrow I could wake up and make a movie of my own but this platform this unique medium we all participate in there's no barrier between the artists role and the creator's role tomorrow you could sit down in front of a camera with a microphone you could stop listening and start talking and you could become one of the people who contributes your own life your own experience your own perspective your own opinions to this thing we do called YouTube so yeah for me for you for many of us the meaning of YouTube is a significant part of the meaning of life I want to start this video by saying honesty is an important part of what we do want YouTube but honesty is a simple word gathering together a lot of complex concepts and what really matters here on YouTube is not the same kind of honesty of a little kid admitting to his or her parents that they've stolen something it's not the same kind of honesty as a boyfriend admitting that he cheated on his girlfriend what really matters on YouTube is a kind of rigorous risk-taking honesty where we challenge ourselves and we challenge the audience by talking through issues in a rigorous way and in a manner that really thinks through the full consequences the full implications of our ideas I look at a guy like the amazing atheist who now is primarily a channel talking about politics and it seems to me that he's completely forgotten that you know if you look at what he does on YouTube and you look at broadcast news like CNN he has every disadvantage except for this kind of rigorous risk-taking honesty right that's the one thing he can do that CNN can't do right now again I'm gonna come back to an SDN I talked earnest in just a moment something something similar could be said something similar could be said for you and me all of us here participating in YouTube to some extent the amazing atheist made a video and it's a very successful video the audience seems to like it a lot of viewers tuned in for it he made a video talking about illegal immigration and low-wage labor in the United States and the policies of Bernie Sanders okay and from my perspective his video is really cowardly and really dishonest it's more like the type of it's more like the type of half truth I would expect from CNN from broadcast television news okay now broadcast television news let's kind of appreciate the position they're in they have to be a little bit dishonest and a little bit censored and you know theft of this veneer of professionalism but on the other hand they have access to resources they have access to research they have access to politicians they have access to interviews you know they have staff distributed around the world who could actually go to an event and witness it in person and report on it CNN has many many advantages over a youtuber right but a youtuber can come on camera and really talk through the issues in all their implications in a kind of radically unsettlingly honest way where we talk about what it means to us you know what it could mean in the future will we really think things through and deal with deal with the unthinkable consequences of these ideas of these political policies and maybe of the decisions we make in our own lives so on and so forth right I mean not every video has to be deeply personal it could be political it could be economic and I'm sitting there watching this guy yeah of course he's one of the original he's one of the guys who redefined this medium and how it works and he redefined it just through his own brainless self-indulgent shenanigans like I'm not saying that the amazing atheist was a theorist or a philosopher who came here on YouTube and changed the way YouTube works he was a reckless idiot but he improvised and innovated and changed the way YouTube works and I would say that about an isiand to an Essene is a complete idiot but for a lot of us he made us all think differently about the creative role of a full-time youtuber or a professional youtuber what it meant to aspire to do YouTube is a job whether under the heading of commentary or comedy or even politics or even activism all these people are in part kind of leaders of political opinion it and activism um you know if we can't come on camera and really be honest recklessly honest risk-taking ly honest if the amazing atheist can't come on camera and really talk through illegal immigration and its implications for low-wage labor in the United States if he has to be this much of a coward and be self-centered partly self-censored also self-centered it's both she has to be self censored and and carefully coaches terms and make all these mealy-mouthed excuses if that guy can't sit down and really talk through the hypocrisy xand contradictions in the political platform of Bernie Sanders who can like who are you gonna tune into because you can't get that you can't get that from from CNN now I'll give you a really brief example I am gonna come back to this hint here you know it bothers me that I read seemingly respectable research reports about Bernie Sanders discussing the knock-on effects the economic effects of his proposal for a $15 minimum wage and and these are completely designed they're completely lacking this kind of honesty and you sir you can google around right now and you'll see these reports they look very respectable they're made by you know political action committees and lobbying groups various kinds of Pro Bernie Sanders political forces that are hooked there and they'll reassure you that you know all kinds of experts and professors and even leaders of Industry various sectors of the economy they support a $15 minimum wage and there were only positive things to say about a $15 minimum wage there's absolutely nothing negative to say a $15 minimum wage you know one one possible negative aspect to think through is what the amazing atheist was trying to wrestle with that if wages in the United States are radically higher than South America Central America Latin America then obviously people want to come from those countries to the United States to work those higher wages yes minimum wage in New Mexico $6 an hour you tell me what industry what form of manufacturing what form of manual labor would not relocate from the United States to Mexico if in the United States minimum wage is $15 and in Mexico the minimum wage is $6 the difference in wages just looking at these two countries that are adjacent the difference in wages is so extreme that you could not justify manufacturing t-shirts in the United States you could not justify manufacturing televisions blenders kitchenware cars anything right on the contrary with so radical and fundamental a difference in wages you could justify relocating American workers to Mexico getting work permits for American workers to live and work legally in Mexico where they would get lower wages and also have better purchasing to our problem of a better quality of life than they would in the United States at the same level of wages right so anyone now can Google and nobody does this I mean CNN doesn't do this the amazing atheist doesn't do this anyone can google the percentage of the American economy that is comprised of industrial employment you can also try to get statistics for manufacturing employment specifically the category of industry is very very broad I just know many things included in industry that are not factory employment that are not manufacturing today case and you will see that over time over the last 40 years that percentage the American economy comprised of industry the percentage of people employed industry has gone down and down and down it's even gone down since 2008 but you know throughout our lifetimes going back many many decades why have I never once heard Bernie Sanders or any other supporters or even any of his critics deal with the question of projecting estimating for the future what will happen to the American economy what will happen to American industry what will happen to American manufacturing if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour it's so fundamental and so obvious a question you know you can go through sector by sector now there are some industries that that won't move that won't be able to relocate right I mean okay fishing agriculture yes but those same industries could also massively switch from illegal to illegal employment and I've lived in countries that's a huge problem in Thailand a huge percentage of the people working on fishing boats are working illegally when I was there including you know outright slave labor really really bad examples like that that's one of the reason it was studied and published about was the concern about slave labor not just illegal labor so farming and fishing those industries that can't relocate to Mexico they can start employing people illegally you could have a huge black market for labor because $15 an hour is unattainable for the for the employers you know you get this kind of response okay and on the other hand every industry that can relocate will relocate and Mexico is of course not the lowest lowest set of wages in the world not long shot currently unemployment in Mexico is only about 3% 3% 3% or 4% around there you know it varies from month to month but basically unemployment rate in Mexico is as close to zero as it can be in this type of economy you know there's the whole continent of Africa there are large parts of Asia all over the world there are low wage places where you can manufacture and then export the United States there are many many options beyond Mexico but the example of Mexico alone in a world where the United States adopts a $15 an hour minimum wage in the absence of other policies to compensate and I've discussed policies comes it doesn't if we can't talk this through on YouTube if we can't really recklessly and honestly talk this through why does this medium exist look why are we here what do we have mouths for what do we have brains for what do we have cameras for ok because hey I really feel like this kind of honesty even if you just come on camera and and and see you don't know even if you just come on camera and say what I said like I wish there were economists crunching these numbers and doing projections I wish there were supporters of Bernie Sanders not even critics who would attempt to extrapolate and project an estimate what the impacts are because currently if nobody does that this social cause is just not credible I've read Bernie Sanders book I have it here on my desk actually I've read Bernie Sanders book in addition to listening to his lectures and the bland reassurances he has that increasing minimum wage will just somehow have a positive effect on the whole economy it's deeply dishonest it's propaganda and it may be propaganda we all participate in because I of course I would prefer to have Bernie Sanders as president United States rather than the Donald Trump of course I would of course that would but that this is a deep concern can't I just at least come on camera and share this concern this doubt this question in a rigorous honest way in a way that challenges me where I'm challenging myself when I'm challenging my audience and if we can't do that you know what do you Tube channels like the amazing atheists become the amazing atheist was a channel that used to take risks and it used to take risks creatively I just want to say this very briefly when I take risks as a creator you and the audience may not feel it you may not perceive it what's risky for me may not be seen or felt as risky for you as soon as you accept the idea that what you're doing here on YouTube is a creative process as soon as you kind of commit to the idea of yourself as a creator which not everybody does and that's fine some people just film like their family picnic and upload it to YouTube that's fine but as soon as you commit to that idea of yourself as a courier creating content for an audience there's something much much scarier than losing the audience and that is the possibility of losing your own voice as a creator all right what's scarier than losing the audience is the storyteller running out of stories to tell right he's looking in the mirror one day and recognizing that you've run out of talent and of course one of the most dramatic and extreme examples of this we can all witness is an isiand my girlfriend said to me that she could not believe that an isiand passed up the opportunity as a comedian to make a joke or make some kind of social commentary out of the fact that Chris Hansen this TV news broadcaster showed up on his doorstep my girlfriend said to me why didn't a nishan run to his closet get out his banana costume and come and meet this guy at his doorstep singing and dancing like a banana something anything if you are a comedian why can't you step it up and take advantage of this opportunity as a comedian but we can also say if you're a political commentator if you're an activist if you're a social justice warrior whoever you think of yourself advocating for a cause or a message some kind of attempt to make the world a better place then also these opportunities why can't you step up you know and have something meaningful to say take advantage of it in that way to deliver some kind of message to examine some kind of social or political problem um anisia must be one of the most dramatic and disastrous examples of a guy who just plain ran out of talent someone looking this in started as a comedian became creatively exhausted as a comedian moved on increasingly to doing drama and commentary videos he began leaning on increasingly this idea of himself as kind of morally superior to his audience this idea of himself giving morality lectures to his audience he got addicted to that early on and then under each one of these headings he quickly became creatively exhausted he had nothing to say he really struggled against his audience he started becoming reproachful to and insulting towards his audience and then how does the story end it ends with it you know his bizarre current creative collapse where all he can do is come on camera and feel sorry for himself and demand to know why the audience doesn't feel sorry for himself also in a more subtle but no less obvious way we can look at a guy like the amazing atheist and the reinvention of his channel that at one time had scripted comedy that one time had a more actively creative world and we can actually see I think a closely parallel form of creative exhaustion in both cases I think the fundamentally false step they took was in forgetting the role of this kind of radical honesty right an honesty where when you sit down on camera you're challenging yourself you're challenging the audience you're recognizing that we on YouTube will never do what CNN does I think we will never do what Hollywood does unless you have a really big budget YouTube channel and a lot of people collaborating and contributing and YouTube was created as a platform for self-expression things changed the nature of the censorship changed the nature of the monetization changed the nature of the opportunity changed okay but I think maybe we're forgetting on a really fundamental level what did not change that this is the medium that for the first time utterly removes that barrier between members of the audience and the filmmaker or you know members of the listening public and the broadcaster where you and you and you can also step up to take the broadcaster's role and there is no requirement that you do any research you know there's no requirement that you be good-looking or talented or hard-working you know but I think that one requirement is that you're honest there's something really valuable about somebody coming on camera and saying I don't understand because that's the one thing nobody on CNN will say that's the one thing on broadcast news no say nobody will read Bernie Sanders book or listen to Bernie Sanders speech and just say to you honestly I don't understand why this guy never deals with the implications of the $15 an hour minimum wage the amazing atheist recent video nobody will come and say I don't understand how this guy utterly fails to deal with the implications of immigration policy illegal immigrants so on and so forth he wants the distinction of Donald Trump there's a huge problem here that could be solved that could be addressed but look even if I don't have the resources in terms of research I may not have all the answers but here on YouTube I can at least have all the right questions I can share with you my doubts I can share with you my perspective and we can challenge one another creatively you know that's really the endless horizon of YouTube whether you're looking at that horizon in terms of comedy or social commentary or politics and yet the warning that a real-world example like an Sen or a real-world example like the amazing atheist shows for us is when you wake up every day and stare into that camera when you everyday have to face that endless horizon when you everyday look at that infinite pocket of the internet and you try to fill it a lot of people a lot of people within a few years reach a point of creative exhaustion they reach a point of intellectual bankruptcy where even when the greatest opportunity shows up on their doorstep literally they suddenly find they have no song-and-dance anymore they have in a sense nothing to say [Music]