Dear Logan Paul,
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Before I start this blog post, I would like to let everybody know that this is a no-hate zone. So if you are here to simply be hateful and leave hateful comments about either myself or Logan or anybody else, please refrain from doing so! We leave hate in 2017 and in 2018 it’s all about talking about serious subjects and trying to actually listen and understand each other so that we can all find a solution in order for things like that to never happen again!
With that being said, here are my thoughts on Logan Paul and one of his recent video.
Dear Logan Paul,
First, let me say “Thank you” for trying to teach children that it is ok to be themselves. And for letting them know that they are unique. I cannot possibly hate on what you stand for as it is something that I also stand for!
Children need to know that it’s ok to be different and it’s ok to follow your own path.
This is why I do what I do, because I want children to know those kind of things. I want everyone to follow their dreams and be themselves. And I genuinely want everyone to be happy and live their lives to the fullest and as authentically as possible! And I think that it’s also what Logan wants and I totally support him on that.
That being said, I don’t support his recent video where he and a couple of his friends discovered a dead body in Aokigahara, Japan.
First, let me address his reaction.
Listen Logan, I totally understand when you said “laughing is my coping mechanism”. Maybe it is! Some people automatically cry when they are faced with unknown situations, others can laugh, other people can get angry, some can faint, some can even puke and some people can even do all of those options all at the same time! You cannot help your body’s first reaction to an unknown situation. So maybe, just maybe, laughing it off was your body’s first reaction. So I am not going to criticize the natural reaction of your body. That being said, there is a difference between your body’s reaction to something unknown and the ignorant things that you chose to do/say.
To me, you crossed the line when you said things like “Man, are you fucking with us? Is this a joke?” (while talking to the dead person) or “This was all gonna be a joke! When did it become so real?” or “This wasn’t supposed to happen!” or “Look he had a life. Here’s his bag! He has stuff in his pocket.” Not only did you say those things but you were also laughing hysterically while zooming in on the person’s body/face as if you were not in front of an actual human being who just took his life. This is totally and utterly disrespectful. And the worst part is not that you said all those things or even that you filmed it, the worst part is that you had to sit and rewatch this footage and you saw/heard the ignorant/not funny things that you said and still chose to post this video!
Now, I’m aware that Logan recently posted a statement saying that he only published this video because he wanted to bring awareness to suicide and mental health problems. And I think that it’s great that he wants to bring awareness to these subjects and that he wants to help somehow but there’s a big difference between actually bringing awareness to those subjects and what he did.
If he really truly wanted to bring awareness to the subject of suicide, first and foremost he wouldn’t have posted that video. Those footage of him and his discovery should have never been posted, especially knowing the things that he has said in those footage and the way that he behaved. As I said above, people react differently to unknown situations so maybe keeping on vlogging was his way of letting things sink in. But what should have happened is that upon rewatching his footage, things should have indeed sunk in and he should have realized that the way he behaved/what he said was wrong and that this whole video was wrong.
You have to understand that bringing awareness is not just about putting a warning message at the beginning of a video with a couple of numbers that people can call or saying 50 times “This is a serious topic. This is not a joke.” Bringing awareness is about actually taking this as a serious topic and not as a joke. Bringing awareness is about bringing awareness to yourself about the subject and informing yourself first before you bring awareness to others. Bringing awareness is about actually caring about the subject. Bringing awareness is about trying to help other people who are in need of help.
I understand that you want to make people laugh Logan and we need people like you who will keep on making the world laugh because laughter is a beautiful thing. But what you have to understand is that there’s a time to laugh and a time to be serious. If you want to talk about a serious topic then go ahead but you have to know when to leave the laughter for another topic/video. And if you are not ready to do so then you should let other people talk about this topic, people who know what they are talking about and who know how to talk about it in a way that is informative and respectful. If you don’t know how to tackle a subject but you still want to bring awareness to it maybe you should redirect other people (and yourself too) to other people’s articles, videos, podcasts, books where people can learn things and be aware of the subject and how they can help.
I really truly hope that Logan can learn from this and become a better person. He has a lot to learn not only about life but about himself and I hope that he takes the time to work on that before anything else…
Suicide is a very real thing that people struggle with, me included. It is not something to joke about…
And if you too are struggling with suicidal thoughts, mental health issues or other kind of issues, please talk to someone! Reach out to a friend, family member, a suicide hotline or even contact me! There is always someone that will be willing to hear what you have to say!
I know how hard it is to talk about those kind of subjects especially when you are the one dealing with them but know that you can talk to people about what you’re going through! You are not alone!
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Thank you for stopping by, hope you’ve had a nice stay! ❤︎
