The Difference Between Content Creation and Josh Harris

Let me start off by saying that I do credit Harris for his “ahead of the game” thinking, and how he predicted how the internet would work today.

However

I don’t feel right crediting him as some sort of genius or artistic vision. I am not a certified doctor, therapist, or psychiatrist, but I do accuse Josh Harris of being a Sociopath.

What I saw from the film “We Live in Public” was a mentally ill man who manipulated people into dangerous situations for fun.

I don’t think it is fair to say “This is what happens to people with Social Media” even though that was the point the documentary was trying to make. You can go back to my first sentence and re-read it if you need a reminder that I am not saying Harris wasn’t onto something — but comparing what he “experimented” and what happens today is like comparing bombs to fireworks. Both are dangerous if not used properly, but one is far more deadly if in the wrong hands.

Harris did predict the idea of what people will do for fame through means of his project “Quiet We Live in Public”, a horrific cult he created in a hollowed out building in New York, but he didn’t invent anything new at the time. Reality TV had already happened in the 1950s. The only thing Harris did was amp it up to a level of extreme it should have never been allowed to reach — most likely because he was a sociopath and found enjoyment in his “art” that was tearing his test subjects down to nothing.

I argue that the only reason Quiet We Live in Public became the shitshow that it was is because of the circumstances those people lived under. Harris set the project up to fail. He shoved these people, who were mostly dead-beat artists who didn’t make it in New York, into this extreme environment that your every day person would never experience. I mean come on… a gun range? Not to mention the terrible interrogation room that was on its own level of fucked up.

Sure, people do things for their 15 minutes of fame. People did the cinnamon challenge, chubby bunny, calling “the man”, etc. However a large group of those participants were adolescents or already well-known on their platform. Most of the people you see doing these challenges are younger people 13–18 who are doing it more for fun than fame. They record it because they can, they post it because they think what they did was hilarious.

It’s the basis of content creation.

Content creators separate themselves from those who do upload with intentions of fame because content creators usually aren’t creating and uploading for the purpose of fame.

Most of the original influencers that came from Youtube were all uploading videos because they enjoyed creating content. At some point of another you can catch a majority of them saying: “I never thought I would become famous from this.” My prime example is Tyler Oakley, who was uploading silly little videos for his friends to watch, and ended up gaining an accidental following. He now has 7.29 million subscribers and uploads content because it is his source of income. The same goes for other youtubers such as Jenna Marbles, Simplynailogical, Shane Dawson, Good Mythical Morning, Jacksfilms, Hannah Hart, Wheezy Waiter, etc, etc, etc…

These people upload because they enjoy creating content and it has now become their income. Those who didn’t enjoy creating anymore have since left the platform or began creating content that they could enjoy making (Pewdiepie, Shane Dawson, Wheezy Waiter).

Here’s where you say “what about those who came from vine?” Those people were also doing the same thing, and vine was their source of income until Vine was no longer running, so they came to continue their creation of content and income through Youtube (David Dobrik, Gabbie Hanna, Christine Sydelko)

and then there’s the Paul brothers.

The latest scandal with one of the Paul brothers was when Jake Paul recently tweeted “Anxiety is Created by You”. Jake’s other recent headlines include his maybe fake, no one really knows) marriage to Tana Mongeau, and his docu-series Shane Dawson created where they dove into Paul’s life and tried to answer the question: Is Jake Paul a sociopath?

The docu-series didn’t answer it straight out, but what the audience learns from the series is that the Paul brothers had some questionable parents that led to them growing into the people that they are today.

Sounds familiar right? We’re looking at you Harris.

The Paul brothers are a prime example of doing things “for the views”, and also a perfect example of how you let money and power get to your head when you are a young adult (again, staring at you Harris). They were well known for their dangerous stunts that usually put their friends in serious danger.

The Paul’s reputation took a turn after Logan, Jake’s older brother, uploaded a video showing footage from the Suicide Forest in Japan. In the video Logan points to what appears to be a body, and even though it should be fairly obvious not to include that clip in the finished edit, Logan Paul did it anyways.

It’s almost if Logan Paul has no empathy for others (*cough* Josh Harris)

My point is this: you can’t view that documentary and come up with the idea that technology and social media will make people into the participants of that experiment. Sure, there are many downfalls of social media that researchers are studying and are beginning to educate about, but in no way do we become animals from wanting to upload our content to a platform.

Those who don’t have the best intentions will use those platforms differently than the every day user. This is my major belief about social media in general: it doesn’t create a facade of us, but more reveals our true intentional being. If you are a troll on twitter leaving nasty hate comments, you are most likely a hateful person at heart.

If you grew up believing that Gilligan’s Island was your true family, you start a well-run company, get bored with it and become a clown, create some wild inhumane social experiment where you lock people in a bunker and call it science, go on a boat trip, manipulate a girl into doing the same experiment over again, abuse her, sell that place and buy an apple farm, attempt to once again get into the lime light, be shut down, and move to Ethiopia to become a children’s basketball coach.