Advent Calendar Challenge Day Six
Jake Paul is one of the most well-known YouTubers of the year. From the association with his brother, who showed a dead body to millions of children with no remorse, to Jake’s sexed up music videos, Mr. Paul does not have the best reputation. Likely for this reason, Shane Dawson, another popular Youtuber, decided to make a documentary about the infamous Jake Paul.
I had no intention of watching the documentary at first, but on a whim, my boyfriend and I watched an episode. To our dismay, we were hooked. It seemed like Shane was able to get through Jake’s showboating exterior personality to see a mushy little version of Jake who appeared sorry for his image. But do I believe it?
Yes. But also, no. People are complicated, which is something that many of us often forget. There doesn’t always just have to be one side to a person, and often there are reasons buried deep within us for everything we do, whether we realize it or not. I think this is the case with Jake Paul. He’s young and stupid, raised around people like his father and brother, who are clearly bad influences on him. Match this with today’s culture of insta-fame, and you create a monster. In other words, Jake isn’t perfect, nor should children look up to him, but I don’t believe it is his fault.
That being said, there is plenty he can do about it, especially since he influences so many children. The videos Jake produces show a character that Jake creates, but they also form the minds of his fans who watch them. They are often too young to realize what’s real and what isn’t, and with the hyper-sexualized music videos and morally questionable pranks Jake Paul pulls, this can become a problem. If Jake realized this more, I think it would be much less of an issue.
Please, Jake. Just take a moment out of your day and think about the people you want to see growing up in the world. Do you want every day to look like one of your YouTube videos?
