In an attempt to become "BlandTube" YouTube is losing its edge and quickly becoming banal to keep or bring in big corporate dollars. I think one of the biggest misconceptions about YouTubes demonetization policies and what has now become a channel purge is that it's a war of ideology. I don't believe that YouTube cares about creed as much as it covets money. It's become a megalithic corporation and a slave to the status quo despite rising to the prolific status by creating a platform where individuals could express themselves freely by knocking each other out or other means of expression.
Mainstream media is dying, and YouTube is selling their soul to become the mainstream itself. With that revered status, megalithic brands will be willing to pour in billions of dollars but not before there is a banal ecosystem free of scandal. Unfortunately, truth and common sense tend to be significant disruptors that advertisers fear. If lies are profitable, then truth must be crushed at all costs.
Recently YouTube has hired approximately ten thousand thought police to strike and ban offenders of the status quo. The infamous "community guideline strikes" have been coming down hard with jackboot authority. All in the name of becoming safe for advertising. Disguised as policing hate speech in a virtuous crusade to destroy the intolerable YouTube is flexing its authoritarian muscle to purge controversy and sterilize its content.
One might argue that YouTube is actually in a battle for the truth, by policing "fake news" and banning conspiracy theorists. This authoritarian view is an insult to reason and presumes people don't have agency over their thoughts and cannot disseminate truth themselves. One might also argue that YouTube has the right to curate and publish whatever content they deem appropriate. That may be a sound argument regardless of the irony of the name "You"Tube.
YouTube does have the right to curate, monetize, and publish any content they choose but that doesn't necessarily make it right. YouTube is currently a monolith where the meritocracy of content created by individuals has built their brand. It has helped usher in a new age of reason and has been a battleground of ideas challenging its users as well as entertaining them. This once free ecosystem of content has been responsible for what I would call a meteoric rise of the public intellectual. It's ease of use and reach has been helping humanity move forward but that proliferation of progress is now under threat. Luckily there is hope and alternatives are on the rise.
Blockchain and Dtube may be the light at the end of the tunnel as far as free speech and individual rights are concerned. Decentralized platforms are bottom-up meritocracies devoid of coercion. Luckily we now have a decentralized platform free from the tyranny of megacorps and voodoo economics that justify misplaced moral beliefs. Steemit is the ultimate meritocracy and I consider myself lucky to be able to contribute to this grand experiment.
Welcome to Steemit! I'm glad Steemit finally approved your account.
It is a shame that Youtube is censoring content because we learn more from people that disagree with us than from those we see eye to eye with. It is through the open and free exchange of ideas that we can see the truth. I think Oliver Wendall Holmes said it best…
“that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That, at any rate, is the theory of our Constitution. It is an experiment, as all life is an experiment. Every year, if not every day, we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge. While that experiment is part of our system, I think that we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe…”
Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616, 631 (1919) (Holmes, J., dissenting)
Thank you so much, it's great to be here finally. Nice court case drop haha. That's also a great Wendal Holmes quote and it's kinda undeniable.
Welcome to Steemit.
In some ways YouTube has had to clean up but mainly because Governments have told them to do. So watering down our freedom of speech.
I don't blame them for being compliant or complicit in other nations. We have the first amendment in this country and I think companies should respect it. I do understand their dilemma to keep the billions coming in from big corporate dollars but I think they are hurting their appeal to certain audiences. The fact is though, Youtube isn't going anywhere. The niche audiences that want more contreversial content will just have to go eslewhere.
I have watched dozens of YouTubers react to their new monetization policies with anger, excitement or indifference. I don’t think steemit and Dtube are there yet (maybe in 10 years) as the replacement or alternative to youtube but at least its a start.
I don't think anyone is going to replace YouTube anytime soon. The platform still has a lot to offer. They are creating demand for alternative platforms, however. It's like Starbucks, they aren't going anywhere but they have created a marketplace for other more niche coffee shops or cafes to open.
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