Cancel culture and the trend of trying to bring down good people - Colleen Ballinger, Jenna Marbles

Recently I discovered that a Youtuber I like, Colleen Ballinger from Miranda Sings, was in the news for apparently doing bad things. I was surprised to hear this because having followed her channels, watched her Netflix series, and read her book, I never had any reason to think anything bad about her.

I did a little searching to try to figure out what was going on. My search found a lot of news articles saying she may have done some things in the past that some might consider inappropriate. I also searched Reddit and found a lot of people intent on trying to bring her down. I read their reasons and honestly they were not that bad.

I could tell right away that this situation is exactly like what happened to Youtuber Jenna Marbles. It's where there is a good person who has a lot of success and then one day some negative press article comes out saying they did something wrong and then all of a sudden the mob pounces on them and tries to find every little thing they possibly did wrong in their entire life.

This kind of thing gets a lot of media attention so news sites and social media are all over it. Suddenly everyone has an opinion on it. Anyone who ever disliked them or was jealous of them in any way is chiming in on the action.

I'll admit I have not read into all the allegations thoroughly but when you follow someone on Youtube for years and have watched and read a lot of their content you get a pretty good idea of who they are. In my opinion she is a good person plain and simple.

Of course there are probably some things she has done that she would look back on and say “yeah I probably shouldn't have done that, or I would have done that differently”. Of course she probably made some mistakes in the past, but guess what, so has every single person in the world!

But because she is famous she gets attacked by everyone who dislikes her. When you are famous, even if you have millions of people who love you, there are still going to be a small percentage who don't like you. Then as soon as you make one little slip up, they are all over it and try to blow it out of proportion.

It can be contagious to jump on the bandwagon when someone you know has made a mistake. I'll admit there may have been times in the past where I have done the same thing, not to this extent, but something similar.

For example, how many times in your life have you known someone who you thought was ok. Maybe a co-worker who you didn't necessarily get along with but tolerated them just fine. Then maybe one day they leave under bad terms and people start gossiping negative things about them. Have you ever been tempted to join in and give your own take on what you didn't like about them?

This is the kind of thing that happens in these situations to celebrities but on a much larger scale. It is really unfair especially when you have thousands of people trying to dig up your life's history and find every little thing you did that could possibly be interpreted as being even slightly offensive or controversial.

If this was done to everyone, guess what? Pretty much everyone would be “Canceled”. Even the best people in the world make mistakes. I'm not saying we should condone celebrities when they do something that is truly horrible, but I think we really need to give them a break when small mistakes are made, especially when they are from many years ago and the person has since matured or changed.

People like Colleen and Jenna are good people who brought a lot of joy to millions of people. It is a shame when a small group of “haters” band together to try to bring them down and ruin their career.

Keep these points in mind when you see these attempts at canceling celebrities. They may be famous but deep down they are real people just like us who sometimes make mistakes and are not always perfect.

Haters Back Off Review – Miranda Sings Netflix Series

Recently I watched a series on Netflix called Haters Back Off, which is based on a Youtube character named Miranda Sings. It is the creation of Youtuber Colleen Ballinger, who plays the main character Miranda. I had been familiar with her character prior to watching the series, but never really got into it enough to subscribe. Nevertheless, I decided to check out the show to see what it was like.

The series is centered around Miranda who dreams of being a famous singer. The only problem is, she cannot sing and is really not cut out for being a performer. Despite this, she is oblivious to reality and still believes she is the best singer who is destined for greatness.

Her family includes her recently unemployed uncle who is determined to help Miranda achieve her dreams, her mother who has more of an understanding of her daughter's limitations but still tries to support her, and her sister who comes off as very normal in comparison to the rest of her family.

The series is a mix of comedy and drama as we watch Miranda try different methods to become famous despite the haters telling her she has no talent. Her uncle seems to think she can make it and goes to great lengths to manage her career to help her succeed. Her mother who claims to have “un-diagnosed fibromyalgia” plays sort of a sad role as someone who is unfulfilled and stuck in the situation she was dealt with. Her sister tries to live a normal life while trying to avoid embarrassment of being associated with the odd characters that make up her family.

Overall, I enjoyed the series. It may not be for everyone, but if you like quirky shows with a mix of comedy and emotion and don't mind suspending belief, it is definitely worth checking out. The series has 8 episodes and is available now on Netflix. You can also check out Miranda on her Youtube channel from which the series was based on.

Also, good news, Haters Back Off has been renewed for a season 2 so look for that hopefully later this year! 

 

Update 1-19-18: I just finished season 2 of Haters Back Off and it was great! It looks like it will only have 2 seasons, but I think they ended it pretty well. I recommend checking it out if you are looking for a quirky comedy with lovable characters.