On Liked Youtube Videos

Recently an individual on Twitter stated: "Yeah well being a homophobic prick has nothing to do with gaming yet you decided you needed to make a YT video about being one."

I immediately clarified that I did not make the video that was being mentioned. If anyone states to the contrary, then they are misleading you and creating a false narrative.

Back in May/June of 2019, an individual posted a screenshot of my liked videos page on my YouTube channel CLChambers00 Gaming. The video at the top of that list was the following video uploaded by Educating Liberals. I was not involved in the creation of this video nor am I in any way affiliated with the channel, nor do I condone his tone or approach. Gay Pride Month is a Joke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeL-ZxuKXP8

I recall originally following Educating Liberals' twitter page because of another video that I had seen and was curious about his perspectives on some political matters. As an academic I watch and listen to all kinds of media, opinions, and perspectives, it is one of the ways that I stay aware of current thought, philosophical trends, and worldview conflicts. A screenshot that I had followed this individual at one time was likewise posted on Twitter.

I recall going to YouTube and seeing what the guy had to say in the aforementioned video while on mobile. I recall clicking on or near their channel icon in order to pull up a list of uploaded videos to see what other content was created. Since the video showed up on my liked videos page I must have clicked too fast and too high because the video ended up getting liked, since the thumbs up icon is immediately above the channel logo icon.

I generally don't like non-gaming related videos with my YouTube channel. Anyone at that time was free to view my liked videos page and they would have found that 95% of my liked videos were gaming related, and the other 5% were related to SNL Skits, Star Wars, etc. Anyone with any fair amount of reasoning could have seen that the video was out of place and was not indicative to the kinds of videos on the liked videos page. Anyone could have seen all the other liked videos and not find any other videos similar to it. Instead of asking me about it, inquiring into my intent and what may have occurred, people took to social media in order to weaponize it against my character. This is also what had prompted my further call to dignity and respect for all people in my previous pastebin, On Charity and Dignity.

For some reason, at the time of this liked video, people were looking for any way they could demonize my character and defame my reputation. Everything that I ever said or ever did were being interpreted in the least charitable manner possible, and anything that may have been an accident, such as in the case of this liked video, it was characterized as having my full knowledge, intent, and support. Even today this narrative runs rampant in the minds of people but it could not be further from the truth. People just bought into the narrative, never asked whether they had the full story or not. As a result, people who never knew me or even those who knew a little bit about me came to know me only according to a caricature that was crafted in the minds of others, a caricature that does not truly depict who I am or what I think. And it became very sad to me watching people beat a strawman and parrot comments as if they were true. People wanted there to be something wrong with everything that I said and everything that I did. It wasn't enough that they perceived one character flaw, they had to hunt for more. People wanted an enemy they could vilify, a representative of all they abhor that they could hate, and then virtue-signal for a job well-done.

We seem to live at a time when it seems fashionable to hate those whom our friends hate and to only believe what our friends tell us about others. Few seem to have the capacity to compartmentalize between disagreeing with a person's philosophical commitments and being able to love and respect the same individual. It seems more common for a person to hate those with whom they have a disagreement and smear their reputation to anyone who will listen, a practice which is unfortunately too common among political opponents. We are so angry and poisoned with bitterness and pain that we lash out and displace all our angst upon any target we deem worthy of our self-justified wrath.

I would invite people to always act charitably towards others, especially those you may not presently think of very highly because you may come to find that the person you thought you knew is not at all like what you thought. If you see something that may seem out of place or something doesn't seem to fit with what you thought then be sure to inquire into the situation, and learn more about the person, and speak to them directly. You will learn a lot more about a person by sharing a conversation with them than you will listening to what everyone else has to say about another. We should be merciful, forgiving, gracious, and above all, treat everyone in the same manner in which you wish to be treated, extend the same courtesy to others as you have given to yourself. There is enough drama, hatred, and broken relationships in our world, we don't need any more. If you have a problem with another person, then resolve it, do not carry the bitterness in your heart any longer, do not loose your venom onto anyone. There is much more to each of us than we know.