 : "You can't complain about free entertainment"
(i.e. In which I expect to be called a massive hypocrite)
Written: 17th June 2010
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The words that have been uttered by many an internet personality. In a sense, it has become far more popular to use than the classic "let's see you do better" in response to any hatred or criticism, constructive or not, on a creator's videos. They are haters, simpletons and, at best, mere trolls who enjoy nothing more than to agitate the hard-working video-makers of the internet by saying "your video sucks." True, it is okay to take pride in one's work, especially if a lot of time and effort was devoted to it (considering something like a well-edited and written review, it's a lot of hypothetical sweat and blood), but this saying is not only extremely flawed, but misguided.
They are right; no guard is asking us for a toll to cross the bridge of internet bandwidth in order to view these videos. But it only works in the literal sense. Free entertainment is in no way, shape or form free. Why? Because it requires a cost much more precious and valuable than money could ever be: Time. The twenty-four hours in a day go by very quickly, and that doesn't even include the time needed to rest and recover from said day. We must choose what we can do during these waking hours very, very carefully in order to "achieve" success. If I, or anyone else, chooses to watch viral videos on the internet during their free time, we expect to be entertained. Why is it that people are reluctant to see new people or things on the internet? Because most of the "new" discoveries they find, or fear, are fool's gold (i.e. shit).
At best, they ignore the video in question and continue to look for their daily fix. But there are those that will tell the creator what they actually thought of the video, be it a simple "you suck" or something more eloquent, such as "this unfunny asswipe deserves my grandfather's cancer" (whether their claims be true or not is a different story). The creator can either shrug it off, take it as motivation to improve their work or, as this article emphasizes, whine on the internet about the "haters" or, the more popular saying, say that since this product is "free," you don't have the right to complain or "if you don't like it, don't watch" (which is also such an extremely terrible comeback, but if I were to explain why, this would become even more of a TL;DR-fest than it already is). I have seen so many people fall into this sort of trap over the few years I have been on YouTube that it's not even funny. All I can do, however, is laugh at how they think that because they stuck a webcam in front of an emulated version of Sonic 3, and uncontrollably uploaded it onto the internet, they are immune to being called out for their shoddy visual, auditory and/or creative "quality."
In turn, I offer a different theory: The moment you release a family or viral video for public view on the internet, the moment you post a picture of the newest character that you traced on DeviantArt or the moment you "publish" a fanfic on a website like LiveJournal; you become a public figure, prone to the complaints and criticisms of anyone that may come across it. I know what you're thinking, it's a bullshit theory that only promotes trolling on some twelve-year-old's shoddy, half-assed review of "Red Dead: Redemption." In a sense, it is, but if a nobody like myself has the irrevocable right to post said video (or article) on the internet for public consumption, then any nobody that may come across it has the right to criticize the work for whatever reason possible.
As a video-maker, one should know that making the video itself does not make this true, but once you upload it to YouTube or any other viral video website (by seeking the attention of the public medium), you become a limited-purpose public figure. There will always be those who will disapprove of your work, especially if it's something as polarizing as comedy, but the only real opinions that should matter are the ones that are constructive in nature; in most cases, yourself. Otherwise, grow some skin or get the hell out.
- Urinatingtree
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