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I would argue that the reason you get "this is serious" vibes is because he's actually more serious than satire. I really don't think he's playing a character.

I would argue that the reason you get "this is serious" vibes is because he's actually more serious than satire. I really don't think he's playing a character. His videos have been like this for years, it's only in the last year or so that he's ramped up the "satire" content to a ridiculous level.

dijit 5y ago
I genuinely struggled to understand if it was satire before. But given how often the words he’s chosen are deliberately sarcastic - or other situations where he would have the opportunity to save fact to make himself look better, but leans in to the character (for comedic effect I don’t doubt) makes me believe it must be satire. Like the numerous “this one tip” videos where he goes on and on about the tip and then it turns out to be “be predestined for this job” or “get referred” or something. Of course I could be misreading it.
- rightbyte 5y ago
  Being sarcastic does not make it satire by it self though. It might just as well be arrogance.
- jshen 5y ago
  It’s not satire at all when you’re scamming people out of their money.
  - ALittleLight 5y ago
    It seems to me like we are somehow blurring the lines of what is and isn't a scam because things like this are so obviously a scam. Suppose I see a guy on the street selling 1 dollar raffle tickets for a nearby sports car. If I buy the ticket knowing that I'm probably not going to win and there's a decent chance the guy on the street doesn't even own the car and is just going to run off - am I really getting scammed, or am I knowingly participating in a high risk and high reward bet? With the Million Token thing, he's not even pretending that the token does anything. I had honestly understood it as a comedic illustration of the uselessness of cryptocurrency. You can buy into it and if you sell at the right time you might make money, but it is definitely a zero sum game. Is this a scam? Obviously it's a scam if he promised he would buy the token at a minimum of 1 dollar and he isn't doing that. He should face whatever criminal or civil penalties are applicable if he's committing fraud. But, if he does what he said he would do, then it seems like a transparent bad odds gambling game where he gets a significant cut/advantage.
    - jshen 5y ago
      It’s a scam, targeting unsavvy people who think there is a good chance they will make money or get rich. He grossly misrepresents the truth to trick them.
    - jshen 5y ago
      https://mashable.com/article/influencers-altcoin-scams https://mashable.com/article/influencers-altcoin-scams

dijit 5y ago

I genuinely struggled to understand if it was satire before. But given how often the words he’s chosen are deliberately sarcastic - or other situations where he would have the opportunity to save fact to make himself look better, but leans in to the character (for comedic effect I don’t doubt) makes me believe it must be satire. Like the numerous “this one tip” videos where he goes on and on about the tip and then it turns out to be “be predestined for this job” or “get referred” or something. Of course I could be misreading it.

rightbyte 5y ago
Being sarcastic does not make it satire by it self though. It might just as well be arrogance.
jshen 5y ago
It’s not satire at all when you’re scamming people out of their money.
- ALittleLight 5y ago
  It seems to me like we are somehow blurring the lines of what is and isn't a scam because things like this are so obviously a scam. Suppose I see a guy on the street selling 1 dollar raffle tickets for a nearby sports car. If I buy the ticket knowing that I'm probably not going to win and there's a decent chance the guy on the street doesn't even own the car and is just going to run off - am I really getting scammed, or am I knowingly participating in a high risk and high reward bet? With the Million Token thing, he's not even pretending that the token does anything. I had honestly understood it as a comedic illustration of the uselessness of cryptocurrency. You can buy into it and if you sell at the right time you might make money, but it is definitely a zero sum game. Is this a scam? Obviously it's a scam if he promised he would buy the token at a minimum of 1 dollar and he isn't doing that. He should face whatever criminal or civil penalties are applicable if he's committing fraud. But, if he does what he said he would do, then it seems like a transparent bad odds gambling game where he gets a significant cut/advantage.
  - jshen 5y ago
    It’s a scam, targeting unsavvy people who think there is a good chance they will make money or get rich. He grossly misrepresents the truth to trick them.
  - jshen 5y ago
    https://mashable.com/article/influencers-altcoin-scams https://mashable.com/article/influencers-altcoin-scams