13 ms·

10 years later, ‘Star Wars Kid’ speaks out

275 points by sharkweek 14y ago

sukuriant 14y ago
I still don't understand what kind of mentality it takes for a person to say, in sincerity, "Kill yourself." That's just ... wow. Do they understand what they're saying?
- dasil003 14y ago
  They're expressing the average 15yo worldview which is that social acceptance is everything and embarassment by your peers is literally a fate worse than death. It's pretty fucked up, but also I think an inevitable part of growing up for most except for maybe a few hard-core geeks whose passions supercede whatever social narcotics their peers subject them to.
  - fudged71 14y ago
    >embarassment by your peers is literally a fate worse than death I hadn't considered that specific viewpoint, yet it makes so much sense.
    - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
      Adolescent 17-year-old here, it is actually my greatest fear. But I do not have the healthiest mental state.
      - muraiki 14y ago
        The liberation from this fear comes in a somewhat disingenuous way: humility. I'm not saying that as a slight against you (as if you are proud) in any way whatsoever. Nor am I espousing humility as a sort of passive acceptance of "the way things are." But by recognizing, patiently overcoming, and forgiving yourself for your weaknesses and struggles -- and by offering others the same -- you will find that, over time, this fear will lose most of its strength. Furthermore, you won't be offended when others judge, reject, or humiliate you. Instead you will feel a sorrow for those who live in such a way, a sorrow that can hopefully be nurtured into compassion. If this sorrow turns into a holier-than-thou attitude, though, then we have a problem. :) The way to avoid this is through honest recognition of one's own weaknesses; once again, humility. Emotions and opinions are fickle; the way people treat others reflects as much about the struggles and burdens they bear as they do about how they might "really" feel about something. To make ourselves beholden to other people's opinions and judgments is to necessarily strap ourselves to a roller coaster. As someone who used to struggle with this a lot -- albeit unconsciously, because I was the one who was harsh towards others -- this is my experience.
        fudged71 14y ago
        College offers you a much larger group of people surrounding you, so it's harder to judge everyone. And in turn, you recognize that people are judging you less. This is part of the freedom that you feel when you exit high school, I think :)
  - comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
    Let's keep some things in mind. Adolescence is the onset of adulthood before the capacity to function as a real adult in the real world is reached. One of the things that adolescents search for is some form of personal validation besides their parents and immediate family. It is probably close enough to true that we are biologically driven to look for this outside acceptance. Unfortunately our society favors heavily segregating children based on age. That results in confused & clueless teens begging for acceptance from equally clueless people from the same wing of the same asylum. Once in the real world a functional adult who can hold down a job finds there are a million ways to find personal validation. Teens do not have that opportunity; they (often) imagine that the opinion of other teenagers is the only path to validation.
    - siavosh 14y ago
      I'd never heard of the age segregation explanation, it's very interesting since it implies this degree of behavior isn't inevitable. Are there any references for this claim?
      - scott_s 14y ago
        This very long NY Magazine piece meditates on that topic, "Why You Never Truly Leave High School": http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/ http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/ I can't remember if the author states any scholarly work to support the idea, but she talks about it at length. One thing that I think is well established is that kids mostly being around other kids all day is a relatively modern phenomenon. It's a long piece, but it resonated with me.
      - marquis 14y ago
        I went searching for a great article I read on this lately but couldn't find it: the gist is that until schools become de rigueur, adolescents never spent time together as a group as they would be at work/apprenticeships whathaveyou with adult 'supervision'. It's a new phenomenon that leaves delicate minds in a Lord of the Flies situation. The study I read showed that even the 'cool' kids thought they weren't cool and the various coping mechanisms have been fodder for hollywood movies and novels since the last decades.
  - srumple 14y ago
    The trouble is I don't believe that all, or even most of the people who told him to kill himself were teenagers. I have no problem believing that there are adults out there who also would have joined in.
    - bgilroy26 14y ago
      Many who enter adolescence do not ever leave.
      - fudged71 14y ago
        The internet creates big pockets of social groups that have no consideration of age, race, social status, etc. There's an interesting side-effect of looking for validation from your peers when you don't know what those people are actually like. We can act more mature by looking up to a mature audience, we can look down on a less mature audience, or we can resonate with the values of a less mature audience. I went from Digg to reddit to HN mainly due to interests/content, but also because I looked up to the more mature audiences. Some people will stick to platforms where they are entertained by immaturity and seek those people's validation by mimicking them.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Honestly I think it is more an expression of the average 15yo mindset that it is fun to be mean and kick people while they are down.
  - brc 14y ago
    Required reading : Paul Graham; why nerds are unpopular http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html This is an incredibly insightful piece, one of the best. It talks about how, as a society, we shunt kids into a lord of the flies situation, and we force them to build skills that have little use outside the schoolyard. The problem is a lack of mentoring and not treating adolescents as people entering adulthood, but rather as a problem to be managed. Lots of cultures have initiations and rites of passage, and into this modern void hazing, bullying and downright weird stuff has popped up amongst peers rather than elders. I don't have the answer but it does cause a lot of problems.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- carbocation 14y ago
  Probably some mixture of [1] and [2]. [1] = http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 [2] = They probably, at the end of the day, are not sincere. Instead, they are probably wordvomiting the pithiest, meanest thing they can think of in 3 seconds.
  - baddox 14y ago
    In fact, they are probably well aware that people tend to react like sukuriant, and their goal is probably to upset people rather than to cause them to commit suicide.
    - coldtea 14y ago
      Nobody implied they want (or hope) to cause them to commit suicide. It's the "upset people" that's disgusting in itself.
      - lwat 14y ago
        People like you are the reason they do it. If you stopped being such a pussy maybe they'd stop trying to get a rise out of you.
      - coldtea 14y ago
        For one, you are HN "dead". And rightly so from what it seems. Second, you are rude. Third, what you propose is called "blame the victim". It's immature, rude and equally bad as the bullying itself.
        Samuel_Michon 14y ago
        “you are HN "dead". And rightly so from what it seems.” Then perhaps we shouldn’t tip him off? Isn’t that the whole point of hellbans: they get to spill their venom and we can just ignore them.
        Dylan16807 14y ago
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- adrusi 14y ago
  For almost everyone who says that on the internet, they are nat saying it with almost any sense of sincerity. They don't want the person to actually kill themselves, they just say it. They say it because in their circles, that's a perfectly acceptable thing to say, and no one would interpret it as anything more than an expression of disapproval. (think 4chan, many subreddits, etc.). They then forget that outside of their circles, people aren't necessarily privy to such culture, and say it anyway. It probably doesn't even cross their mind that they're saying something hurtful.
  - Zircom 14y ago
    >They say it because in their circles, that's a perfectly acceptable thing to say, and no one would interpret it as anything more than an expression of disapproval. (think 4chan, many subreddits, etc.). I like how you qualify your statement in regards to reddit by saying "subreddits", which implies that it's only a portion of reddit that demonstrates such behavior, but make no such distinction about 4chan, which, contrary to popular belief, does not solely consist of /b/, and in fact has a number of boards that are actually quite civil. That said, your point is valid, and, as a regular of one of the more vitriolic boards, I sometimes forget to "switch modes" so to speak, and find myself acting in the manner you describe. My anecdote, for what it's worth.
- srumple 14y ago
  Unfortunately, people tend to be less then kind when divorced from the consequences of their actions. It's easy to hate, bully, and demean someone you've never personally met. The earlier days of the internet were much worse in that regard, because people generally had more anonymity then they do now, what with the rise of social networks. I'm just glad the guy seems to have taken the right lessons from his experience. Makes me hopeful that other kids will be able to do just fine too.
  - sukuriant 14y ago
    > It's easy to hate, bully, and demean someone you've never personally met. Sure; but... this wasn't online. This was in the real, physical world, right in front of him. They stood on tables and declared it to him, even, so says the article.
    - srumple 14y ago
      You have a point there, I forgot about that part. That being said, those were other kids, and it's rare that teenagers impress me with their social behavior. I'm not entirely sure I believe what pg says in http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html, but it does offer as good an explanation as any I've heard. I'm actually more concerned that his friends abandoned him afterwards. Kids are fairly resilient, as long as they have someone in their corner. I would imagine losing his friends over it hurt more then some random classmate telling him to kill himself.
- jack-r-abbit 14y ago
  I don't believe many people mean that literally any more than people mean for you to literally "go have intercourse with yourself" or literally "consume feces and die"
  - sukuriant 14y ago
    A big difference here is that those phrases are long established phrases that people have been using for a while; and even with most people I know, it's "eat feces", not "eat feces and die". This one is much shorter an, from an outside perspective, much more pointed. I don't really see how anyone could see that demand as anything other than "go end your life [because of these reasons]"
- fixxer 14y ago
  Kids are horrible. Trust me, I used to be a kid.
pkulak 14y ago
> Raza, now a law-school graduate from McGill I wonder if the person who posted the video is doing as well?
- themstheones 14y ago
  No need to be sarcastic. McGill is widely considered to be one of Canada's best universities. William Shatner and most of our prime ministers studied there.
  - carbocation 14y ago
    I didn't see any sarcasm in pkulak's comment. I read it as saying, "The Star Wars kid is doing great; I wonder if the person who meanly posted the video is achieving anywhere near his level of success?" Edit: Your comment should not be so heavily downvoted for the misunderstanding.
    - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
      It is unfortunate that you can't reverse/undo a vote. I've had several time where I clicked too soon and regretted my choice after rereading and fulling understanding the comment (or when a follow up comment clarifies the first).
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
      - derleth 14y ago
        Heck, I've had times when I simply clicked the wrong arrow because my mouse or finger (on my phone) slipped.
      - yareally 14y ago
        It would be nice if we could at least undo downvotes if an undo for both is out of the question. I think everyone has accidentally clicked the wrong one at least once and downvote is the one that does the most damage.
HunterV 14y ago
Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?
- chjj 14y ago
  Actually, no. I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.
  - stusmall 14y ago
    I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.
    - chjj 14y ago
      That's exactly the kind of analogy I was looking for. Thanks.
    - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
      Ya. A friend of mine was driving one time and some asshat got all bent out of shape over something he did and started doing all sorts of douchbaggy things while driving. So my friend decided to discreetly follow this guy. When the guy had stopped and parked and was getting out of his car, my friend confronted him and inquired about his problem. The guy nearly crapped himself as he never expected to actually have to deal with someone he had just been a dick to on the road. Classic. Edit: I guess I need to clarify that my friend was a perfect gentleman to the guy. Very non threatening. Not in the same road-rage way the other guy had been on the road. The situation ended very peacefully and the other guy apologized. This was not one of those "I'll throw your dog into traffic" situations. I can't imagine why confronting a bully like that would be looked down upon but I guess HN is fickle that way.
codezero 14y ago
This is weird, there was a huge outburst of people who were supportive of him and raised money for him, yet he doesn't speak at all about that. I remember sending money here: http://waxy.org/2003/05/finding_the_sta/ http://waxy.org/2003/05/finding_the_sta/
- maaku 14y ago
  Good intentions, but getting a free iPod in the mail doesn't compensate for complete social isolation.
  - codezero 14y ago
    That's the point, there wasn't complete social isolation, this wasn't 1982, it was 2003, the Internet was in full swing, and it was very supportive of him, I'm not sure he was aware of that.
- mseebach 14y ago
  It's just a teaser for the actual article, or have you read the full one? Also: "It was “a very dark period,” he said. “No matter how hard I tried to ignore people telling me to commit suicide, I couldn’t help but feel worthless, like my life wasn’t worth living.”" >> $4k and an iPod.
  - codezero 14y ago
    It wasn't just the money and the iPod, at the time, there was a huge outburst of support for him and of other people (nerds like myself) sharing their stories, it wasn't "It Gets Better" but it was pretty big at the time. I can't help but to think that his parents shielded him from all feedback (good and bad) and gave him a skewed perception of the event. Don't get me wrong, it was completely fucked up how local folks who he had to interact with on a regular basis invaded his privacy and taunted and teased him, but it's not as if his roommate recorded him having gay sex or as if he was raped and had the video shared while being called a slut.
maaku 14y ago
How can we prevent this from ever happening again?
- Fuzzwah 14y ago
  Humans are social animals. Trying to remove pecking orders in groups of humans seems impossible to me.
  - maaku 14y ago
    Not knowing a solution doesn't mean there isn't one. Rather, it means have failed at being creative enough.
    - Fuzzwah 14y ago
      Valid point. My phrasing was very short and easily misinterpreted . I'd love to be able to express it in some more positive way; this topic is something I've put a lot of thought into. My central concern is that as technology has advanced it has been easier and easier for humans to live in larger and larger groups. As the potential for our embarrassing moments to become viral memes which spread around the world has grown so has the potential for these kind of moments to utterly destroy someone's confidence, if not life. I do hope some kind of solution is found. I just can't see how. We're fighting against progress. Some kid making a fool of themselves in a small tribe of ~100 people is manageable. When the fool's audience suddenly becomes every internet connected person on the planet it is hard to sit everyone down and quietly explain "hey, maybe you should lay off starwars kid".
  - wikwocket 14y ago
    On top of that, many online systems are set up in such a way that king-maker behavior emerges. When there's billions of {videos, tweets, pics, statuses, etc} online, and both the media and these networks themselves feature 'viral' content, random uploaded bits can achieve fame (or infamy) out of nowhere. YouTube has a lot of Internet-celebrities that started out with one random video that went viral, and now they have thousands or millions of followers. And look at photo memes - those were just random Flickr/Facebook posts that are now everywhere. To change this effect would perhaps require changing the fundamental way people network online nowadays.
anateus 14y ago
A lot of the conversation around this talks about the Internet. Note this from the article: Raza said he lost what few friends he had in the fallout, and had to change schools. “In the common room, students climbed onto tabletops to insult me,” he told L’actualité. All "cyberbullying" does is prevent the bullying from stopping when the kids go home. Potential anonymity is a negligible factor as far as I can tell. Yes, being world famous probably escalated the reach of his ridicule, but even if it never left his school, what was essentially his whole world turned against him. As someone else mentions in a comment there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to prevent this sort of pack behavior. But I hope someone does figure out a way.
- daxelrod 14y ago
  > All "cyberbullying" does is prevent the bullying > from stopping when the kids go home. It also changes the jurisdiction for the bullying. School policies and enforcement cover bullying that happens in school. Off campus, however, it's less clear. It might still be covered by the school's rules. It might be a private matter between families. It might be a legal matter.
  - derleth 14y ago
    > Off campus, however, it's less clear. Off campus, 'bullying' is harassment and possibly assault. Or are those not actually crimes when the victim is a child?
    - Ntrails 14y ago
      It's the same on campus FYI, there is no magic law-immunity field around schools. The police tend not to get involved because they believe parents and teachers are better placed to fix this behaviour than the law. And in general bullying in children is something that needs other than criminal punishment imo. Obviously children need protection in all of their spheres of existence. At school its supposed to be teachers. At home (and on the internet) it's supposed to be their parents. And the layer above that is always the police and the state. That never changes. As an aside, cyber bullying is super interesting to me, because when I was at school, home was the safety net. But so was the wotmania forum/chat room (when i was allowed to use the phone line...). So much of the internet is annonymous, and that is part of what I enjoyed. There was no "social" then, or not really. Just a completely different way of being online I suppose?
jokoon 14y ago
I'm sure people were telling him to kill himself only because they were jealous of him. People are dying for attention, and the fact this kid got it for being a nerd, hit them hard. Honestly, I'm sure everybody would have wanted to do the same, imitate darth maul or others. He was just the first to do it. BTW I wonder how the 2 nicely done lightsaber videos were inspired by this or not.
hansy 14y ago
One of the most interesting points made around this article was written in the comments: > So many people watch and laugh at this vids, and they are the same people who hear Retah's story and think bullying is terrible. We don't realize how hypocrtical we can all be sometimes.
- gradstudent 14y ago
  Strawman. The video is comical because it shows kids being kids. Not everyone who watches the video is mocking the subject.
- nixy 14y ago
  I watched the video, I laughed at the video, and I think the bullying is awful. Just watching the video and finding it amusing does not turn you into a bully. Posting mean comments about the guy does. How many of us did that?
  - hansy 14y ago
    I completely agree. But how many of us vocalized support? I think the lack of support is just as bad as posting mean comments.
  - Zoepfli 14y ago
    I don't agree. He did not want anybody to see him embarrassing himself. If you know he does not want you to see his video, but you disregard his wish and do it anyway, how can you not call yourself a bully? You disregard his wish and add yourself to the collective mass of people that caused him so much pain, and you still claim the moral high-ground?
    - Alterlife 14y ago
      I hope you're kidding. I found star wars kid entertaining. I found this quite entertaining as well: http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jeong-photobomb/ken-jeong-photobomb-01.jpg http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/je... I found this narration of an embarassing incident entertaining as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nliuibEp-xo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nliuibEp-xo ... and that's off the top of my head. In your world, does that make me a bad person?
rplnt 14y ago
> Almost a billion viewers across the planet know him as the Star Wars Kid Yeah.. I don't think so.
smaili 14y ago
It's amazing how much of an impact the internet can have on people's lives, even in the days before YouTube or Facebook.
thoughtcriminal 14y ago
I so totally admire Raza. He is a survivor and a hero. But somehow it doesn't feel like justice has been served yet. And telling anyone to "kill themselves" should be considered assault and a criminal offence. Can't wait to read the article.
- dclowd9901 14y ago
  Really surprised to hear such a scary thought as being arrested for something you say from someone who monikers themselves "thoughtcriminal".
  - thoughtcriminal 14y ago
    Actually, the moniker fits perfectly thanks.
  - DasIch 14y ago
    Is it really that scary? There are quite a few countries in which insults, hate speech etc. are crimes that can even get you into prison.
- specialist 14y ago
  Yup. Straight up hate speech. Which is a form of assault. Hate speech is more than insulting someone. It's advocating physical harm.
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    Sweet god I hope you're trolling. These people don't mean it, they don't hate him, hate speech is based on discrimination and completely unrelated to this issue, hate speech is not assault, nobody wanted him physically harmed... excuse me I need a minute.
    - specialist 13y ago
      My bad. They were just joking with Raza. Now I get it. Ha ha, very funny. LOL
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
- graeme 14y ago
  Maclean's has become a rag.
- shakesbeard 14y ago
  Which is clearly a parody?
orokusaki 14y ago
Time to ban the Internet?
colemorrison 14y ago
Damn. What the hell is wrong with people? "Go kill yourself." Are you kidding me??? I thought he had to be one of the funnest/funniest people in the world after the video. I'd honestly thought he'd take advantage of the celebrity status and use it to his advantage. . . . . but idiotic bullies/kids/highschoolers will be idiotic bullies/kids/highschoolers.
- brc 14y ago
  This is what I thought as well. I would have thought he could have leveraged it and brought some good out of it, but that sort of thing probably didn't occur to him or his parents at the time. It would have been very difficult to look for the roses amongst the thorns back then. EDIT: reading the article intro, and the fact that he is now a law school graduate, I can't help thinking if perhaps this is step 1 in starting to leverage his worldwide fame. A law firm specialising in prosecuting bullying behavior in workplaces, or something similar? I hope it is the case and he manages to leverage the laughter into real success.
nekojima 14y ago
At least there are now (as this is posted) a lot of very positive and supportive comments on this upload of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU
ebbv 14y ago
The video is hilarious. That's a fact. He needed to have a sense of humor about himself, and it would take the sting of the attacks away. As long as you try to fight it and hold on to the belief that people are wrong to laugh at your hilarious video, then you're going to lose. Because you're wrong. He chose to record himself acting like a jackass and then left the video laying around. Yeah, a lot of dickheads acted like dickheads in response. But that's going to happen in life. Rather than getting bent out of shape because some random stranger told you to kill yourself, take it for what it is; someone displacing their own self hatred on an easy target. I was hoping this article would have him saying something like: "On reflection, honestly, the video is hilarious. I can laugh at it now. It was embarrassing at the time, but I am glad people got joy out of it." Oh well. Hopefully one day he'll grow as a person and find some self respect within himself rather than blaming others for his own lack of self esteem.
- richforrester 14y ago
  Did you read the part where he lost whatever friends he had? Not exactly something that would help you in life. I feel bad for the fella. Yes the video is hilarious, but he didn't "have it coming". Public embarrassment is not exactly something you dismiss that casually.
- taybin 14y ago
  He was a teenager. Have a heart.
- swk99 14y ago
  lol wow what a stupid comment. Go kill yourself you worthless cunt.
  - jmcqk6 14y ago
    I accidentally upvoted this comment and cannot see a way to undo it.
    - swk99 14y ago
      c'mon brah his comment was hilariously stupid. lighten up
smallegan 14y ago
Most of the horrible individuals who bullied this kid in person or via the web will likely be serving his coffee and pumping his gas. I think we can all agree it was a funny video but laughing with someone vs at them and telling them to "kill themselves" are two entirely different things. I wish him all the best in his future and hopefully as a lawyer he can undertake some bullying cases.
- MartinCron 14y ago
  Serving coffee is an honorable vocation, and should not be used as a punishment metaphor.
  - hnal943 14y ago
    Odd that you would leave pumping gas out of your comment.
    - MartinCron 14y ago
      Pumping gas as a job is such an anachronistic concept to me that it didn't really register.
  - smallegan 14y ago
    It isn't a punishment, it is a lower paying job. No opinion here just raw data.
- josephagoss 14y ago
  Likely? How does posting a video of a college or friend being silly make it more likely you will have a low paying job?
  - smallegan 13y ago
    I wasn't referring to the people posting, rather the people that bullied after it was posted.
polynomial 14y ago
It's been 10 years?!
sramsay 14y ago
I can't blame anyone for laughing at Star Wars Kid when the video first appeared, but I have to admit that my immediate reaction when I first saw it years ago was nothing but profound sadness. All teenagers have insecurities, but nothing like the true outcasts (of which I was certainly one). We spent all our time wondering not only why we couldn't fit in, but what was wrong with us. Because there surely had to be something deeply wrong with us. Most of us assumed, deep down, that it was somehow our fault. That video might as well have been produced by that kid's superego -- as if every self-inflicted wound of self-hatred was now confirmed. People were advising him to commit suicide, and only strength of character could have prevented him from doing it. People have killed themselves over far lesser shames, and I'm honestly not sure I would have survived it. I'm glad he's creating a successful life for himself. And I'll admit it, though I'm not proud it: I hope the fucker who posted that video ends up pumping his gas.
dimitar 14y ago
I may be ignorant here - but how does exactly bullying on the Internet work? I can understand the harm of being recognized from the Internet video, but you don't have to reveal your identity on chat-rooms, forums, etc. I imagine on a Facebook and the like, people might request a friendship and then quickly use the platform for abuse and this can render it un-usable. But outside of that - a person is under no pressure of revealing his identity in most situations; in fact most of the internet experience is read-only and a person can choose what to view. Is there something I'm missing? Is it ignorant to imagine that the internet would be a place for refuge for any social outcast, even internet celebrities?
- Jackim 14y ago
  I think if I were in a similar situation, it would be hard not to look at comments. Even though nothing is forcing you to read them, it's pretty difficult to fight the temptation of seeing what other people think about you.
thret 14y ago
I'm a little surprised he didn't embrace his celebrity, seems to me like he's missed an opportunity that few get given. The video was funny but not something to be ashamed of IMO.
- micah63 14y ago
  While I do not downplay how vicious school can be and I don't envy his situation back then, I think it definitely is an amazing opportunity to launch out into a celebrity career. He couldn't have known that in the pre-rebeccablack / pre-meme era, but it's a life lesson, don't get down on yourself, rock it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Overly Attached Girlfriend has used her celebrity status for good causes! http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/overly-attached-girlfriend http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/overly-attached-girlfriend
Macsenour 14y ago
Maybe I'm in the minority, but the first time I saw it I thought it was funny but something that I wish I had done. It never really occurred to me that people would ridicule him for what he did. I learned the easy way I guess, by watching what happened to him.

275 points by sharkweek 14y ago

I still don't understand what kind of mentality it takes for a person to say, in sincerity, "Kill yourself." That's just ... wow. Do they understand what they're saying?

dasil003 14y ago
They're expressing the average 15yo worldview which is that social acceptance is everything and embarassment by your peers is literally a fate worse than death. It's pretty fucked up, but also I think an inevitable part of growing up for most except for maybe a few hard-core geeks whose passions supercede whatever social narcotics their peers subject them to.
- fudged71 14y ago
  >embarassment by your peers is literally a fate worse than death I hadn't considered that specific viewpoint, yet it makes so much sense.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
    Adolescent 17-year-old here, it is actually my greatest fear. But I do not have the healthiest mental state.
    - muraiki 14y ago
      The liberation from this fear comes in a somewhat disingenuous way: humility. I'm not saying that as a slight against you (as if you are proud) in any way whatsoever. Nor am I espousing humility as a sort of passive acceptance of "the way things are." But by recognizing, patiently overcoming, and forgiving yourself for your weaknesses and struggles -- and by offering others the same -- you will find that, over time, this fear will lose most of its strength. Furthermore, you won't be offended when others judge, reject, or humiliate you. Instead you will feel a sorrow for those who live in such a way, a sorrow that can hopefully be nurtured into compassion. If this sorrow turns into a holier-than-thou attitude, though, then we have a problem. :) The way to avoid this is through honest recognition of one's own weaknesses; once again, humility. Emotions and opinions are fickle; the way people treat others reflects as much about the struggles and burdens they bear as they do about how they might "really" feel about something. To make ourselves beholden to other people's opinions and judgments is to necessarily strap ourselves to a roller coaster. As someone who used to struggle with this a lot -- albeit unconsciously, because I was the one who was harsh towards others -- this is my experience.
      - fudged71 14y ago
        College offers you a much larger group of people surrounding you, so it's harder to judge everyone. And in turn, you recognize that people are judging you less. This is part of the freedom that you feel when you exit high school, I think :)
- comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
  Let's keep some things in mind. Adolescence is the onset of adulthood before the capacity to function as a real adult in the real world is reached. One of the things that adolescents search for is some form of personal validation besides their parents and immediate family. It is probably close enough to true that we are biologically driven to look for this outside acceptance. Unfortunately our society favors heavily segregating children based on age. That results in confused & clueless teens begging for acceptance from equally clueless people from the same wing of the same asylum. Once in the real world a functional adult who can hold down a job finds there are a million ways to find personal validation. Teens do not have that opportunity; they (often) imagine that the opinion of other teenagers is the only path to validation.
  - siavosh 14y ago
    I'd never heard of the age segregation explanation, it's very interesting since it implies this degree of behavior isn't inevitable. Are there any references for this claim?
    - scott_s 14y ago
      This very long NY Magazine piece meditates on that topic, "Why You Never Truly Leave High School": http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/ http://nymag.com/news/features/high-school-2013-1/ I can't remember if the author states any scholarly work to support the idea, but she talks about it at length. One thing that I think is well established is that kids mostly being around other kids all day is a relatively modern phenomenon. It's a long piece, but it resonated with me.
    - marquis 14y ago
      I went searching for a great article I read on this lately but couldn't find it: the gist is that until schools become de rigueur, adolescents never spent time together as a group as they would be at work/apprenticeships whathaveyou with adult 'supervision'. It's a new phenomenon that leaves delicate minds in a Lord of the Flies situation. The study I read showed that even the 'cool' kids thought they weren't cool and the various coping mechanisms have been fodder for hollywood movies and novels since the last decades.
- srumple 14y ago
  The trouble is I don't believe that all, or even most of the people who told him to kill himself were teenagers. I have no problem believing that there are adults out there who also would have joined in.
  - bgilroy26 14y ago
    Many who enter adolescence do not ever leave.
    - fudged71 14y ago
      The internet creates big pockets of social groups that have no consideration of age, race, social status, etc. There's an interesting side-effect of looking for validation from your peers when you don't know what those people are actually like. We can act more mature by looking up to a mature audience, we can look down on a less mature audience, or we can resonate with the values of a less mature audience. I went from Digg to reddit to HN mainly due to interests/content, but also because I looked up to the more mature audiences. Some people will stick to platforms where they are entertained by immaturity and seek those people's validation by mimicking them.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Honestly I think it is more an expression of the average 15yo mindset that it is fun to be mean and kick people while they are down.
- brc 14y ago
  Required reading : Paul Graham; why nerds are unpopular http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html This is an incredibly insightful piece, one of the best. It talks about how, as a society, we shunt kids into a lord of the flies situation, and we force them to build skills that have little use outside the schoolyard. The problem is a lack of mentoring and not treating adolescents as people entering adulthood, but rather as a problem to be managed. Lots of cultures have initiations and rites of passage, and into this modern void hazing, bullying and downright weird stuff has popped up amongst peers rather than elders. I don't have the answer but it does cause a lot of problems.
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carbocation 14y ago
Probably some mixture of [1] and [2]. [1] = http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19 [2] = They probably, at the end of the day, are not sincere. Instead, they are probably wordvomiting the pithiest, meanest thing they can think of in 3 seconds.
- baddox 14y ago
  In fact, they are probably well aware that people tend to react like sukuriant, and their goal is probably to upset people rather than to cause them to commit suicide.
  - coldtea 14y ago
    Nobody implied they want (or hope) to cause them to commit suicide. It's the "upset people" that's disgusting in itself.
    - lwat 14y ago
      People like you are the reason they do it. If you stopped being such a pussy maybe they'd stop trying to get a rise out of you.
    - coldtea 14y ago
      For one, you are HN "dead". And rightly so from what it seems. Second, you are rude. Third, what you propose is called "blame the victim". It's immature, rude and equally bad as the bullying itself.
      - Samuel_Michon 14y ago
        “you are HN "dead". And rightly so from what it seems.” Then perhaps we shouldn’t tip him off? Isn’t that the whole point of hellbans: they get to spill their venom and we can just ignore them.
        Dylan16807 14y ago
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adrusi 14y ago
For almost everyone who says that on the internet, they are nat saying it with almost any sense of sincerity. They don't want the person to actually kill themselves, they just say it. They say it because in their circles, that's a perfectly acceptable thing to say, and no one would interpret it as anything more than an expression of disapproval. (think 4chan, many subreddits, etc.). They then forget that outside of their circles, people aren't necessarily privy to such culture, and say it anyway. It probably doesn't even cross their mind that they're saying something hurtful.
- Zircom 14y ago
  >They say it because in their circles, that's a perfectly acceptable thing to say, and no one would interpret it as anything more than an expression of disapproval. (think 4chan, many subreddits, etc.). I like how you qualify your statement in regards to reddit by saying "subreddits", which implies that it's only a portion of reddit that demonstrates such behavior, but make no such distinction about 4chan, which, contrary to popular belief, does not solely consist of /b/, and in fact has a number of boards that are actually quite civil. That said, your point is valid, and, as a regular of one of the more vitriolic boards, I sometimes forget to "switch modes" so to speak, and find myself acting in the manner you describe. My anecdote, for what it's worth.
srumple 14y ago
Unfortunately, people tend to be less then kind when divorced from the consequences of their actions. It's easy to hate, bully, and demean someone you've never personally met. The earlier days of the internet were much worse in that regard, because people generally had more anonymity then they do now, what with the rise of social networks. I'm just glad the guy seems to have taken the right lessons from his experience. Makes me hopeful that other kids will be able to do just fine too.
- sukuriant 14y ago
  > It's easy to hate, bully, and demean someone you've never personally met. Sure; but... this wasn't online. This was in the real, physical world, right in front of him. They stood on tables and declared it to him, even, so says the article.
  - srumple 14y ago
    You have a point there, I forgot about that part. That being said, those were other kids, and it's rare that teenagers impress me with their social behavior. I'm not entirely sure I believe what pg says in http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html, but it does offer as good an explanation as any I've heard. I'm actually more concerned that his friends abandoned him afterwards. Kids are fairly resilient, as long as they have someone in their corner. I would imagine losing his friends over it hurt more then some random classmate telling him to kill himself.
jack-r-abbit 14y ago
I don't believe many people mean that literally any more than people mean for you to literally "go have intercourse with yourself" or literally "consume feces and die"
- sukuriant 14y ago
  A big difference here is that those phrases are long established phrases that people have been using for a while; and even with most people I know, it's "eat feces", not "eat feces and die". This one is much shorter an, from an outside perspective, much more pointed. I don't really see how anyone could see that demand as anything other than "go end your life [because of these reasons]"
fixxer 14y ago
Kids are horrible. Trust me, I used to be a kid.

pkulak 14y ago

> Raza, now a law-school graduate from McGill I wonder if the person who posted the video is doing as well?

themstheones 14y ago
No need to be sarcastic. McGill is widely considered to be one of Canada's best universities. William Shatner and most of our prime ministers studied there.
- carbocation 14y ago
  I didn't see any sarcasm in pkulak's comment. I read it as saying, "The Star Wars kid is doing great; I wonder if the person who meanly posted the video is achieving anywhere near his level of success?" Edit: Your comment should not be so heavily downvoted for the misunderstanding.
  - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
    It is unfortunate that you can't reverse/undo a vote. I've had several time where I clicked too soon and regretted my choice after rereading and fulling understanding the comment (or when a follow up comment clarifies the first).
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
    - derleth 14y ago
      Heck, I've had times when I simply clicked the wrong arrow because my mouse or finger (on my phone) slipped.
    - yareally 14y ago
      It would be nice if we could at least undo downvotes if an undo for both is out of the question. I think everyone has accidentally clicked the wrong one at least once and downvote is the one that does the most damage.

HunterV 14y ago

Has anyone else noticed a recent decline in inappropriate Youtube comments now that they pushed for real name accounts?

chjj 14y ago
Actually, no. I see people posting horrendous stuff with their real names all the time on youtube. I don't think anonymity is what causes these horrible comments: it's more the fact that the internet creates a "barrier" between two people. It's easier to say something with conviction in text than it is in person, even if you're typing it under your real name.
- stusmall 14y ago
  I heard road rage explained in the same way. We would never act to each other face to face as we would in a car. The car feels like an extension of your own home and you feel more violated when someone invades what you perceive to be your space and we view what we are lashing out at as an object and not as person with feelings. I can see it being the same mentality when you are sitting at home nerdraging at your computer.
  - chjj 14y ago
    That's exactly the kind of analogy I was looking for. Thanks.
  - jack-r-abbit 14y ago
    Ya. A friend of mine was driving one time and some asshat got all bent out of shape over something he did and started doing all sorts of douchbaggy things while driving. So my friend decided to discreetly follow this guy. When the guy had stopped and parked and was getting out of his car, my friend confronted him and inquired about his problem. The guy nearly crapped himself as he never expected to actually have to deal with someone he had just been a dick to on the road. Classic. Edit: I guess I need to clarify that my friend was a perfect gentleman to the guy. Very non threatening. Not in the same road-rage way the other guy had been on the road. The situation ended very peacefully and the other guy apologized. This was not one of those "I'll throw your dog into traffic" situations. I can't imagine why confronting a bully like that would be looked down upon but I guess HN is fickle that way.

codezero 14y ago

This is weird, there was a huge outburst of people who were supportive of him and raised money for him, yet he doesn't speak at all about that. I remember sending money here: http://waxy.org/2003/05/finding_the_sta/ http://waxy.org/2003/05/finding_the_sta/

maaku 14y ago
Good intentions, but getting a free iPod in the mail doesn't compensate for complete social isolation.
- codezero 14y ago
  That's the point, there wasn't complete social isolation, this wasn't 1982, it was 2003, the Internet was in full swing, and it was very supportive of him, I'm not sure he was aware of that.
mseebach 14y ago
It's just a teaser for the actual article, or have you read the full one? Also: "It was “a very dark period,” he said. “No matter how hard I tried to ignore people telling me to commit suicide, I couldn’t help but feel worthless, like my life wasn’t worth living.”" >> $4k and an iPod.
- codezero 14y ago
  It wasn't just the money and the iPod, at the time, there was a huge outburst of support for him and of other people (nerds like myself) sharing their stories, it wasn't "It Gets Better" but it was pretty big at the time. I can't help but to think that his parents shielded him from all feedback (good and bad) and gave him a skewed perception of the event. Don't get me wrong, it was completely fucked up how local folks who he had to interact with on a regular basis invaded his privacy and taunted and teased him, but it's not as if his roommate recorded him having gay sex or as if he was raped and had the video shared while being called a slut.

maaku 14y ago

How can we prevent this from ever happening again?

Fuzzwah 14y ago
Humans are social animals. Trying to remove pecking orders in groups of humans seems impossible to me.
- maaku 14y ago
  Not knowing a solution doesn't mean there isn't one. Rather, it means have failed at being creative enough.
  - Fuzzwah 14y ago
    Valid point. My phrasing was very short and easily misinterpreted . I'd love to be able to express it in some more positive way; this topic is something I've put a lot of thought into. My central concern is that as technology has advanced it has been easier and easier for humans to live in larger and larger groups. As the potential for our embarrassing moments to become viral memes which spread around the world has grown so has the potential for these kind of moments to utterly destroy someone's confidence, if not life. I do hope some kind of solution is found. I just can't see how. We're fighting against progress. Some kid making a fool of themselves in a small tribe of ~100 people is manageable. When the fool's audience suddenly becomes every internet connected person on the planet it is hard to sit everyone down and quietly explain "hey, maybe you should lay off starwars kid".
- wikwocket 14y ago
  On top of that, many online systems are set up in such a way that king-maker behavior emerges. When there's billions of {videos, tweets, pics, statuses, etc} online, and both the media and these networks themselves feature 'viral' content, random uploaded bits can achieve fame (or infamy) out of nowhere. YouTube has a lot of Internet-celebrities that started out with one random video that went viral, and now they have thousands or millions of followers. And look at photo memes - those were just random Flickr/Facebook posts that are now everywhere. To change this effect would perhaps require changing the fundamental way people network online nowadays.

anateus 14y ago

A lot of the conversation around this talks about the Internet. Note this from the article: Raza said he lost what few friends he had in the fallout, and had to change schools. “In the common room, students climbed onto tabletops to insult me,” he told L’actualité. All "cyberbullying" does is prevent the bullying from stopping when the kids go home. Potential anonymity is a negligible factor as far as I can tell. Yes, being world famous probably escalated the reach of his ridicule, but even if it never left his school, what was essentially his whole world turned against him. As someone else mentions in a comment there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to prevent this sort of pack behavior. But I hope someone does figure out a way.

daxelrod 14y ago
> All "cyberbullying" does is prevent the bullying > from stopping when the kids go home. It also changes the jurisdiction for the bullying. School policies and enforcement cover bullying that happens in school. Off campus, however, it's less clear. It might still be covered by the school's rules. It might be a private matter between families. It might be a legal matter.
- derleth 14y ago
  > Off campus, however, it's less clear. Off campus, 'bullying' is harassment and possibly assault. Or are those not actually crimes when the victim is a child?
  - Ntrails 14y ago
    It's the same on campus FYI, there is no magic law-immunity field around schools. The police tend not to get involved because they believe parents and teachers are better placed to fix this behaviour than the law. And in general bullying in children is something that needs other than criminal punishment imo. Obviously children need protection in all of their spheres of existence. At school its supposed to be teachers. At home (and on the internet) it's supposed to be their parents. And the layer above that is always the police and the state. That never changes. As an aside, cyber bullying is super interesting to me, because when I was at school, home was the safety net. But so was the wotmania forum/chat room (when i was allowed to use the phone line...). So much of the internet is annonymous, and that is part of what I enjoyed. There was no "social" then, or not really. Just a completely different way of being online I suppose?

jokoon 14y ago

I'm sure people were telling him to kill himself only because they were jealous of him. People are dying for attention, and the fact this kid got it for being a nerd, hit them hard. Honestly, I'm sure everybody would have wanted to do the same, imitate darth maul or others. He was just the first to do it. BTW I wonder how the 2 nicely done lightsaber videos were inspired by this or not.

hansy 14y ago

One of the most interesting points made around this article was written in the comments: > So many people watch and laugh at this vids, and they are the same people who hear Retah's story and think bullying is terrible. We don't realize how hypocrtical we can all be sometimes.

gradstudent 14y ago
Strawman. The video is comical because it shows kids being kids. Not everyone who watches the video is mocking the subject.
nixy 14y ago
I watched the video, I laughed at the video, and I think the bullying is awful. Just watching the video and finding it amusing does not turn you into a bully. Posting mean comments about the guy does. How many of us did that?
- hansy 14y ago
  I completely agree. But how many of us vocalized support? I think the lack of support is just as bad as posting mean comments.
- Zoepfli 14y ago
  I don't agree. He did not want anybody to see him embarrassing himself. If you know he does not want you to see his video, but you disregard his wish and do it anyway, how can you not call yourself a bully? You disregard his wish and add yourself to the collective mass of people that caused him so much pain, and you still claim the moral high-ground?
  - Alterlife 14y ago
    I hope you're kidding. I found star wars kid entertaining. I found this quite entertaining as well: http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jeong-photobomb/ken-jeong-photobomb-01.jpg http://cdn02.cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/je... I found this narration of an embarassing incident entertaining as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nliuibEp-xo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nliuibEp-xo ... and that's off the top of my head. In your world, does that make me a bad person?

rplnt 14y ago

> Almost a billion viewers across the planet know him as the Star Wars Kid Yeah.. I don't think so.

smaili 14y ago

It's amazing how much of an impact the internet can have on people's lives, even in the days before YouTube or Facebook.

thoughtcriminal 14y ago

I so totally admire Raza. He is a survivor and a hero. But somehow it doesn't feel like justice has been served yet. And telling anyone to "kill themselves" should be considered assault and a criminal offence. Can't wait to read the article.

dclowd9901 14y ago
Really surprised to hear such a scary thought as being arrested for something you say from someone who monikers themselves "thoughtcriminal".
- thoughtcriminal 14y ago
  Actually, the moniker fits perfectly thanks.
- DasIch 14y ago
  Is it really that scary? There are quite a few countries in which insults, hate speech etc. are crimes that can even get you into prison.
specialist 14y ago
Yup. Straight up hate speech. Which is a form of assault. Hate speech is more than insulting someone. It's advocating physical harm.
- Dylan16807 14y ago
  Sweet god I hope you're trolling. These people don't mean it, they don't hate him, hate speech is based on discrimination and completely unrelated to this issue, hate speech is not assault, nobody wanted him physically harmed... excuse me I need a minute.
  - specialist 13y ago
    My bad. They were just joking with Raza. Now I get it. Ha ha, very funny. LOL

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

graeme 14y ago
Maclean's has become a rag.
shakesbeard 14y ago
Which is clearly a parody?

orokusaki 14y ago

Time to ban the Internet?

colemorrison 14y ago

Damn. What the hell is wrong with people? "Go kill yourself." Are you kidding me??? I thought he had to be one of the funnest/funniest people in the world after the video. I'd honestly thought he'd take advantage of the celebrity status and use it to his advantage. . . . . but idiotic bullies/kids/highschoolers will be idiotic bullies/kids/highschoolers.

brc 14y ago
This is what I thought as well. I would have thought he could have leveraged it and brought some good out of it, but that sort of thing probably didn't occur to him or his parents at the time. It would have been very difficult to look for the roses amongst the thorns back then. EDIT: reading the article intro, and the fact that he is now a law school graduate, I can't help thinking if perhaps this is step 1 in starting to leverage his worldwide fame. A law firm specialising in prosecuting bullying behavior in workplaces, or something similar? I hope it is the case and he manages to leverage the laughter into real success.

nekojima 14y ago

At least there are now (as this is posted) a lot of very positive and supportive comments on this upload of the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU

ebbv 14y ago

The video is hilarious. That's a fact. He needed to have a sense of humor about himself, and it would take the sting of the attacks away. As long as you try to fight it and hold on to the belief that people are wrong to laugh at your hilarious video, then you're going to lose. Because you're wrong. He chose to record himself acting like a jackass and then left the video laying around. Yeah, a lot of dickheads acted like dickheads in response. But that's going to happen in life. Rather than getting bent out of shape because some random stranger told you to kill yourself, take it for what it is; someone displacing their own self hatred on an easy target. I was hoping this article would have him saying something like: "On reflection, honestly, the video is hilarious. I can laugh at it now. It was embarrassing at the time, but I am glad people got joy out of it." Oh well. Hopefully one day he'll grow as a person and find some self respect within himself rather than blaming others for his own lack of self esteem.

richforrester 14y ago
Did you read the part where he lost whatever friends he had? Not exactly something that would help you in life. I feel bad for the fella. Yes the video is hilarious, but he didn't "have it coming". Public embarrassment is not exactly something you dismiss that casually.
taybin 14y ago
He was a teenager. Have a heart.
swk99 14y ago
lol wow what a stupid comment. Go kill yourself you worthless cunt.
- jmcqk6 14y ago
  I accidentally upvoted this comment and cannot see a way to undo it.
  - swk99 14y ago
    c'mon brah his comment was hilariously stupid. lighten up

smallegan 14y ago

Most of the horrible individuals who bullied this kid in person or via the web will likely be serving his coffee and pumping his gas. I think we can all agree it was a funny video but laughing with someone vs at them and telling them to "kill themselves" are two entirely different things. I wish him all the best in his future and hopefully as a lawyer he can undertake some bullying cases.

MartinCron 14y ago
Serving coffee is an honorable vocation, and should not be used as a punishment metaphor.
- hnal943 14y ago
  Odd that you would leave pumping gas out of your comment.
  - MartinCron 14y ago
    Pumping gas as a job is such an anachronistic concept to me that it didn't really register.
- smallegan 14y ago
  It isn't a punishment, it is a lower paying job. No opinion here just raw data.
josephagoss 14y ago
Likely? How does posting a video of a college or friend being silly make it more likely you will have a low paying job?
- smallegan 13y ago
  I wasn't referring to the people posting, rather the people that bullied after it was posted.

polynomial 14y ago

It's been 10 years?!

sramsay 14y ago

I can't blame anyone for laughing at Star Wars Kid when the video first appeared, but I have to admit that my immediate reaction when I first saw it years ago was nothing but profound sadness. All teenagers have insecurities, but nothing like the true outcasts (of which I was certainly one). We spent all our time wondering not only why we couldn't fit in, but what was wrong with us. Because there surely had to be something deeply wrong with us. Most of us assumed, deep down, that it was somehow our fault. That video might as well have been produced by that kid's superego -- as if every self-inflicted wound of self-hatred was now confirmed. People were advising him to commit suicide, and only strength of character could have prevented him from doing it. People have killed themselves over far lesser shames, and I'm honestly not sure I would have survived it. I'm glad he's creating a successful life for himself. And I'll admit it, though I'm not proud it: I hope the fucker who posted that video ends up pumping his gas.

dimitar 14y ago

I may be ignorant here - but how does exactly bullying on the Internet work? I can understand the harm of being recognized from the Internet video, but you don't have to reveal your identity on chat-rooms, forums, etc. I imagine on a Facebook and the like, people might request a friendship and then quickly use the platform for abuse and this can render it un-usable. But outside of that - a person is under no pressure of revealing his identity in most situations; in fact most of the internet experience is read-only and a person can choose what to view. Is there something I'm missing? Is it ignorant to imagine that the internet would be a place for refuge for any social outcast, even internet celebrities?

Jackim 14y ago
I think if I were in a similar situation, it would be hard not to look at comments. Even though nothing is forcing you to read them, it's pretty difficult to fight the temptation of seeing what other people think about you.

thret 14y ago

I'm a little surprised he didn't embrace his celebrity, seems to me like he's missed an opportunity that few get given. The video was funny but not something to be ashamed of IMO.

micah63 14y ago
While I do not downplay how vicious school can be and I don't envy his situation back then, I think it definitely is an amazing opportunity to launch out into a celebrity career. He couldn't have known that in the pre-rebeccablack / pre-meme era, but it's a life lesson, don't get down on yourself, rock it. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Overly Attached Girlfriend has used her celebrity status for good causes! http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/overly-attached-girlfriend http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/overly-attached-girlfriend

Macsenour 14y ago

Maybe I'm in the minority, but the first time I saw it I thought it was funny but something that I wish I had done. It never really occurred to me that people would ridicule him for what he did. I learned the easy way I guess, by watching what happened to him.