Dogpiling Vtubers and Other Creators Needs to Stop

So last week I talked about how vtubers shouldn’t make jokes about what’s been going on with ICE killing American citizens. And about how there’s a problem with Christian Vtubers. There’s another big issue though with this one it’s been a problem for many years, and I’m getting sick of seeing it. And that’s dogpiling on content creators to speak out about a single issue.

I know what many are probably going to say, “Ari, shut up about the politics. You hate talking about politics because of your health.” And you’re right. I do. I’m already feeling a migraine coming on. Well between that and dealing with other issues and not eating today. I’m a fucking mess. But besides that…

Look we are currently living in a time where shit has been bubbling up on the surface and something I’ve been noticing since I was a teenager during Bush Jr.’s presidency. It’s been happening since Obama was president. I’ve talked about it ad nauseum my whole adult life. I don’t talk about it much on social media because I’ve done that in mmos, in fotums. And again talking about politics affects my health. I don’t want to die in a library from an aneurysm. Do you?

However, during this time well within the last couple of presidencies, people had been dogpiling on celebrities to speak on other issues and if they didn’t then they got cancelled. The same logic has happened for content creators and vtubers through what’s called cancel culture. In all honestly I don’t think people in a public career should be commenting on anything. Their job is to entertain. Unless they have specifically been working as a humanitatian like Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Mark Ruffalo, etc then they have that right, that is their secondary role especially if they’re an UN Ambassador. That is what they are supposed to do, speak on behalf of the UN and the people that they serve to Congress and world delegates.

If they don’t have that secondary role or a secondary role in humanitarian work, I honestly do not care. I’d rather hear from our senators and congress people who were elected to pass laws and ensure that the will of the American People are being executed and that we are protected and ensured that protection and safety. They are the ones that write the laws of the land per the legislative branch. They are also the ones who created ICE, they are the ones that can destroy it. They’re the ones who can fire members of the Cabinet and impeach the President.

The same rules apply to content creators and to vtubers. They don’t have the power like a senator or congress person does. They are like normal people trying to make it in today’s fucked up society and like so many Americans are a few paychecks away from going homeless. (As someone currently homeless, I can tell you, it’s not fun and it sucks. I don’t recommend it. Worse if you’re disabled.) They have nothing to do to writing laws or impeaching the President.

But yesterday at least two Vtubers thought it would be cute to dogpile Tomoe Umari who is a horse vtuber and is a member of the military. They decided to go against her and try to get other people to join in because she didn’t say “Fuck ICE” like everyone else and doesn’t want to talk politics. Which honestly, it’s fine. Not everyone should talk politics.

And this is coming from someone who has been very liberal since she was 14. Yes. I even wanted to vote at 14 because that was how much that I hated how things were going. I was like my great grandmother. I had an opinion and everyone had to know. So when I started voting at 18, I started to also email my senators and congress people. Now mind you, I lived in the South. I lived in Texas. Kay Bailey Hutchison until her death was my Congresswoman. She was a Republican and I still wrote to her. I wrote to John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. Hell I wrote to Ted Cruz so much that he kept sending me emails after I moved to Arizona.

I wrote Krysten Sinema emails after she decided to become an independent and then later Mark Kelly, Ruben Gallego, Andy Biggs and people not even in my state or my district. I didn’t care. I had an opinion. I wanted them to know. Because they had the power to change things.

Tomoe Umari doesn’t have the power to change things. She has the power to brighten people’s days. To make them smile and entertain them in a trying time. But she can’t influence people much like Mark Kelly can. Now that being said a vtuber can encourage their viewership to write to their senators and congress people to instill change. But two vtubers decided that was too hard.

One of which was Kourra who doubled down and tried to apologize. And the other like my tweet calling Kourra out on her bullshit which was ironic because I yelled at them too. But seriously, if you’re a vtuber you have a platform to encourage your viewers to write to their senators and congress people or write to American senators and congress people. This is a great time to do that.

I know others will say but “Ari calling is sooooo much better.”, consider that not everyone has a phone, or that people can actually get through to their senator or congress person. I usually go with emailing because I don’t articulate my thoughts when I speak as well as I do when I write. I get my words jumbled, I mumble, sometimes I speak too loudly or not loud enough. I get confused and really agitated. Sometimes my blood pressure spikes because I’m having a panic attack.

So for me writing is easier to say what I’m thinking and I can articulate it much better. I can say that hey I think this is what can be done or what needs to be done a lot better in text form than I can in speech form.

It honestly pisses me off that people are abusing their platform to encourage dogpiling. Look, as I’ve said before I’m homeless. I don’t have a safe space to live let alone be able to stream. My laptop itself is dead. I don’t have an active voter registration and in my family you can’t bitch if you don’t vote. I’m in a transition from one state to another and when I get more settled with a voter’s registration, a stable home and somewhere to stream, what I will do is take a day a week or two days a week and use my platform to encourage people to write to their senators and congress people. Take the time to show them how to register to vote. Show them where to vote. I’m not going to use my platform to say “well so and so doesn’t do the same as me so we should all tell them why that’s wrong and hold them accountable.” That’s weirdo behavior.

They’re not the ones making these decisions. The only people I want to be held accountable are those in power. Our senators. Our congress people. They are also those who can hold our President accountable. As they are the only people who can impeach them. So the next time you want to try and dogpile a streamer or vtuber for not publicly speak out. Ask yourself this: Do they have the power to impeach the President? If the answer is no, then don’t do it. Dogpile Susan Collins or your senator or congress person instead.

What do you think? Do you think we should be holding content creators responsible? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments below. Like this post? Don’t forget to share it with your friends. Want to keep up with the latest post? Hit the subscribe button. Want to support me? Check out my tip jar!

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