I wonder what went wrong in parenthood when kids have idols like this guy.
I haven't seen any evidence yet that would lead me to believe the rate of scams are rising or that there's been a significant change in human behavior regarding this recently.
Similarly, a conman can reach hundreds of millions of people today vs a few thousand at best, 100 years ago. It is also cheaper.
Everything is amplified and today - especially bad behavior.
I think part of the problem lies here. We have this notion that there are those rich and powerful few, and there is the rest of us plebeians. Everyone wants to be the person that cracks the code and joins the ranks of the elite. All of a sudden that scammy crypto project looks like your ticket in and "all the haters just don't know".
One of the best things I've learned looking at this crap for the past few years is there really are no shortcuts, and any shortcut that's getting sold to you is snake oil.
People have been brainwashed that you need money, lots of it, to live a great life, socials magnify those sick ideas.
Sadly, I think this has been merely a general rule that each generation must learn for itself. It was pretty clear before 2008 as well.
Every ancient civilization has some sort of trickster god, after all.
These TV personalities are just a different flavour of that. You send them money to feel part of something and they line their pockets all the same.
This guy just has a pretty (and punchable) face he's using to grift his idiot fans.
Same mechanism, different medium.
Shame what’s happened to Bam Margera.
Considering how much he’s refused support, this was predicted for years. It’s all on him.
I don’t feel sorry for someone who throws away that many chances.
[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenner_Star_Wars_action_figure...
Legal Eagle did a video over dangerous toys recently and had this in it.
At the 3:15 mark.
If NBC had broadcast scams in He-Man or Scooby Doo rather than the weekly moral messages they'd have been off air faster than you could blink.
Regulation barely exists any more, except mainly to defend copyright owners.
[0] Or so I was led to believe.
This is just what celebrity looks like in the 20s. I may find him distasteful too, but I am not the least bit surprised a lot of kids think he's cool and don't think it's some failure in parenting.
Post YouTube there was a huge gold rush of rich kids looking to be at the front of queue using their parents money to buy impressive production or stage outrageous stunts. Tragically these rich kids apparently missed out on the character development arc where they fail and better themselves as people before they succeed. That's why today many of them are grifters and scammers.
People see a different world today. One where douchebags are rich, and people who work 9-5pm, and raise a family, are NPCs.
Everyone trying to get rich off an image has to sell that story in order to make money. If the world thought having a stable job and a loving family was the epitome of cool, none of these cash-grabbing losers would have an audience, everyone would be busy doing something useful.