"Broadcast Yourself"

“Broadcast Yourself” is the driving concept behind YouTube’s wide appeal to people around the globe. Advancement in technology, both the internet and video-taping, has allowed YouTube to become one of the most popular websites on the World Wide Web. This site allows anyone with internet access to upload videos of themselves, T.V. shows, or self made power points to be put on display for any onlooker to watch. With over millions and millions of videos, one must rummage through all the junk to find an intellectually engaging YouTube video. That is not to discredit the humorous and almost always entertaining pointless videos because if a good laugh is all you are looking for they hold some redeeming qualities. Youtube does exactly what it promises; it allows self expression. This form of media has the potential to broadcast great things to millions of viewers. However, it is demeaned by the countless and brainless videos.
These videos do not provide stimulating material; they can only provide a short outburst of laughter for a solid thirty seconds. One video unconsciously gives its audience an intimate window into a family’s Christmas morning, with the son thoroughly excited and freaking out about the x-box he received. He goes on screaming for a good minute and then it is replayed in slow motion. While it is comic, it does nothing more than cause a chuckle. The American people are not afraid of revealing intimate family time, like Christmas morning, as evidence by the mom walking past the camera in her pajamas, as long as it serves an entertainment purpose. Youtube can do more than entertain though. It can allow for the free flow of intellectual thought and ideas.
The possibility for humans to communicate and exchange meaningful ideas through Youtube is there. “Slip of the tongue” poetry put to a well organized and visually appealing video meshes beautifully and artistically together to form the Youtube video “Ethnic Makeup.” Addressing the issues of racism, feminism, and the media, this video actually engages its audience to comprehend what they just saw, (not just because of the shock of witnessing a boy dislocate his knee, like in another video) but because it speaks deeper. It entertains and it provokes. The story line is as follows, an Asian male in his twenties approaches a female, also Asian, at a bus stop. After he fails to seduce her with his “playeristic” lines he asks her “Girl, what is your ethnic makeup?” Through the metaphor or make-up, lipstick, foundation, and eye shadow, issues of suppression, advertisement, and our consumerism are brought to light. Someone actually took the time to produce a worth while youtube video that distinguishes itself far from the rest.
If our culture was not so consumed with entertainment, comedy, and fame, Youtube might have a chance to broadcast videos with intellectual vitality. Self expression, in itself, is a wonderful quality, we Americans are taught to embrace and pursue but it is when we pervert this privilege that we demean ourselves and our culture to a pathetic level. What Youtube could be and what Youtube is are two entirely different forms of media. The ideal Youtube holds capacity to transmit engaging and meaningful messages and ideas to such a large audience; yet the Youtube of today is held back by pinheads who want their three minutes of fame.