It's Really Not Funny

YouTube is disgusting. An online video-sharing database that is in theory the epitome of the freedom of expression glorified by Americans has become among my peers a shameless vehicle for entertainment through humiliation. Teenagers spend hours on YouTube every week looking for reasons to laugh. We enjoy clips of people with grossly exaggerated reactions like that of a boy whose response to a toy he got for Christmas has been posted on YouTube for all to see. Imagine a little boy in his PJs, surrounded by presents with a Christmas tree in the background. He is opening a fair sized rectangular package when suddenly his innocent half-smile of curiosity and anticipation is wiped from his face and replaced by the face of monster, with bulging veins, popping eyes, and an inhuman tomato red hue accompanied by an ear-piercing scream. He remains thus transformed for a good four minutes, with only brief pauses for air, his mad rave reinvigorated every time he glances at the name of his new toy.
But even more enjoyable than witnessing such a mad exclamation of excitement is laughing at people whose fear has been caught on tape. One such video features a chubby little boy contentedly playing a game on his computer when suddenly a scary face pops onto his screen. He jumps away from the computer screaming and the camera follows him to a corner where he sits quietly sobbing while his audience, I’m sure, is sitting in front of their own computer screens caustically gafawing.
It seems, however, that our favorite YouTube content involves people experiencing extreme physical pain. I’m beginning to believe, as unfathomable as it is to me, that the extent of physical damage caused in a YouTube video varies directly with the extent to which my peers enjoy the video. “Trampoline Accident” serves as evidence for my hypothesis. This popular clip shows a group of teenage boys on a trampoline, apparently getting ready to show off their basketball skills. Suddenly one of the boys bounces out of control and on his way back down, his leg gets stuck in the basketball hoop, where he dangles for an excruciating moment, then drops. His buddies just laugh, not understanding the severity of the situation until they realize that he is not getting up.
What makes me cringe and want to vomit, everyone else finds hilarious. I find it disturbing that a video of someone getting so severely injured was uploaded to the internet at all, much less a source of comic entertainment. I am fine with violence and gore in movies but when mock pain is replaced by the real thing, a line has been crossed between entertainment and perversion. This video’s use of physical pain represents a core part of the attraction of YouTube as a medium of entertainment. The most popular YouTube videos among my peers are the ones where an audience can laugh at and belittle a person’s suffering or humiliation, whether it be that of a crazy little kid, a scared gamer or an injured idiot. Are we that insecure that we need to feel better about ourselves through other people’s suffering? This seems more like the mentality of a fifth grade bully than that of high-school seniors. If YouTube is a reflection of societal values to come, I’m not looking forward to being a part of that society.