Should we stop supporting them with our eyes for taking sponsorships from shady companies?
Edit: I took my first step and unsubscribed from the channel and I will continue to withhold my viewership to those that don’t take better care of the viewers.
Likely doesn’t matter, but I’m on a roll of not giving my money to companies that are immoral so why not do the same with my eyes.
Veritasium endorsed a known racketeer and as a consequence some portion of their audience is now going to be defrauded in an economy where there’s not a lot of room for that especially among those in need of therapy. Watching Veritasium videos causes the channel to have greater exposure, increasing the risk to the general population if engaged with by anyone. Therefore, engaging with this channel in any way is harmful to others.
No. It’s their channel and they can do whatever they want, just as how you can handle yourself however you want. Just do as you’ve done and remove yourself from something that conflicts with your opinion and everyone’s happy. Life is often that simple
“No. But, in a snarky tone yes.”
ah yes, a “fallout 4 no”
pretty sure his video about Charmin flushable wipes being the only actually flushable wipes on the planet was bullshit
Yeah
I’m out of the loop, what did Better Help do?
Sharing users’ mental health information with advertisers and connecting LGBT users with Christian faith-based therapists are the two big issues I’m aware of
Yikes! Yeah, that’s messed up. Thanks for the info!
Better Help is also awful for the therapists, it basically turns them into contracted gig workers and they’re less invested in their clients’ success. It’s also awful for the clients, because going to therapy is hard and requires hard work and facing some difficult things. The platform makes it overly easy to switch therapists whenever, and a sizeable chunk of people will jump shark when challenged, continuing to throw money down the Better Help hole with no progress to show for it
Wow 😲 I’m so surprised that a therapy app with shortened appointments and suspicious pricing is bad for anyone! There’s no possible way to have anticipated such a thing would fail in such a harmful way.
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Is there a source for this? I’m generally very positive on therapy and helping people get access to it, but fuck them if that’s the case (and fuck the US healthcare system in general. Although I will say that where I’m at now, Japan, is even worse with mental healthcare not being covered by insurance (only psychiatry is covered; some psychologists having sliding fee scales but sometimes it’s students and, if you don’t speak Japanese well enough to articulate your issues in the language, then the premium for foreign language support is real)).
Just as an FYI: although laws are strict about US-based therapists practicing only in states where they are licensed, there are no laws regulating international practice of psychotherapy. If the people you’re talking about have a hard time in Japanese, they may be able to to find a telehealth therapist in their country of origin who speaks their native language and is embedded in their native culture. You have to deal with timezone shenanigans, but it beats going without. Something to consider.
Yeah, I fully agree. The yen being super weak right now has put some people off of such (it was about 110-115 yen: 1 dollar when I came, now it’s 160 T_T)
I think part of it is selling mental health data to companies such as meta. I dont know if it was anonymised but either way it’s horrible
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Mark Rober was a big disappointment too. he made a pretty weird video about autism, using the fact that his son is autistic as like qualification for him to talk about it. autistic folks tried to talk to him about the problematic nature of the video in the comments, and he just blocked them. plus, he partnered with NXT for Autism, which does work with Autism Speaks, which is genuinely a hate group that’s trying to exterminate autism, and, last I checked, had no autistic people on the board.
made a pretty weird video about autism, using the fact that his son has it as like qualification for him to talk about it. folks with autism tried to talk to him about the problematic nature of the video in the comments, and he just blocked them.
So typical Autism Parent™ then lol it’s like they can’t help but make it about themselves… 🙄
As a parent of 2 children on the spectrum I need to give you a well thought out “fuck you” in response.
My experience online is a lot of you “champions” for autism are only speaking for yourselves and those like you, which is to say the ones that have some means of independence be it verbally, physically or emotionally. I have one son like that. He’s Asperger’s. He will have challenges, but he will live a long and productive life with all the proper tools. My other son is your “traditional” autistic. He is thankfully verbal but at this point there is no plan for him to be independent ever. As parents we hope for the best and take every day at a time.
To assume that our opinions and decisions are derived as “making about ourselves” is part of the problem. Everything I have done since his birth has been to NOT make it about myself.
The last thing I need is people like you punching down because you can’t look past your own goddamn nose.
Have you considered working memory training as a method for helping your son become more functional?
We’ve just started him on strattera and seeing some success. The problem isn’t so much the autism but how the ADHD manifests. If this makes sense it’s like about working memory and more about modeling activities. Because he has issues with muscle tone he lacks a lot of the core abilities many of us take for granted like being able to do something as simple as a thumbs up. Thumbs up took a year.
he’s not talking about parents of autistic children. he’s talking about parents of autistic children who make that their main personality trait, walking around referring to themselves as “autistic moms”, intentionally using confusing language so you can’t tell if they’re autistic, or if their child is autistic. sort of like Munchausen by Proxy but you don’t have to fake it
Oh yeah those parents who make it their identity are weird AF.
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As a parent of a child with Level 1 autism I would never dare speak as an authority on the subject. There’s just so much nuance to it. I could give people a surface level introduction but that’s it. Being a parent does not make people by default into expert psychotherapists.
That being said, don’t discount your expertise in your lived experience. The importance of theoretical and experiential expertise is equal in my eyes.
Maybe not directly correlated, but I would hire someone with 10 years experience over someone who studied the subject for 10 years.
Thanks. Well, we’re in our first year since the diagnosis. There’s still a lot I don’t understand.
You’ve been gathering experience from before the diagnosis. You don’t have a year of experience you have the age of your child of experience.
The more you understand the better you can help. You’ve made the first and most important step. I’m extremely passionate about this and you will find many around you are also passionate. I’m a grown ass dude and 46 and could cry.
Talk to their teachers as they get older. The best thing you can ever do is diagnose. There are so many kids in the school system parents bury their heads and it hurts everyone.
If you ever want to talk I’m almost a decade into my autism journey. Started at 3 and my son is now 11.
Thanks for the kind words stranger! We are fortunate that we moved to Italy (from US) and they have a -relatively- good integration with the schools. He will need an aid next year in the class for some time so the teachers ‘get it’ (sort of).
Yes, I will save your contact info. I may actually reach out. There are a lot of things I’m still struggling with (he has a loud projection when he expresses himself and it’s almost all the time). I think we sort of adjusted to it over time but it gets heavy at times. I’ll stop here.
Thanks again!
Both my boys stim verbally with my youngest being “worse” at is. The balance is teaching them awareness and also time and place.
I disagree. It’s not as simple as that.
I wasn’t diagnosed until age 30, and I am thankful I went through my childhood without the label.
If you were not diagnosed until 30 and you’re here on Lemmy you’re validating my challenge with all the people like you being the exception to the rule. The fact that you are here and can communicate puts you ahead of what I would define as the silent majority of those with autism.
There are different kinds of experience. For instance there’s the experience of having a child with autism. There’s also the experience of being autistic.
As a parent of two kids on the spectrum my messaging has been just this with a resounding “there are legions of autistic people that are NOT represented. Ever.”
Every representation of autistic people you see in the media, or chatting with online are the exception and the fact that they collectively shit on the fact that there are many isolated and struggling is goddamn frustrating.
If you’re autistic and on Lemmy I’m proud of you. My youngest son can’t manage his own diabetes, can’t wipe his ass, needs help showering, has worsening anxiety and ADHD. I could go on.
As a parent I’m supposed to defer to that representation in the media or on Lemmy because “they’re autistic bro.” disgusts me.
My final takeaway. Fuck the DSM V for making Asperger’s the same as Autism. It isn’t. It hurts both parties but I’d argue it hurts Autistic people far more than Asperger’s people.
lol all that just to finish with a definitive statement about autism. Asperger’s has always been an aspect of autism. Dr. Asperger was a Nazi scientist, responsible for deciding who among the neurodivergent would go to the gas chambers. the patients that he deemed to have “mild enough” autism to be used for labor, were called “Asperger’s”.
It ain’t much but I’ll take it
Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like you have your hands full and as a parent I can only empathize. I totally hear you about media representation missing the mark. We have some roadway to make. I’m surprised how many parent friends we have that are relatively clueless (even though I must admit, until this January when we got the diagnosis I was too).
My little one started group therapy about two months ago and I’m super grateful even though the journey ahead is still quite long.
On the Asperger’s topic: I was under the impression Asperger’s is no longer in use as a diagnosis and was folded into the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). At least that’s what we learned this year throughout the diagnosis process.
Stay strong brother (or sister)!
As part of your research are you speaking with autistic adults?
I have not yet. I would like to though
From a diagnosis and classification, Autism = Asperger’s.
From a lived experience, Autism != Asperger’s.
The latter has been validated by every expert I have talked over the years from doctors to therapists to education.
Ok. Interesting. I’ll take your word at it.
Please don’t but pay attention to your support group as you move forward. You will learn there are a lot of people that genuinely care about your child and their future. The irony of course is the vast majority of these people make little to no money and are doing what they do because they love it.
Thanks for raising this, I get attacked here if I ever point out autism is a disability. I can only assume these people have literally never met anyone with anything but the mildest of Aspergers cases.
Rober is just a con man that pretends to be science to sell stuff to people.
He also ripped off KiwiCo IIRC.
Psst hey kid. Over here. It’s me Science. Got any questions?
After that video with a military defense company, I stopped following his videos
Try to understand that influencers and content creators are human beings and not infallible. I don’t think Mark or Derek are the greatest people in the world, but they are trying to put educational and entertaining content out into the world, and don’t seem to be malicious in intent.
Give them a break and see where they land down the road. If they turn out to be trash, judge em all you want. As someone that doesn’t spend the time and effort to pass my experience on to others, I’ll give them a bit of wiggle room on the politics associated with operating in the public attention economy.
lol no. he had a chance, when we tried to have a reasonable conversation with him. his views on autism suck, he partnered with a bad actor, and he muted people who tried to talk to him about it. that’s three different problems.
Haha. That would be too sensible.
Yes, they’re not infallible. That’s why they should be held to account for their actions. You’re the one saying to treat them like they make no mistakes.
that advert is terrifying, what the hell
Wow, those comments are a dumpster fire.
Not sure what Derek 's best response might be. I’m thinking that this video will likely be taken down and replaced by one without a sponsor.
Right. You have to scroll quite a way to see something other than him being called out.
That seems unlikely considering contracts and legal stuff
Don’t let anybody tell you you can’t consume or not consume whatever content you feel like. Theres an uptick in this weird attitude of “you’re an asshole/fascist/whatever trying to cancel everyone” if you decide to stop watching someone or buying a product. Its bullshit, you don’t owe anybody jack.
You’re one person. Either you bailing won’t matter, or a bunch of people bail and they learn their lesson. Either way you don’t have to put up with a damn thing you don’t want to. 🤷
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At least consider it. It will make shady sponsors less valuable and more genuine sponsors more valuable.
They absolutely deserve to be blasted in the comments for a bad sponsor. It will make people reconsider their viewing decisions. If the video itself also wasn’t great, don’t be afraid to give it a big fat dislike, especially if you have the return YouTube dislike extension.
Additionally, if there are too many ads and sponsors, make your voice heard in the comments, and the creator might be sympathetic. I certainly am when I’m on the receiving end of a comment like that on my channel.
I’m curious, what would happen if I, as a creator, had been contacted by a sponsor and then if the sponsor was shady, decided to not only say no to the contract, but also rag on them in the video where the sponsor would have been shilled?
Tim Dillon used to do that all the time.
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Dr becky (atrology channel) also did a few sponsorships with them and got lots of unhappy comments under those videos. Not sure if she still sticks with them or no. Aaaaaaaand I just checked her last video from 7 hours ago and she still gets sponsorships from them. Top comments are asking her to stop accepting those sponsorships pointing out their doings.
Dr
astrology channel
One of these things does not add up…
she’s not bad but there are better science/astronomy channels. I watch Anton Petrov religiously, I don’t think he even does sponsors
I had to look up the term to notice what I did. I will leave it be I guess. Haha
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Wait, what term? I wasn’t saying you made a mistake; I was pointing out the ridiculousness of someone being a doctor but dealing in such unscientific nonsense as astrology.
Edit: Or, wait, did you actually make a typo and it was supposed to be “astronomy”? If so, I didn’t even realize. xD
Yep, hahaha. Not a native english speaker and I confused the terms.
Hey no worries. Sorry that I came across as correcting you. x3
I should have been corrected tbh.
Fair enough, I suppose.
I made sure to dislike the moment this sponsorship came up and closed the video. With analytics they should see the connection.
i like ur optimism. we need more ppl to do this.
Veritasium is YouTube propaganda. It’s well documented - Derek takes sponsor money and gets people killed in the process. I blocked Derek on all platforms the day Tom put this documentary video out.
I’ve hated him for so long. Glad to see it’s getting some light
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Funnily enough the person that made this video had a little controversy on the vape-o-nomics video when he was talking about how subscription services were bad but then immediately pivoted towards an ad read for a subscription service.
Eventually it was removed (without a comment talking about, it happened silently) but still this stuff reaches everyone eventually.
I do that kind of thing, yes. Although I usually find it so distasteful, that I lose interest in watching other videos anyways.
But yeah, especially when it’s a channel making educational content, there’s a chance that some viewers take the sponsored section as general educational content (no matter, whether that’s because they’re gullible, young or did not pay attention when the sponsor segway happened).
There’s also various tech channels which recommend products that are objectively worse than the alternatives, or even exert malware-like behaviour. Those also immediately lose any and all respect from me.
Obviously, if it was a genuinely good product, it wouldn’t need the sponsorship deal for people to make videos about it. So, I do understand the struggle.
But everyone wanting to make a living off of media has that struggle. If I artificially inflate the view numbers of one media creator, the others receive less sponsorship money.Veratasium had some similar issue a few years ago too, didn’t he?
His video with one of those “genetic research” companies was very bad anti-privacy propaganda, where they used the excuse of catching the Golden State Killer as justification for storing and using the related genetic information of masses of unconsenting individuals.
He’s also dipped several times into making state department propaganda like Smarter Every Day consistently does. Not nearly quite as bad as him yet though.
And he’s made several videos about failures of capitalism, wherein he very obviously refuses to identify it as the problem. Like the one about planned obsolescence or leaded gasoline and another I’m forgetting.
I’ve watched his leaded gasoline video, capitalism doesn’t seem like something he would need to bring up? Unless I’m not remembering the video correctly, the cause of the problems aren’t something he goes into
He also has a habit of making videos that are just long ads, like that self-driving car, or that shampoo
I recall Tom Nichols making a video on them and also perhaps an incorrect video about electricity so probably.
On the electricity video, he was actually correct. It was mostly a matter of semantics and people clinging to the common models of electricity.
I’m not really sure it was just semantics. He was technically correct the light would get some power right away, but the thing everyone would understand when hearing the main assertion, i.e. the light is fully lit and the circuit is in its relatively steady, final state, is very much not true.
The electricity one wasn’t so much him being wrong as it was him being really bad at communicating that one point
There was a video he did on a startup taxi service using self driving cars. Basically the entire thing was an advertisement for that company.
Then another Youtuber, Tom Nicholas, released a video about that a few months later and how it’s an issue. I’ll have to watch it again as I don’t remember what he specifically talks about.Yeeep I remember the saga bc of the Tom Nicholas video
