If You’re Going To Write About The Web, You Should Probably Understand Web Culture
March 20, 2011
Author 
In Chris Matyszczyk who keeps a blog called Technically Incorrect which brings “a fresh and irreverent perspective to the tech world” recently wrote a post on Rebecca Black. The post has far too many words than necessary for this cheesy fluff star-in-training but it’s good for pageviews to cover pop “culture” (culture there is an oxymoron) so I get it.
Except one bit from the story is telling. Chris seems perplexed that this girl, while a hit on iTunes, gets trashed on YouTube:
Some might take it for granted that the Web displays every spectrum of humanity. Emotion’s every gamut is there, so why be surprised if some people express hate?
…It’s hard to understand why so many members of the WebMob seem to loathe Black. Her song isn’t the worst in the world by any means.
This from the keeper of a blog called Technically Incorrect? Maybe Chris should join some real web communities. The comment makes it seem like he’s never used YouTube, been a member of a forum, or visited the depths of 4chan. It’s actually harder to understand how a technology blogger doesn’t understand the hatred of Black.
Here’s the actual video (you’ve been seriously warned – this is painful):
Would we expect any less of the internet, especially YouTube commenters, to make fun of this? I actually think it would be more surprising if this didn’t activate the web’s collective snark.
One more quote from Chris:
It’s hard not to reach the conclusion that, through its behavior online with respect to Black, a large swathe of humanity has, for no obvious or fathomable reason, decided to display not its hate for Black, but its loathing of itself.
No obvious reason? Really? If you don’t see why this is easy prey for the web you probably shouldn’t be covering that beat.
Tamar Weinberg replied | Mar 20, 2011 (7 comments)
Wow. “1,566 likes, 10,852 dislikes”
That. is. amazing.
I SO EXCITED!
Adam Singer replied | Mar 20, 2011 (563 comments)
LOL – indeed Tamar :)
Mario Sanchez Carrion replied | Mar 20, 2011 (23 comments)
That was painful… and unfortunately the reaction on Youtube is perfectly understandable.
It’s not that the kid doesn’t have any talent. By today’s standards, she’s quite all right. She’s just not ready, and probably she needs to get herself a good song writer too.
As much as I despise the gate keepers of the old, pre-social media economy, preventing this kind of faux-pas is probably the one area where they could have added value.
Nowadays, the gate keeper role is mostly left to the parents, most of whom live in denial, convinced that their kids are special, gifted, and oh so smart, when in reality they’re just good, regular kids who have to grow up with the burden of their parents living vicariously through them.
I just hope that she turns out OK, and I don’t mean financially, just not like Lindsay or Miley.
Samantha Collier replied | Mar 20, 2011 (1 comment)
This was hard to watch. She definitely isn’t horrible but I agree she needs some “help”.
The web community is brutally honest. The comments on her video are to be expected. She’s probably getting a lot more attention because of the negative commenting as well. I hope she uses the attention to her benefit some day by coming out with a better song!
Dayne Shuda replied | Mar 21, 2011 (45 comments)
I’m excited for Friday now – can’t wait to have some fun, fun, fun, fun. :)
Was I the only one that had to watch A-Ha’s Take On Me video after watching Rebecca’s video?
Something I love about the Web is the honesty in criticism. You have to be at the top of your game. If you aren’t Web communities will make sure you and everybody they know hears about it. Or even worse – they’ll ignore you completely.
Joe Akkawi replied | Mar 21, 2011 (1 comment)
While I understand the internet’s natural reaction to this, I’ve never been a fan of wishing death on someone or asking them to cut themselves.
There’s no defined “line” that we can measure to know when the internet has gone too far, but I’d like to think she’s only 13 and being totally exploited for a quick rush to fame by those so called producers. I mean, if you watch the “acoustic” (lol) version of her singing the song, you can see how fake the producers are there trying to look like they’re into the song while in reality, it’s everything that’s wrong with the music industry today.
On a lighter note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi00ykRg_5c&feature=topvideos
Thanks for another awesome blog post!
steve replied | Mar 21, 2011 (1 comment)
this is the song i wake up in the morning to before going to work now. You guys should see the amount of humorous me-me pics out there making fun of her. I love it!
PS- For those who didn’t know what a me-me is …google it!
John E. Bredehoft replied | Mar 22, 2011 (8 comments)
I had missed the phenomenon that is Rebecca Black until I saw this post, so I listened to the video with an open mind. It seemed like typical Disney fare until she got to the lyrics cited by Gawker (the “Yesterday was Thursday (Thursday), today it is Friday (Friday)” part). By the time the rapper started driving around, any positive vibes from earlier in the song were wiped out.
I haven’t gotten around to seeing some of the negative reviews, but I agree that Matyszczyk should not be surprised at the mob reaction in the YouTube community (and elsewhere). Even if the song had wonderful lyrics and honest production, all you need are a few “I don’t like her eyes” comments and everyone else will begin to pile on.
Kelli Helms replied | Apr 4, 2011 (3 comments)
I feel quite bad for her. One reason for their to be the web is to share things. Even if they aren’t seen as “good” by other people. However, it’s not other people’s responsibility to be “easy” on her. You are right, if you put something on the web you should expect absolutely anything. Rather that is acceptance or harsh back lash.