Okay, so let me start by getting a couple of things out of the way. I’m half-Jewish on my mom’s side. That said, I’m not religious, I don’t observe Jewish traditions, and I’ve never been the victim of anti-semitism. So I recognize that my own feelings and experiences aren’t going to be representative of everyone with Jewish heritage and shouldn’t be taken as such.
Second of all, I want to make it clear that while this post may be critical of some of PewDiePie’s actions at points, I don’t feel that he’s a bad person and I don’t want to start any drama. This is just me getting my own feelings out there.
I’ll admit that I’m pretty new to PewDiePie’s videos, although in the relatively short time I’ve watched him he’s said and done a number of things that many have considered ignorant and offensive. I don’t think that he’s said these things because he’s genuinely bigoted or actually wants to hurt anyone - I think he’s either going for comedy and/or using outdated jargon. However, regardless of his intentions, he has offended some people and I don’t like how quickly some others are to invalidate those feelings. Yes, something might not be offensive to you, but you don’t know how certain words and phrases have effected other individuals throughout their lives. You don’t get to decide what’s hurtful or offensive to someone else.
I will say, though, that I feel that there are some people who like to take PewDiePie’s statements out-of-context and judge and attack him, not because his statements effected them personally or even applied to their demographic, but because they just don’t like him and this gives them a chance to feel morally superior tearing him down. And these are the people who I think need to get a life, stop white knighting for minorities who can speak for themselves, and just avoid watching people they don’t like instead of throwing hate at them.
So now I want to talk about PewDiePie’s latest video and how it effected me personally. Again, I’m not speaking for all Jews here…my experiences and feelings are very different from others, and while I don’t feel like I’ve ever been personally oppressed, I feel like what PewDiePie did still applies to me. Now before anyone attacks me, yes, I understand that it was a joke that doesn’t reflect his actual mindset. And, yes, I understand that when he typed that request in, he wasn’t expecting it to actually play out the way it did. But hearing that Jesus-impersonator mispronounce jacksepticeye’s name so horribly was just something I wasn’t prepared for. As a Jew, I really respect people with a good sense of humor, and while Jack himself may not be Jewish, his humor rivals that of any Jew I’ve ever known. So I just can’t believe PewDiePie would publish such a horrible butchering of his name. After that, I just couldn’t bring myself to watch anymore of the video. I’m sure it was hilarious and probably would have restored my faith in Pewds, and I’ll probably finish it later, I just need a little time. Anyway, thank you for reading.
