Opinion

By Maureen Loftus

          Celebrities have been around for a very long time. The Middle Ages had famous troubadours, the Renaissance had painters, there have been opera singers and silent actors. For the past few decades, celebrities have been singers like Madonna and talk show hosts like Oprah. Much more recently, a new kind of “celebrity” has emerged:YouTubers. These people make lots of money by just filming and broadcasting their lives. Some of their videos are fun, like YouTubers who make awesome slime. Then there's the darker side. “Celebrities” who gain followers by causing controversies.

          The self-proclaimed sovereigns of controversial YouTubers  are Logan and Jake Paul. They each have at least 14 million subscribers each, and they don’t get those numbers by making fluffy slime. Most recently, Logan Paul got in huge trouble for filming in the Japanese ‘suicide forest’. That’s just the latest in a string of disreputable behavior. Their videos can be rude, offensive, and uncivil. After many of his dangerous outdoor stunts, Jake Paul is certified the worst neighbor ever. Those are the mild ones. These videos can teach kids and teenagers bad lessons. Like how being rude to people makes you look cool. If teens see their idols doing irresponsible things, and getting away with them, they might think they are acceptable. Most of what they do is not acceptable, like lighting a pool on fire. The Paul brothers could be ushering in a new generation of pyromaniacs by lighting up anything within arms reach!
They should not be allowed to keep glorifying their crazy and dangerous lives. And people shouldn’t watch it.