I don't often write recommendations just like that. I blame it on my tendency to not really write positive thoughts – if I like something, I like it. If I don't like something, however, I try to find the reason why I don't like it. Therefore, if you've ever read something from me that sounds like I only have negative things to say about it (like perhaps my mini-review of Like a Dragon Ishin on Twitter), now you know why. That said, it feels like anytime I do give recommendations (latest example in this case being my Recommendations page) it feels like that's the moment the thing I recommend turns sour. I've felt this several times, but I've forgotten most instances so unfortunately there's only one example here.

James Stephanie Sterling (JSS), a.k.a. Jim of the Jimquisition fame, is someone I've followed for many years now. I follow them on Twitter, and every Monday I watch their show. The show mostly focuses on the games industry, mostly focusing on the negative aspects such as microtransactions, FOMO, and crunch. In the past few years, the show has expanded into talking about more general topics, like society and capitalism. They always make good points in their videos, which is why I follow them and why I added them to my Recommendations page. That brings us to now. A few weeks ago, they let go of their editor/former friend, claiming malicious intent in various ways. I didn't think much of it until I saw that the editor had responded, claiming to be overworked and underpaid, to keep it short. As of writing, JSS has yet to respond to the editor's claims. Going by JSS' own philosophy, I'm more inclined to believe the employee than the employer, granted this could be one of the editor's attempts to manipulate, if JSS is to be believed.

I'm an outsider in all of this, so I don't know what to believe, and there is likely a bit of truth in both their statements. The facts as I understand them sees JSS as an employer who badmouths their former employee, who doesn't uphold their end of an agreement on salary, underpaying and overworking an employee who somehow went from a part-time editor to personal assitant of sorts. No contract between them muddies the water a bit, but it's not as if it makes things better. Just reading this situation makes it seem like it would be the topic of a Jimquisition video, so seeing JSS as the possible perpetrator here makes all the things they've said about this topic ring hollow. Practice what you preach. For the time being, I cannot say what JSS is trying to do about this situation. On their Twitter they're very open about criticizing people when those peoples facts are wrong, so the fact they haven't already disputed these claims makes the editor's point of view more trustworthy. For the time being, this leads me to believe they're trying to sweep this under the rug, much like they've often blamed Ubisoft for doing regarding their controversy. (UPDATE: JSS responded)

With that said, they still make good points. Potentially lessened impact coming from their mouth, but valid points regardless. Workers are overworked and underpaid, crunch is bad, microtransactions are predatory, and FOMO is used as a way to extract more money from customers using psychology. I still follow them, but I've become apprehensive to their content. I'll have a bad feeling in my stomach and I'll scrutinize what they say whenever I interact with their content until the situation is resolved. With that in mind, I'm a very passive follower when it comes to online content: I consume it like once, and don't like or comment in 99% of cases. One can ask, how much does my one view per week contibute? In any case, support is support.

I'll use this point to segue into my next: I'm bad at letting go of problematic content. I'll start by saying not all problematic content is to be avoided; context is key. Stories have villains as a way to differentiate what's good from what's bad. Murder is highly problematic, yet basically every story contains it. That said, unless someone does something completely heinous I'm unlikely to unfollow them unless I either tire of their content or that apprehensive feeling grows too large. If something entertains me, I'll continue interacting with said content, albeit to a lesser degree. Thankfully, in most cases I've either avoided the horrible people or left long before they turned rotten.

An example of someone problematic I still follow is JonTron. He had a controversy some years back when he went on someone's stream to discuss things and said some things he probably shouldn't have said. To be completely honest, I haven't watched anything of said stream so I don't know what he said there for sure, but many people dislike him over it. It's understandable, I don't blame them, and I would've probably unfollowed as well if I weren't so bad at letting go of my entertainment. That said, having followed him over the years since, I've yet to see his content turn hateful. At best his situation on stream was simply that of someone who messed up their facts, at worst he's at least not spreading hateful rhetoric through his content. A person is also able to change, though I haven't heard anything that would suggest JonTron has changed, neither for better nor for worse. Until I somehow get more information on his current stance on things or his content changes for the worse, I'll continue watching on my own but I won't be recommending him to folks.

On that topic, should we unfollow someone simply because their political views are bad? Logically, if I dislike someone's stance on an important topic, I'm unlikely to want to interact with them. This is easy to do with a single creator, but what if it's a company? If a known jerk stars in a movie, should the movie be boycotted? Logically, any sufficiently large company is bound to have someone you disagree with working on something you're interested in. Where should the line be drawn?

With that said, I'll admit I'm a hypocrite in many ways. I believe people and companies who behave badly should be villified and lose support unless the situation is rectified, yet as I said, I'm bad at letting go of things. I heard about the Ubisoft controversy, yet I bought Assassin's Creed Valhalla because I like playing the AC games. I tire of all things on the internet being negative, yet all thoughts I'm able to provide are more negative than positive, including this whole blog post. The Ishin mini-review I mentioned earlier, it's nothing but the negative things I ran into, but in my defense I already wrote a blog post containing all the series' positives which all apply to Ishin as well. There are things I would say to others that would be good for me if I followed my own advice, but do I do that?

I'm not claiming any moral high ground with this blog post, I'm simply stating what I feel and the pros and cons of those feelings. Don't reward problematic creators by supporting their content. If all they do is hate on a marginalized group of people for example, discard them. Try to differentiate between malicious content and misguided content. Was it a purposely harmful statement, or one said without doing enough research? Do some critical thinking when it comes to the content you consume. Don't close yourself off from everything you deem problematic, or else you could potentially make yourself unable to determine what in your own behaviour could be problematic. Have an open mind, and allow yourself to make mistakes.