I Am On Day 2 Of Being Quite Sleep Deprived Cuz This Whole Mess Is Just Eating At Me - Tumblr Posts

I've been seeing a lot going around about the James Somerton thing, and i have a lot of my own... complicated feelings, but i want to throw my two cents at the conversation I'm seeing. I'm putting it under a cut because 1) this is longer than I meant it to be and 2) I don't like drama and this is about as close to drama posting I'll (hopefully) ever get.

I'm going to say up front, i never watched his stuff. video essays, especially about queer history and media representation, are my bread and butter. i listen to them actively all the time, but i put them on to do chores, or art, or go to sleep pretty much every day. but I never got into James Somerton. I've heard of him and seen his videos come up in my searches and recommend. and he's come on autoplay a few times. I've always skipped him though. I narrowly avoided the hole of misinformation I see so many of you crawling out of right now. and there is a part of me that wants to puff up my chest and gloat and do the "I knew all along" dance that so many people my age do with situations like this.

but first of all, that would be a lie. yes, I did avoid his videos, but he isn't the only essayist that has just not passed my personal vibe check. it would be satisfying to be able to say shit like 'i noticed his lies/theft long ago' or 'i just had a gut feeling' 'he seemed like a hack' but that just isn't it. I never gave him enough attention for any of that to be true because I just didn't vibe with him. maybe it was his delivery or his voice or the production of it, I don't know. but he is far from the only one who makes content in that category who I skip over for failed vibe checks. and while some of them might have something going on, I'm sure some of them are lovely intelligent people with their own insights who are 'unproblematic' to whatever definition we're supposed to be using. and I'm not ever going to be the one to figure out which is which on that list, because just like James I am not giving them the chance for me to figure it out. not vibing with everyone is a natural thing. and there doesn't always have to be some big reason or gut feeling behind it.

if I had paid him any attention, I also like to think I would have noticed some of the plagiarism. especially the Alex Avila videos he ripped because I've been watching Alex for years and I've seen all his videos but specifically the Merlin one many many times, and it was so deeply transparent in its theft. but I'll never know if I actually would have because if you're not looking for it, even when it's familiar, it isn't always easy to click together why that is. and while I do do due diligence on things before I repeat them or if I plan to use it for research, I'm not sitting and fact checking and source checking when I listen to essays before bed or if I'm crocheting on my couch. it's an easy trap to fall into. I know first hand because I used to watch iilluminatii.

I haven't watched her in a few months, and while I'd like to chalk that up to having spotted the plagiarism, it was when all that interchannel drama hit. I tried to do my normal due diligence. I looked into it to see who seemed to be in the wrong with it. I have a low tolerance for that shit, so it was very tiring and I admittedly didn't do as much as I should have. and some people during that did point out the plagiarism, but they came at it in a way that it didn't seem genuine and it felt like an exaggeration of their distaste for her. it was all said in that condescending 'i already didn't like her and you're dumb for not seeing the problem' voice. partly because I was already fatigued on the drama and partly because I had been watching for so long and she does talk about her sources below, I didn't look into it. that was around when I stopped, and when I did it was more from fatigue on trying to sort the drama and the allegations and all of that out. I just wanted a rest from it. so I just gave up. and I had been a little disillusioned by that but a part of me was still hit by seeing how egregious it was in hbomb's video. because how had I not noticed that?

which brings me back to James. even if I had 'just known,' or been a fan who was already disillusioned, or I had caught the plagiarism, none of that would be a constructive addition to the conversation everyone is having right now. I know that. I've seen it over and over again with various cancellations. and I am just now processing how it effected my ability to follow up on the iilluminatii allegations months ago. I had no excuse to be finding out about that with everyone else, I was recently researching that actively. but I was getting so tripped up in the hipster zoomer discourse that I wasn't able to actually do the research objectively and I just gave up. and I know I am far from the only one to experience this. turning a genuine problem like this into an interpersonal drama issue and gloating about how soon you noticed or how obvious it is or any of that devalues the entire conversation. it drives people away from the discussion and makes them feel worse than they need to.

there are big waves right now. people talking about plagiarism and how to find it. what the penalty should be. how to more accurately define it. there are people grieving the loss of a parasocial support they had. people making recommendations for replacements. people looking for those recommendations. people afraid to because they don't want to be tricked again. these are all important conversations, and many of them are difficult. but there are also people gloating about noticing it sooner. or not having watched him. or having eagle eyes for plagiarism. or whatever else. and that doesn't help anyone. like I said. I get the temptation. it feels good to squeak by without getting hit when someone like this does something big and bad. and it feels good to be ahead of the curve. but it doesn't help the people who are hurting. the people he stole from and the people he lied to are already processing that. they don't need to be talked down to. and it doesn't help the wider conversation that people are having about plagiarism. that conversation is moving forward and you are stuck arguing about what you knew when.

I guess my main point is this: it's a shitty situation all around. it has left so many victims in its wake. most obviously and directly the people he stole from, but also the people who trusted him who he lied to, and the people who his misinformation will affect even if they never heard of him. and there are a lot of people processing and hurting right now. and there are a lot of conversations happening about how this coming to light can help prevent it from continuing to happen at scales like this. and conversations about people making similar stuff themselves that is properly researched where any incorrect information is accidental and likely to be corrected. and if you have to weigh in to those, do so constructively. say what you need to about what he did or about what is being said, but don't turn it into a sleuthing competition or a party trick that you figured it out first. don't post about how heavy handed and egregious it was and how everyone had to have noticed. don't guilt and shame the people who are processing. find something positive to say. find something comforting to say. the situation is shitty enough without unnecessary negativity clogging everything up