The second type identified by Mr. Robbins is Feel-good Commentary, explained as:
“…either to be entertaining or to find viewers who already agree with you and tell them what they want to hear. Ultimately, you’re not trying to persuade anyone who currently disagrees with you and will likely dismiss them as being a bad person.”
I should also say that he follows that up with:
“To be clear, Feel-good Commentary isn’t inherently bad. A lot of the work of people I really respect like Drew Gooden and Cody-Ko [that aged like milk, Jim] fall under this category. But when producing these videos, it was mostly on things that were either very cut-and-dry, like Logan Paul’s Japan incident, or were straight-up opinion pieces that were primarily trying to be entertaining or unserious. They weren’t pretending to provide thorough coverage of a confusing situation or send a mob after anyone.”
And I think that summarises what Drew Gooden does. From his take on the D’Amelio Show, to terrible shows involving TikTokers (like the hospital that was run by some of them), to other random things on the internet that make him lose his mind (and Ninja’s ‘Masterclass’ on being a Twitch streamer). He’s making generally unserious observations about random stuff he has seen on the Internet that people find very entertaining and laugh at in their millions. Another person I’d highlight in this category is Jarvis Johnson! GOLD who employs a similar style when tearing apart, for example, Shane Dawson’s fundamentally ridiculous ‘Conspiracy Theories’ (he has actually made a couple of these, this is just the first example that came up for me when searching using relevant keywords). And I think I can also include Pinely, a name that will play a big part in my next post, because although his topics are serious and commentary rather cutting, his tone, delivery and design are the complete opposite, making it look colloquial and sound like Feel-good Commentary.
Finally, before I conclude, I want to highlight Channels that do what I want The Analytical Aspie to do regularly in the future, focus on autism. The Aspie World should be fairly well-known to most Aspies for his regular advice on how to manage the hallmarks of Autism amongst other things. Thomas Henley is not only very handsome but provides nuance on issues that confront us autistic people, even within the Auti-verse (his catch-all name, not mine). Meg from I’m Autistic, Now What is tearing apart terrible social media perceptions of autism, freaking out at Reddit Servers like r/FakeDisorderCringe for being ironically that, or highlighting Autism Memes that should tug on my heart strings but usually don’t probably because I don’t get the whole idea of them. Mike from AutisticAF (After Forty) generally does research on controversial commentary on autism and conveys his findings in 20 minutes on average. And Orion Kelly – That Autistic Guy from Australia is occasionally unfiltered, especially when talking about real struggles that flair up while raising a son who is autistic while being autistic himself.
So why do I enjoy all these channels and more like them? Quite simply, my tastes have gradually evolved to embracing those who tell compelling stories, make arguments I can throw my weight behind, and feel enthusiastic about wanting to do more research, watch more related content and broaden my horizons on a few things. Sure, TV Documentaries and research books are still a thing, but what I love about the YouTube Videos that I watch are that they are constantly available at the click of a Bookmark and sometimes cut down the amount of work I might have to do to understand an emerging concept.
But let’s not be complacent. Especially since, truth be told, for every masterpiece of a video that is published, some are at the bottom of the barrel either because they represent everything my favourite channels are not, the creator behind them has a dreadful personality, or the genre they belong to does not appeal to me, personally. And it’s one of those three reasons that will encourage me to name and shame those who I think are worthy of being called Bad YouTubers in my next post in two weeks’ time.
Meanwhile, every weekend from now on, you can expect me to highlight at least one individual video from any of the genres I like on my Social Media Feeds. Details of those are on the Information & Contact Me section. In the comments below, share with me any other YouTube Channels you think I could enjoy the contents of as well as where your own tastes broadly lie.
But that’s all for the moment from The Aspie, speaking by myself, for myself, unlike Autism Speaks.
The ADog Blog 