OK. This diary has nothing to do with politics, or does it? As a semi-professional musician, I follow the Youtube channel of guitarist/producer Rick Beato. He is a very accomplished musician with great intellect and far-flung musical tastes. His musical interests are broader than mine have been, and his videos have opened my mind to parts of the musical world I might never have appreciated.
But his channel is more than that. There are literally millions of youtube tutorials that are essentially lectures on certain areas of expertise, be it woodworking, aviation, or what have you. Beato’s videos have a different vibe that is a little more zen. His videos usually have moments of actualization that I find enjoyable and educational.
The video below is a little different, as it really isn’t about music at all. Here, Beato observes how it is possible to become a slave to the medium. As Beato says, his channel follows no rigid schedule and no particular sequence of topics. He literally puts out videos on whatever topic (usually music related) strikes him, and at whatever moment he gets the inspiration.
But what he observes is that many of the youtubers out there are obsessed with maintaining an exacting schedule and achieving a certain level of subscribers. And that makes it a job, often with high degrees of self-imposed stress. It is stressful to work under a deadline, self-imposed or not, particularly on those days or weeks where you really don’t have much to say. I invite you to listen to how Beato describes it, as I don’t want to put words into his mouth.
I said this isn’t about politics, but actually it is, a little. It seems we are bombarded by people who have decided they know as much or more than the major media goofs (entirely possible) and therefore, they should make their own channel and get a bunch of followers. I’m not going to name names here, but I bet you can all identify a dozen or more people who are trying to do a thing as “basement pundits”. And truly, many of them do have some insights, and some are very good comedians. Some have particular subject-matter knowledge. If they can make a living this way, God bless them. But most eventually fall into this condition where they really have nothing much to say, yet they have become slaves to their channels, which only makes it worse, I would think.
I just offer this video because I think Beato has some very useful advice that may apply to some of the people trying to become the next Joe Rogan of the left, or whatever the goal is. Save it for when you really have something to say. If you are publishing on an artificial schedule, are you really helping your cause by creating another 10 minutes of the same regurgitated talking points that everybody already repeats? And finally, I can’t close without observing the irony of people producing Youtubes to say “I’m quitting Youtube”. Apparently it is a real thing these days. I guess the video equivalent of “Goodbye, cruel world.”