Jackson on Satire and Cyberbullying

With the advent of Internet anonymity and the introduction of dialogue boxes came the cyberbully. In the video Thank You Hater! , Isabel Fay satirizes the cyberbullying with sarcasm.  She uses an uplifting and positive Youtube video and with light almost Disney-esque music to critique bullying.

The rise of cyberbullying can be linked to the anonymity that the internet provides. In the video, the artist explains that she was so absolutely glad that he was not posting content because surely he would have done significantly better than she had. In anonymous spheres cyberbullying doesn't have universalizability. Without dialogue the bully gets all the power without any of the backlash, which gives the bully free rein to say whatever they think or feel. While the video is a great example of an individual gaining agency by forcing a dialogue, there is still a desensitization of both individuals since they do not see or talk to each other. The game theory of a moral hazard explains the justification for the behavior. The theory states that if someone can be cruel without any consequences, then they are more likely to act that way.

The response to the bullying is far more powerful than the bullying itself. The refrain of the song hits every point of the critique, that cyberbullying allows: sexual aggression, racism, homophobia, misogyny, ignorant, and downright despicable comments to be shared from people who do not receive any consequences from their actions. The satire turns that negative behavior around with sarcasm. Thanking the bullies for allowing them to improve from the “constructive” criticism that they had left on their channels. Thus Thank You Hater! is the perfect example of humor reflecting the criticism back on the critic. The song is saying, while here is a list of all of the awful things that people say in response to you, I would “defend” you.

In rhetoric, funkygibbon69 is an example of a bad use of humor. He makes cruel and insensitive jokes that most audiences would reject. He is spreading his hateful jokes permanently by posting on multiple channels’ videos. In traditional rhetoric, humor is constructive rather than just shallow and hurtful. While I cannot call him a heckler since his response is after the video, his actions seem to meet the goal of a heckler. The technological heckler is one who uses heckling to try to throw the artist off during their day to day activities. Most of the artists that were being attacked were the everyday posters that post videos for a living. I would say that a new definition for cyber or technological heckling would be that a heckler would be interrupting the flow of videos from one day to the next rather than mid performance, since most performances are done before the actual audience sees them.

The lesson to be drawn is that even though we can remain anonymous that we should always remember the humanity of the actors and actresses that we are critiquing. That computers do not give you free rein to do or say whatever you want, and that fighting cyberbullying is the next step in trying to make the world a better place. I would recommend that everyone reading this post buys the song on Itunes because all profits go to Fight Bullying.  

P.S. FunkyGibbon69 commented on the video “i hoep u knw ur a total cnut and tht u do die of dat tumor omg cnt belive ur sad enuf to mak a vid bout me”