Just like almost everyone else, I watched all 8 parts of Shane’s documentary series “The Mind of Jake Paul” – a series where Shane unbox who Jake Paul is and gets his side of the story of all the controversies and drama that surrounds him and the people he finds close.
I’m not a Jake Paul fan and I used to respect Logan until the ‘suicide forest’ video came. My knowledge of him mostly comes from Drama Alert and the KSI boxing match. I don’t dislike him, I just don’t his content suited for me (however, ‘It’s Everyday Bro’ is on my iTunes library). I am aware of the drama and I also agree… it’s problematic.
But watching this series, I allowed me to view Jake’s side of the story as almost everyone just ignores what he has to say, and in some cases (mentioned in the series) he just doesn’t say anything at all. Jake was able to voice out his side of the story.
Did this series change my opinions on Jake Paul?
Do I now stan Jake? No. Will I watch his videos? No. Will I respect him? Not as a YouTuber but as a human being… maybe? (I SAID MAYBE). Will I watch any Team 10 videos? Probably not… but I did get the songs Jerika and Not Her by Erika Costel.
Unlike 1/2 of the people that go against Shane and thought this documentary was a ‘bad idea’, for me, it just gave me a better understanding on what was going on. I felt every drama that Jake was ever involved was very one sided. It’s all about “oh Jake did this and that” and etc… that we hardly ever heard from him. And if we do hear from him, due to his reputation online, he is unable to be real towards who his talking to.
Before Shane, he did an interview with Drama Alert in regards to the neighbours’ situation. This was the first taste of ‘the real’ Jake Paul but due to the reputation both Jake and Keem had at the time, it just felt it wasn’t that genuine enough (at least at the time). Like if you are aware on both Keem and Jake’s reputation, you still question if everything said is real or the truth. At least with Shane, he tried to bond with Jake and understand bits of his world and life before going deep.
And yes guys… I watch DramaAlert.
The Online Reputation
“the estimation in which a person or thing is held, especially by the community or the public generally;”
Definition of Reputation on Dictionary.com
Online reputation is harder to get rid off compared to real life (at least in my opinion and experience) but at the same time, not everyone knows about it depending on how knowledgeable they are on the internet.
I had my own experiences with having a reputation, but they were short-lived since it only happened in real life. And if I do something more outstanding, my past reputation gets replaced with what my current achievements are.
However, with my online reputation, its a mixed bag since only a certain group knows about it but luckily for me, we all came to a ‘hush hush’ agreement, where if I don’t bother them, they don’t bother me.
I’ve met other people though with an online reputation that sadly has stuck with them till this day. An example – Laila from LazyTown Point. I’ve heard stories about this person but I don’t fully understand why. Due to this, I thought it was a good idea to interact with them over on social media, just to get their POV.
Did talking to Laila change my opinions of her? No… it’s still the same. But after conversing with her ONCE, I at least understand why certain things are the way they are. But I don’t think they and I will be like online friend or etc.
And then there are people with online reputations that are so toxic that there is no point talking to them.
When I joined the Club Penguin community, the first thing I was told is to stay away from certain people. And it gets even worse when you find out that people will go as far as hacking and impersonating each other that you don’t know who is who anymore.
But don’t worry, people always reassured me that it’s a good community… just don’t look at the wrong direction.
In the case of Jake Paul, he’s in between the last two scenarios I mentioned. His reputation is so toxic that people would disassociate with him and stuff like that, but then again, we barely hear his side and there is no risk if we ask why he does the things he do.
The Flip Side of YouTube
I sometimes chuckle to the idea of people not being able to separate both the real life and the online persona. I’d like to believe that everyone is different on the internet and that we act differently behind the screen. I guess the difference between him and I is that he has a large audience consisting of children and mine mostly consist of my friends, family, and classmates.
Jake’s reputation mostly started from his actions on social media that it ends up being how people view him, the online persona. We were spoon-fed all the bad things he’s done that I don’t recall him being able to explain why he did such things.
During my first year of university, we’ve read academic papers the consequences and effects of online reputation. One of the key things mentioned is how objective our actions are on the internet is rather than being subjective.
Look, I’m not saying I forgive Jake Paul for all his actions. I still think that some of the things he did is very problematic. But at least I got a better understanding on some of his actions. I believe that some actions can be justified with reason and some, they cant. But at least with this documentary series, it just gave a wider and both perspectives on what’s going on.
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