So as some of you may know, Behind the Meme recently uploaded a series of VLogs over the past week or so, each of them seemingly cataloging BTM himself going down a spiral in depression. You may also know that BTM "killed himself" in the final video and left it off with this image:
And then a message about suicide prevention.
So let me just get this out of the bag, I thought Behind the Meme was actually going to get a gun ready in the last video then just go dark. In hindsight I realize there were a number of aspects that pointed to this all being a skit. But the scheduled uploads and the (honestly) good acting on Behind the Meme's end almost convinced me. Some of my friends pointed out the obvious (the transparent skull, the third person PoV in the descriptions, etc), but I didn't want to believe he was just doing this for attention.
Now before I go on, I don't mean I wanted to see him off himself in the final video, that's horrible. But the way this all happened was just so wrong.
Behind the Meme wanted to make a suicide awareness video? Cool. But BTM made thousands of people genuinely concerned for his well-being and were worried that he really was going to kill himself, myself included. It was manipulative. He could've easily broadcasted the message to his viewer-base without making people contact the authorities out of genuine fear.
More over, it makes me question how sincere he is. He was willing to use a heavy topic like suicide to get people to look at him, then double it up with a jab at the haters because he just couldn't help himself. Was his intent genuine? What if he just wanted to gain sympathy points with people who disagree with him? What if he just wanted to look better by talking about suicide, but also plugging it with a "message to the haters".
I can't, in full conscience, say that he was just trying to do the right thing. I don't think BTM is an idiot, he knows that he could've done this differently, but he didn't.
So… what do you guys think?