The best video possible! On MrBeast and meritocracy.
New channel for YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfDc_d-4FCM2gwIqAzThTPA
Featuring Tiffany Ferguson as Jo Littler (https://www.youtube.com/tiffanyferg)
Follow me on TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@theletterfifteen
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Further reading/viewing:
—”Against Meritocracy” by Jo Littler* (https://bookshop.org/a/14437/9781138889552)
—”Subjectivity in Art” by CJ the X (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPrNWuppMcc)
—”The Tyranny of Merit” by Michael Sandel* (https://bookshop.org/a/14437/9781250800060)
—”24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep” by Jonathan Crary, if you’re interested in the implications of MrBeast’s lucid dreaming* (https://bookshop.org/a/14437/9781781683101)
—”MrBeast: Capitalism & Philanthropy” by Then & Now (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svHCXvQeZfY)
—”MrBeast Spends Millions on Expensive Gimmicks” by Tiffany Ferguson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdaG7Nx6ImE)
*I receive a 10% commission for books purchased through the provided bookshop.org affiliate links
Video essay created by Théo Evans
source
Clearly the best video on YouTube, 5 stars!
Interesting thoughts to muse over, thank you.
If you want to help keep my videos going, consider supporting me on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theletterfifteen
This is the best video possible!
I had absolutely no idea this man had over 100 million subscribers. Oh my god. 🙃🙃 That is insane
My fav fun fact is that the coining of meritocracy was done specifically in dystopoian satire! About British schooling culture!
in my eyes you are at least a 1M subscriber youtuber!
“Best videos possible” dawg. I have somehow watched most of these interviews and thought the same exact thing. Just make the best videos duh!
I really like your voice
This was a really interesting and well-thought out video tbh, nice work!
Man i get it too, im extremely jealous of others. Ive done nothing but work hard and all its given me is chronic depression and anxiety, plus the realization that im autistic..so the struggles will never go away. Ive wished a thousand times and more to have the ability to 'rise n grind' but i cant. Then I see tons of others both around my age (mid-late 20s) and younger doing better, WAY better. Some even being disabled as well, and its like dude what the fuck
Always here for reliving your preteen days lololol, great shit yet again bud (fuck the patriarchy and keep doing how you do)
Is that tiffanyferg's voice I hear reading the Jo Littler quote?
i know subs aren't a measure of worth at all but i am still floored that you dont have more than you do. You're extremely insightful and funny! Whether you put out a vid every 2 months or year or whatever it's always fun to watch them 🙂 thank you!!
This is the best video possible.
The worse the better. Honestly never watched his videos but hear about him from half the people I do watch that have worked with him.
Did you get tifferg to read the quotes? Look at u go ☺️
Also thank you for articulating what always bothered me about mr beast – for me its less to do with meritocracy and probably more of the money flashing emptiness of his content but that comes from a place of snobbiness in me🙃
Mr. Beast’s videos make me want to claw my eyes out and stab my knitting needles into my eardrums.
This is the best video possible!
Thank you for being you! ❤️
a tv show filmed in his style is just a youtube video lmao is he okay?
Mr. Beast might have more subscribers, but I still watch you and not him. For me his videos are just too repetitive and borning (the irony)
wow this is like the best video possible
this is actually kinda scary though please dont turn yourself into a personification of the youtube algorithm
Success on YouTube at least used to be a lot about doing the right thing at the right time. I can't help but think of all those small channels i watched that appeared during the storytime animation boom. Somehow so many young people who can draw were able to be successful quickly because they all had a similar format and editing style to Jaden animations or domics. If you were in the art community around 2016-2019 you probably remember this time well.
Great video, I'll be thinking about that cheerio bit all night xD
i feel blessed never to have seen a single second of that man's content. thank you, me, for being so constantly late to the hype i simply don't even care by the time i get to the point where i consider watching hyped content, thus ending up not watching it
Commenting for le algorithm keep up the good work ❤
… but are you still hungry after the 300 Cheerios?
Love this one. Would love to see what a version of this video optimized for retention might even look like… just to understand. YouTube short???
hell yeah new theletterfifteen video baybee
I get genuinely excited when you upload and you're one of my favorite creators. I just wanted to tell you that the work you put into your research and your jokes really shows
i love your videos, i think you found the perfect balance between humor and commentary!
The idea of meritocracy has always been a little bit silly to me – like Mr. Beast is fine, but do I believe that he works 142,000x harder than me? Not really. I also don't believe that Elon Musk works 4 million times harder than me. If the metric of success is only in quantifiable metrics then it is impossible to believe that any of this success is dependent only on hard work because it is not possible for any one person to work that hard.
Sometimes it's generational wealth, sometimes it's being able to take risks because you aren't responsible for other people, sometimes it's fitting to conventional white beauty standards, sometimes it is just knowing the right person – but I don't think emulating someone who is successful will necessarily bring about success.
Views don't automatically make a video great – it's the content itself. Some indcredibly impressive videos I've watched have had 1000-2000 views max. Does that make them bad? No – absolutely not. Yet low quality clickbait prank videos get millions of views yet are still mediocre at best.
I want worse videos with less retention strategies made by people who are paid more to work less, and I'm not kidding
i wouldn’t call myself a mr. beast fan either, but i’m not sure if he’s obligated to care about pushing this idea of a meritocracy which, as you said, is fundamentally built on inequality. i really don’t see a problem with his success story focused on the algorithm. i feel like most adults that want to be like him know that his strategy is focused on churning out the most views. and i don’t necessarily think it’s harmful if kids do buy into the idea of merit begetting a successful youtube channel. idk i see where you’re coming from definitely but i’m not convinced that it really matters
Dude acting like his content is the best LOL bitch calm down
the intro to this vid is one of the best delivered jokes i’ve heard all year
Why do you think Mr Beast thinks he's better than you? I would assume he doesn't think about you at all.
I liked the video, but the bitterness made it a hard watch. Which is a shame because I do think you bring up some interesting stuff about meritocracy that perhaps more people should think about.
Honestly I see Mr Beast as like this apex predator existing in the jungle of YouTube. He has honed all his instincts and mind to achieve the highest results possible and there is beauty in seeing someone like that trying their hardest. Its much higher effort than I'd ever devote to YouTube, and thats fine. They are more of a valuable YouTuber than me, in my eyes and the eyes of YouTube the business itself. If you were to be hugely successful in youtube, you'd honestly have a few adaptive traits that Mr Beast has. Maybe you can carve out your own niche where the rules are inverted, but in general I think he is like a Shark. Singleminded and while constantly adapting, their mindset is ultimately static, the end of the process of evolution to adapt to something.
I hate to be the one to tell you this, but even in a communist utopia, people will be better at things than others. We shouldn't punish people who are mathematically on the bottom tier of everything, the important thing is you try your best and yes your best may in fact be completely bad, but its still worthwhile to act in ernest. Meritocracy would enforce that ideal. You only feel the need to tear others down because it works, if it didn't work, people would just stop doing it. And thats the type of meritocratic society I'd want. A society where people are truely free to try their best with no racism or class constraining you. Ideally even no physical limitations in becoming as good at something as possible through transhumanism. I also think people only truly help others when they try their best.
This content is so good, I came from recommendations, and I'm not disappointed, I'll support your patreon 😀
I used to really want to become a youtuber until I realized how the platform actually works. Mr Beast is a perfect representation of everything I resent about youtube. I don't see how his life is fulfilling in any way, even if he has a massive following. Living and creating for the purpose of keeping people on a video. The man needs to go outside and chill
Imagine breaking bad in the form of a mr beast video
this is too good!! That point about the lack of humanity / emotional investment is spot on. That’s a component that bothers me most — but who cares what we think bc mr beast’s videos are obviously the best ever 💖
I actually appreciate you uploading shorts on a different channel! Thank you for taking into account the comfort of your viewers. (Wish YouTube would do that itself…)
Something about youtube clicked for me, personally, when I realized that gunnarolla wasn't able to be a full time content creator despite being one of the most recognizable personalities on the platform at the time. It doesn't mean it's not worth doing but it definitely re-contextualized something for me. Another great video!
I kind of hate his videos tbh I think I’ve watched 2 and I couldn’t, I don’t get it
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