#meatthezoo

[biographiness]

On April 23, from quills to pixels, history unfolds: Shakespeare’s birth, Roosevelt’s stirring speech, and YouTube’s humble beginnings. Celebrating creativity, courage, and digital revolutions!🎭✍️📹💡

Follow👉 @biographiness

[serpsmusic]

Ya #migato🐈‍⬛ está esperando lo nuevo de @karolg #gatúbela🐱 #meatthezoo🐘🐘 #serpsmusic #musicserps ® (at Premium Collection) https://www.instagram.com/p/Chnk_gFAidu/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[workingfuture]

@tabilabo_news : 今日はなんの日？ 4/23は、 #YouTube にはじめて動画が投稿された日 #MeAtTheZoo わずか19秒のおもしろみのない動画（失礼！）が2億2000万再生超え！すべてはココからはじまった！ https://t.co/jZ1yNPYj0Q (via Twitter https://twitter.com/tabilabo_news/status/1517692240277254144)

[nb-fe-nerd]

Leave Queer People Alone

Sidebar: Chris Crocker is known to fluctuate in pronoun usage, so to respect this, I will be alternating between he/him and they/them pronouns.

Me At the Zoo is a documentary film about the social media fame of Chris Crocker and how he, as a gay trans person deals with the repercussions of it. It is a jarring, shocking film that shows just how dangerous social media can be, especially towards minority groups such as the LGBTQIA+ community (specifically gay and trans people). Chris Crocker gained popularity as a YouTube artist with a passion for Brittany Spears and being their true self. Unfortunately, as Brittany’s life started to spiral out of control (from her experiences with social media and fame), Chris’ followed suit. He gained his fifteen seconds of fame and started to receive constant harassment online and death threats. This caused him to go into hiding for a while out of the fear that he may be harmed or killed in the process of all of this. Chris Crocker is a perfect example of what it means to be a Queer person in today’s world of social media and fame. Queer people are constantly targeted on social media and face the risk of death/death threats, harassment, and mental health issues.

When it comes to the risk of death threats, Queer people are disproportionately targeted. According to TSER (Trans Student Educational Resources), 1 in 12 trans women are murdered and this number rises to 1 in 8 for trans women of color. According to the NCAVP (National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs)’s Mid-Year Report for 2017, they report 36 hate violence related homicides of LGBTQ and HIV-affected people, which is the highest number ever recorded by the NCAVP. With these statistics in mind, it can seem very daunting to live life as a Queer individual. With social media added into the equation, things get even more dangerous. Heterosexism runs rampant on social media, and as Queer people continue to increasingly use social media, they run the risk of putting themselves in harm’s way.

Queer people are also disproportionately harassed; according to TSER, 58.7% of gender non-conforming students experienced verbal harassment in the year the survey was conducted because of their gender expression compared to 29% of their peers. 49% of trans people also reported physical abuse in a 2007 study done by TSER. Gay and Trans people also face high rates of workplace discrimination and harassment on top of all of this. As we look at the teenage life of Chris Crocker in Me At the Zoo, we see the harassment and discrimination they face constantly for being a gay trans youth. They even decide to be home-schooled instead of going to public school, for the terrifying reason of “I’m gonna get killed”. Queer people such as Chris Crocker have to deal with constant harassment and this does not bode well for their mental health. The video below talks about this:

As we can see from this video, Queer people not only face the risk of murder or injury, they also face the risk of poor mental health and substance abuse as well. According to AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention)-Williams Institute, 41% of trans people have attempted suicide which vastly exceeds the 4.6 percent of the overall U.S. population who report a lifetime suicide attempt. This number is still high for lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults who report ever attempting suicide, coming in at 10-20 percent. From these statistics, we can obviously see that Queer people disproportionately commit suicide and this stems from the harassment and discrimination we see all over social media and in real life.

I argue that Me at the Zoo highlights important issues about the struggles of Queer people and Queer youth as they navigate the social atmosphere we have today with social media outlets such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram. It touches on the harassment and discrimination they face and leaves us with a jarring feeling of helplessness as we come to realize how toxic social media is when heterosexism constantly pollutes it. If we want to help Queer people feel safer on social media, we must talk about these issues and talk about the consequences of social media. Social media is good for the world, but it must be good for everyone. Everyone.

[teeyou17-blog]

A Curse and A Blessing

The documentary ‘Me at the Zoo’ is about a then younger Chris Crocker, who considered himself as a transgendered man. He takes us through his daily routines of making a video of his everyday life and posting it on the internet. Initially, he did not get any recognition for any of the videos he puts up, but as the video gets more eccentric, viewers started to pick up on it, and a significant amount of views have multiplied overnight. I argue that as people become more successful in Hollywood, there would be a bigger price to pay. Crocker did not go to high school, due to safety reason. He knew that he would not be accepted by other kids.He could not dodge the inescapable judgments and violence of teenagers because he is gay. 

Crocker was a massive fan of a celebrity sensation name Britney Spears. He devoted his time and money to find out every single thing about Britney Spears. He bought all of the magazines with her on it as well as posters and albums. Crocker would defend her on the internet when trolls would say atrocious things about her. Soon he will realize that this obsession with Britney would lead him into becoming an overnight youtube superstar.

Youtube came about in 2006; it is a place on the internet where people share any videos for other people to see. Anyone with a webcam can become famous. Youtube created what is known as couch potatoes to becoming producers. Youtubers, as they called themselves, can make money from the ad revenues shown during their videos. Youtube has become the next step in the evolution of the internet. Crocker, who is already on board with the whole internet frenzy, was not going to be left behind. He also created contents and put them on Youtube for people to see. Then came Leave Britney Alone.

Britney Spears has always been in the media spotlight, if she’s not sexually harassed on the internet, she would be bothered by the paparazzi. One night, she has enough people in general, she started attacking the paparazzi and shaved her head bald which surprises the world.Britney decided to shave her head bold to gain control of herself, in a sense that she is tired of people controlling her and telling her what to do. Many months later, she performed on the VMA and received many backlashes about her appearance, that’s when Chris had enough of people making fun of Britney and decided to create a video about it and post it on Youtube, and the rest is history.

After receiving millions of views from the video, Chris started to get offers from tv shows and was flown to LA. He thought the crazier he acted, the more deals he will get. Well, that did not work out. His tv show got canceled and left him broke in LA, which he then decided to move back with his grandmother. He received many backlashes about his failure, and he lost many of his viewers. This is the price that he had to pay to fulfill that fantasy of becoming an internet celebrity. Every time he puts out new videos he received death threats and many despicable comments.

This documentary shows how he feels about his journey in the social media world, which he called the zoo, where not everyone can make it. If they do make it, there sure will be a price to pay.

Please click the link below:

http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/leave-britney-alone-chris-crocker-10-years-later-w502714

[giantangryrobot]

"MeAtTheZoo" is a chilled out organic piece coming to us from RLGNS, a band/producer duo out of Lisbon Portugal. The lads launched an EP earlier this month called "Perceptions" that incorporates themes of nature with some very catchy club style aesthetics. Worth a look, I've been digging it. This one really grows over the course of the track, so grab a nice drink and take your time absorbing the vibe. Official Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMlNQDAqCdI RLGNS http://bit.ly/2Xi6c8X http://bit.ly/2HNVQIz http://bit.ly/2Xi5NmX https://spoti.fi/2HMaCQ9 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVYArxxQjvyjlpoc5-MKesQ/featured http://bit.ly/2XhtrjJ The Giant Angry Robot Spotify Playlist (more playlists coming soon) https://spoti.fi/2E2Rn2Y

[storyio-blog]

The first ever video on YouTube ever