Good morning all my fellow supporters around the world, and a big hello to all the haters as well.
Just a quick reminder that every time you leave a passive aggressive comment,
or dislike for no reason it only helps the channel grow, which I find hilarious. So thank you too for
your ongoing support, I guess?... Anyway, that’s what this video is going to be focusing on,
haters, critics, trolls, whatever you want to call them. Chances are if you’re trying
to go after your dreams, you’re going to run into a handful of people that either
don’t understand what you’re trying to do, or just don’t like you, for whatever reason.
What better way to express what I’ve learned throughout my life
on this topic than by using the episode, “The Stars” from The Amazing World of Gumball.
This episode begins with Gumball’s dad, Richard, walking into a barber shop,
looking to get a haircut. The only problem is he’s bald with a capital B.
He doesn’t want to admit it though, so he reverts to leaving a mean review online.
The sarcasm in this episode is both amazing and totally accurate. They say not to shoot the messenger,
and that’s exactly what a lot of these haters do. They don’t want to admit that
someone is speaking facts, so they revert to either criticizing the content itself,
or criticizing the person giving the message. Of course, there are always going to be people who
simply don’t agree with what you’re trying to do, or what you have to say, but in a respectable way.
Those aren’t the people I’m referring to. It takes practice, but it’s easy
to tell the difference between a hater and a passionate fan who just wants the best from you.
It’s mostly in their tone, or delivery. If their comment comes off as passive aggressive, or they
say something that doesn’t really make much sense, please do me a favor and don’t take it seriously.
As I said in my video on bullying, there is a 99.9% chance the person hating is going through
some type of emotional pain. So instead of going deep within themselves to solve their problems,
they take their frustration out on some random person they don’t even know.
Richard’s online review gets to Larry’s head, so much so that he offers free haircuts for his entire family if
the review is taken down. Throughout most of the episode, Gumball and Darwin take full advantage of
Larry's weakness. Everywhere they go somewhere, they threaten to leave a 1 star review if they
aren’t treated like kings. I feel so bad for Larry in this episode. My man can’t stay at a job to
save his life. Either that or he’s been cloned a hundred times. Anyway, these are called trolls,
people. If I had to guess, I would say most of them are under the age of like 15. Trolls will
nitpick the hell out of you, and what you have to provide for the world just for fun.
I wish I was joking, but that’s literally the main reason. I know this because believe it or not,
when I was 15, I myself was a troll, so I can see the motivation behind it. It’s an internet flaw. If
you met these people in real life it would be easy to ignore them, but because every comment,
or rating looks the same on the internet, it’s easy to take them seriously.
Because the nitpicking has gotten out of hand in recent years, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that every new
popular internet trend is awful. I’m not sure if I’m the only one who feels this way, but it seems
like everything has to be judged, or criticized nowadays. People can’t just enjoy something
without searching for a flaw or something they don’t like about it. I’ve personally gotten to a
point where I don’t take movie reviews seriously anymore, for instance. I don’t know where this
idea originated from that if a few random people on the internet call a movie, a show,
a video game, or any other type of entertainment “bad” it’s somehow facts, and if you like it,
you should stop liking it. It’s terrible logic. In the words of Anton Ego from Ratatouille,
I want to thank Mark Manson for this next point I’m about to make. So many of us have a hard time
dealing with trolls, but the answer is actually pretty simple. Stop giving an F. The reason why
these reviews get to Larry’s head is because he cares too much about them, but if he, and if
all of us, made the choice to just stop caring and just continuing doing whatever it is we are doing,
or like whatever it is we like, it doesn’t matter what anyone does, or says, it can never defeat us.
Gumball and Darwin create a website that allows them to review everybody,
and everything. Every time someone receives a 1 star review, they take it so personally, to
the point where they literally stop living their life. Obviously, internet reviews are not real,
they’re an illusion, it’s easy to forget this though. The more we spend time on social media,
the realer it feels. So the predictable thing to do would be to just give up, stop doing whatever
it was that brought us joy, and put our lives on hold for these people we don’t even know.
As Richard puts it:
But then what? Live a meaningless, boring life that doesn’t go anywhere?
Usually, if you start seeing more criticism than what you’re typically used to,
it means you’re on the right track. Every successful person has gone through some type
of uncalled for criticism. It’s just part of the job. We can’t control what these people think,
but what we can do is change how we respond to the negativity.
After the website gets shut down by Larry clone #692, the ratings go away,
and everyone goes back to living their lives.
I’ll leave you with this: How would you live your life if you couldn’t be criticized? That is a question that all of us fellow creators
need to take more seriously. Another one is, what do you care most about? By answering
these questions you start to realize what truly matters, and what doesn’t matter. We can choose
to live our lives for a star, for a grade, for a number, or for other types of validation,
or we can just follow whatever it is that brings us joy. Our joy can’t be criticized.
Once you realize that, you learned how to handle criticism. Thanks for watching.