Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Helping Brett Keane with his image?

Almost everyday I search YouTube for my name to see if any new videos are made. Lo and behold Brett Keane made one to me, basically a follow up from our BlogTV discussion. I can honestly say that Brett Keane is a mystery to me. It is either he completely does not understand why so many people don't like him, or that he chooses to ignore those reasons. Irregardless here is his video and my response



The video was removed and I do not have a copy

For some reason Brett wanted to show this picture of me from 4 years ago when I was much heavier. Completely disregarding the progress I have made towards a healthy weight. The photo is a screen shot from my video Exercise Fail

Here is another screen shot from the same video only a bit more close up


Here is a more recent photo of me from the chest up from two weeks ago


Now in the video Brett Keane discusses a topic that came toward the end of the BlogTV discussion we had, which is embedded below. I asked him if he enjoyed being one of the most hated people on the internet or if he would prefer if more people liked him. He gave a short answer on BlogTV essentially saying that he did not want approval from bad people. This video apparently is a follow up and his explanation for why so many people don't like him. He essentially stated that it was his religious beliefs that cause so many people not to like him. I happen to disagree but first I want you to listen to our BlogTV discussion so here it is. (My computer slows down when I turn on the Webcam so I just run BlogTV from ManyCam which allows me to use a photo. The lady is named Raquel Darrian if anyone is interested)




Brett Keane posted a video critical of a video by TheSkepticalHeritic Brett Keane titled his video "TheSkepticalHeritic - Child abuse and E-Begging" The main problem Brett Keane had was he considered the fact that the beneficiary of the fundraiser to be the victim of child abuse because she said some bad words. To justify his claim of ChildAbuse Brett Keane posted a short clip of this girl referring to Brett Keane as an asshole.

I became aware of this video when I posted a comment on CreatonistCat's video (The fundraiser organizer) Here is a screen shot of the comment exchange


You may have to right click on the image to open into a new tab to get it to read properly. Needless to say, I was livid. A couple of people wanted to get together to try and raise money to help someone who had their house robbed, and this guy wants to start drama. So I invited him to BlogTV not so much to yell at him, but in an earnest desire to understand his logic. So now you know the back story. Here is part 2



So by using Brett Keane's own definition of child abuse I convince him that there is no child abuse going on. He then goes on to say that the child is being forced to do these videos. I then challenge his definition of forced with my own definition. Brett Keane then asks what would happen if Child Services were called. I essentially told him that they would laugh if someone called them to report a child using bad words. However it turns out that Child Services were called and they contacted the father who eventually came into the BlogTV event. So apparently Child Services did not laugh but after reviewing the case decided to close it. How many CPS investigations do you know of that start and conclude in one day? There was NO evidence of abuse.



This is where I ask him if he enjoys having so many people hate him. I bring up VenomFangX who back a few years ago did the same thing that Brett Keane has done. Abuse of the DMCA to silence criticism, and making baseless accusations against people ect. VenomFangX will always have his detractors but he has gone a long way towards rebuilding his reputation. Look at how people interact with him and the video responses he gets now, compared to what was said about him 2 years ago. In my opinion Brett Keane should try to do the same but to start drama by accusing people of Child Abuse without evidence is not going to accomplish anything other than more hatred. His only evidence for child abuse was that she called him names.



In this part I challenge Brett Keane's analysis of the content of the channel featuring this young girl. We also discuss whether or not it would be a good idea to contact the parent and raise concern in private regarding the language or if it would be more effective to post a video accusing the father of child abuse. Brett Keane stated in this discussion that he discovered this channel via TheSkepticalHeritic but it came out later that back when he was running the channel BrettKeaneDotCom 7 months ago he responded to the video where the girl called him names. He left comments on that video.



In this section Brett Keane and I discuss our definitions of neglect. Brett Keane's definition, as said by him, was allowing your child to cuss. My definition is failing to provide for the needs of a child such as food, clothing, and health. Brett Keane eventually offers to change the title and video description but later he decides to remove the video. It also appears he removed the video from his website. We then discuss VenomFangX more and what steps he has made to improve his reputation. I then try to convince Brett Keane that he should try and do the same and try to work on rebuilding his reputation. I ask him what he did to gain 10,000 subscribers back in the day, which he answers in the next segment.



Essentially he answers that he got popular by making videos about Atheism. Which seems to contradict what he said today in the embedded video above. I then give my opinion of why so many people don't like him. When he offers explainations you can hear the frustration in my voice. He then tries to change the subject by going back to the child abuse issue but I bring him back on point. It is his use of the DMCA to silence criticism, posting videos of himself flagging videos down just because he doesn't like the users, and doc dropping and approving doc dropping comments on his videos.

CreationistCat then came on and we discussed the fundraiser and who this young girl is that we are trying to help. It is during this discussion that the girls Dad revealed that he had been contacted by Child Services but thankfully they opened and closed the investigation on the same day. The dad also informs us that the video in question was 7 months ago and he already removed it, but that Brett Keane did see the video and in fact commented on it. I then bring Brett Keane back on to ask why he stated in his video that he claimed to have just discovered this channel when in fact he knew about it 7 months ago.



In my opinion Brett Keane only posted the video to stir up drama with TheSkepticalHeritic. For the past few weeks Brett Keane has been posting videos to TheSkepticalHeritic trying to illicit a response. In my opinion had Brett Keane's concerns regarding this child were true he would have made his video 7 months ago instead of now when TheSkepticalHeritic posted a video asking people to help this family.

Now to address the points made in Brett Keane's video

Brett Keane the reason you have so many detractors is not because of your religious views or because you post videos critical of other users. There are many atheist channels that constantly get positive ratings. There are also channels dedicated to being critical of other users such as Undertakerfreak1127, YTWatchdog, or TheArchfiend ect. The reason why some people don't like you is because of your past abuse of the DMCA to silence criticism. It is because of you posting videos like this bragging about flagging people down.



Now Napalm sadly has openly admitted to mass flagging and in my opinion he should not do that if he decides to make a return to YouTube.

Not only has Brett Keane doc dropped in the distant past, what actually got his first account shut down, but within the past few months has allowed comments to be approved that doc dropped others. His video comments were always set to approval so he can't claim as he did in our BlogTv chat that he simply failed to react quick enough to remove the comments. He saw the comments and approved them. It is this type of behavior that Brett Keane should stop and even attempt to make amends. Of course it will take a few years of good behavior before people will come around and give him another chance.

He can continue to make videos attacking religion, he can even make videos critical of other users. That has never been the problem. The flagging has to stop. Yes I am aware that people still try to flag him, but two wrongs don't make a right. Acknowledge fair use and enbrace it, even when the use of your content is critical or even offensive. Stop with the baseless accusations. Yes I am aware that people accuse you of all sorts of things but again two wrongs don't make a right. You have to understand your reputation comes from how you act. If your act changes eventually so too will your reputation.