So I'm posting this late Monday, just before going to work.
I mentioned, in my previous article, that the producers who had left Channel Awesome were building a document detailing all of their grievances with the website. Everything that had been revealed by the 20+ producers on the Twitter thread, to which even more has been added.
This is where you can read the document. It's 69 pages of grievances, some of which are confirmed bamong various producers, along with a lot of new stuff. I am warning you all right away: This is a difficult read. It contains horror stories that wouldn't have flown in any other company. The last few pages, in particular, contain a LOT of new elements that weren't described in the Twitter thread. Including actual sexual assault. I am not kidding.
Accounts from around 20 members of Channel Awesome (and former management) on our various mistreatments over the course of ten years. Mismanagement, sexism, sexual harassment, negligence, and shady behavior. #ChangeTheChannel https://t.co/BaDhfpGfMl— Allison Pregler 📼 (@Obscurus_Lupa) April 2, 2018
The whole thing is 65 pages long, so if you'd like a condensed version, here's what @SuedeBlade handily compiled. https://t.co/r43P6HUWT3— Allison Pregler 📼 (@Obscurus_Lupa) April 2, 2018
As for how I feel on the issue: Well, I already said it on my previous post about #ChangeTheChannel. I was angry that so many stories had been hidden from the public eye for so long, but I was far angrier at the upper management from Channel Awesome, which responded to the controversy by attempting to ignore it entirely, even though that was going to blow up in their faces eventually.
Then, to prove that miracles do happen, Channel Awesome actually responded!
"We're actually responding, look! Basic 'we have a good enterprise' damage-control PR that wouldn't fly from a respectable enterprise. We fired Mike Ellis years ago, wasn't that enough? We're gonna improve; sorry you all got so offended. But you guys have critiques that aren't 'constructive', we're probably gonna ignore you. We're gonna keep going no matter what you guys do, so stick it."
I... am not really exaggerating here. What they do is a classic non-apology. They're basically blaming the victims. Which, considering the sort of abusive personality that's been revealed coming from Mike Michaud in the Twitter thread and Google document, isn't actually a surprise.
And you have to realize, I stupied in social communications in university. I've had PR classes. I know how this stuff works. Not only did they do it badly, they did ity spectacularly badly. Hint hint, when you fuck up, you acknowledge you fucked up, especially in a wide-released "apology".
You know, when I said I was inspired by Doug Walker to start my own blog? That came with some of the comedic traits. Getting super-angry at stuff as trivial as films, that was everyone's schtick in the early days of the medium of online video reviews. Even then, I realize I was more mellow, more agreeable even when I began.
I realized long ago that, no matter how angry I get and how overblown people's reactions to stuff may be, there is nary a film, game, or piece of media out there that can actually harm me. There may be something out there. But overall, an exaggerated response is good for some jokes, little more. As my interests shifted, I began to change from someone angry at the stuff he reviews to someone angry at the stuff that often surrounds the works reviewed - i.e., horrible business practices, actors suffering, companies being assholes. The real life stories are worse, because they affect real people, are the burden of many to carry, are the things that often require a massive event to come out into the open.
Works of fiction can make me angry at times, but it's ultimately a way to make jokes. It's part of the act, it's the man behind the curtain making the reaction worse than it is for kicks and giggles. Shitty real life events, however, make me genuinely angry. I am mad at this. Everything the document reveals pisses me off. The non-apology offered in return pisses me off even more, on a level that I would have never thought possible. Not in an overblown way, mind you; I'm not raging behind my keyboard, foaming at the mouth, typing this with enough force to break my keys. The rage comes from a more calculated, reasonable place.
A silent place that nonetheless wants to scream all the obscenities I know at one guy I used to admire, that guy's brother, and their puppetmaster. I have already made my opinion clear on Twitter, and will probably keep on posting there if I have anything else to add on the matter. This is, most likely, the second and final post I'll make for my blog about this hashtag.
I will, however, keep an eye on the hashtag and anything that may come from it.
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