I watch YouTube, a shocking discovery about me that I'm sure you will never forgive. And, of course, with YouTube comes YouTube shorts. YouTube shorts, I have discovered, are some of the most time-crushing, soul-destroying content you can find, but that's not what I find truly interesting about them. The reality of shorts is that they just suck. The majority of them are poorly-made edits of different male characters sped up with 1 of 5 songs that they have deemed cool enough. (Note: I am aware similar problems exist on Tik Tok but I don't use the app, so I cannot speak on it.) These two comment wonders are especially funny because, more often than not, they completely misunderstand the point of whatever media they are watching. Sigma male content is not new on YouTube or the internet as a whole, and the issues creating it has some very big implications for society⎼ which I am simply not smart enough to address in a short article about idiots on YouTube.
The Past
Misogynistic content is nowhere near a new and special thing on YouTube. What is now Sigma Male content on YouTube shorts once found its home in “FEMINIST DESTROYED COMPILATION 550” with classic stars such as Ben Shapiro and Steven Crowder. For those who weren’t on YouTube at the time, Alt-right content creators had a massive presence online. Hell, Pewdiepie (his own can of worms), the then-biggest channel on YouTube, brought on Ben Shapiro to one of his biggest series. Needlessly to say, YouTube had a problem⎼ one that they were largely disinterested in changing because right-wingers brought in the big bucks. The alt-right on YouTube was one of the biggest sources of views and ads YouTube had to offer. Because of that, the all-encompassing recommendation algorithm gave you everything to do with destroying feminists with facts and logic. I joke, but this issue led to Nazis and white supremacists gaining a large following due to the recommendation cycle, also known as the Pewdiepipeline.
The Present
These creators may have moved into their own little corner of YouTube, but this problem never fully left. Despite this, YouTube's algorithm did get better, and the most egregious offenders were suspended from the website. Unfortunately, with YouTube’s introduction of TikTok-esque short-form content, misogyny is back and stronger than ever. With this, I must at least address the Elephant in the Room, Andrew Tate. YouTube shorts love this sex criminal, with his pyramid scheme marketing spreading him to every corner of the site. He has inspired a whole new generation of insecure idiots to aspire to be a “sigma”. A sigma male, for those who don’t know, is the new ideal for many teenage boys now, and it qualifies to be the unfeeling, woman-hating man who is “going his own way”. The algorithm loves these so-called sigmas, for example, gym content. I exercise, a shocking discovery about me that I'm sure you will never forgive, and thus I get recommended gym content. Some creators in this section of YouTube are genuinely positive people who simply like getting swole. Unfortunately for us, about ⅔ of the creators are just the worst. They espouse all the same problems I have talked about before. Enjoying gym content is one quick entry into the more radical sections of the Sigma Sphere™. This is only one example of many entry points into the Sigma Sphere™, but my favorite, and the funniest, is the sigma edits.
I watch TV shows, a shocking discovery about me that I'm sure you will never forgive, and enjoyed Breaking Bad and The Boys. According to the sped-up video of Waltuh saying he is the one who knocks set to the background of nightcore “Miss You” by Oliver Tree, Mistah White is the biggest sigma there is. Wasn’t it really cool when he was a narcissistic psychopath who made everyone around him’s life miserable and was the main cause of most of his problems? Oh, and Homelander from The Boys, wasn’t it really cool when he was a narcissistic psychopath who made everyone around him’s life miserable and was the main cause of most of his problems? I’m beginning to think they have a type. All these sigma males are just so damn stupid that they don't realize their fictional idols are the problem. We need to start a mandatory media literacy class in schools so these pea-brained palls can hopefully understand that poisoning children is *gasp* bad. Every single one of their low-effort edits comes up with the worst possible interpretation you’d imagine only literal rocks could come up with. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, but once you hear the 300th rendition of nightcore “Miss You” by Oliver Tree because, for some unknown reason, YouTube thinks it's the peak of art as we know it, you go a little crazy.
The Alt-Right has been a problem on YouTube for a long time, and while steps have been made in the right direction, a lot more can still be made. While I hope one day we can move past this problem, I’ll still enjoy laughing at these Weirdos in the Sigma Sphere™ 's idea of “the perfect man." In conclusion, subscribe to Hasanabi, ok bye.