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Reflecting on BLM and 1 year since Etika passed away

Nothing Loud

Nothing Loud

Literally Cinderella
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,975
When Etika, the famous Nintendo Direct-reactionary YouTuber, started exhibiting signs of mental illness and suicidal threats last year, some people on the internet (including this forum) brushed it aside as a grab for attention and a fake threat. He uploaded an apologetic video about his state of mind on June 19, 2019 and then disappeared.

Etika_in_2019_-_2.jpg


Unfortunately, his body was found in the East River off Manhattan on June 25, 2019.

We already know that healthcare settings take the pain and symptoms of black people less seriously than white people. We already know the police is more brutal to block people than white people. With the backdrop of BLM gaining steam across the USA, I'm reminded about the unfortunate passing of Etika. We don't know how his healthcare team and close friends and family interacted with him in those last months, but I'm sure his passing has affected them. He was beloved by his community yet it was not enough to save his life. Black lives, including Etika's life, matter. And yet Etika's community did not prevent the outcome that happened.

What can we as a gaming community learn from BLM and Etika's passing to be better stewards of our smaller gaming communities and be better allies? What can we learn about our roles in these high exposure celebrity online relationships to be better allies for black lives?

Reflecting on Etika's death, along with the events of this past month, I am reminded to listen to black voices in the gaming community and other circles in general.

Think about it for a bit. What is something we can learn from this to evolve gaming as a community to better support black lives?
 
NO!R

NO!R

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,742
Sometimes I think about this guy. It seems surreal that someone so energetic and hype was snuffed by depression.
 
tokubek

tokubek

Self-requested ban
Banned
Nov 2, 2017
469
Germany
Just listening for starters. There are still just too many people around who don't see (or don't want to see) mental illness and depression as real things that humans have to deal with. Of course there are many layers to this but we have to raise a lot more awareness and empathy as a community.
 
Izanagi89

Izanagi89

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,565
People need to stop treating Mental Illness like a joke, also, fans need to stop treating their favorite content creators like they're not human. i will never forget the clown emojis.
 
snausages

snausages

Member
Feb 12, 2018
10,337
tokubek said:
Just listening for starters. There are still just too many people around who don't see (or don't want to see) mental illness and depression as real things that humans have to deal with. Of course there are many layers to this but we have to raise a lot more awareness and empathy as a community.
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Yes. It's a very privileged sort of mindset which looks at other people suffering from mental illness and doesn't try to understand or become more aware of what might be going on with them, or feels like they don't need to
 
Cordy

Cordy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,323
It's still hard to watch his videos. Damn. RIP Etika. He really should have gotten more help but people just thought he was clowning when his pain could be seen. Those older threads were heartbreaking to read through.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Part of it is giving people the benifit of the doubt. I get YouTubers do dumb shit all the time but sometimes a mental health issue is real.
 
KartuneDX

KartuneDX

Banned
Jan 12, 2018
2,381
His disappearance felt like a huge moment too, especially as someone from NYC. I hadn't even learned about it from online but when I went to see the word after seeing the news (literally local news) the general opinion was ridiculously negative.


klier said:
Me too, but I fail to see why BLM has to be dragged into this.
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Because just as Black Lives still don't matter, Black Mental Health unfortunately doesn't either.
 

Deleted member 11637

Oct 27, 2017
18,204
NO!R said:
Sometimes I think about this guy. It seems surreal that someone so energetic and hype was snuffed by depression.
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People with depression (raises hand) often put a lot of effort into concealing their inner darkness, even from themselves. It's a very isolating illness.
 
Landford

Landford

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
4,678
There are still people on Era that actively mocked his disappearance as attention seeking that are still not banned.

Its really sad. May he rest in peace.
 
MrWindUpBird

MrWindUpBird

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
3,686
While not necessarily purely Black Lives Matter related, discussions about mental illness at large and especially here need to be handled better. A good chunk of Era showed how little they actually understand what people go through when depressed when talking about Etika and how they were so blasé about it. We had posters literally saying they didn't care if he died or not. It was truly shameful.

I was never a fan of Etika as those kinds of reactionary YouTuber's aren't something I ever got much enjoyment out of, but Etika himself seemed like a genuinely passionate person and see his mental capacity decline in real time was shocking and he truly deserved better, which does work in the context of how POC's are overlooked by the medical industry by and large.
 

Deleted member 18944

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,944
We have a mutual friend who ended up in the hospital themselves shortly after this happened, and I was lucky to be NYC to visit them. Suicide truly affects everyone around you, not just yourself, and it was heart breaking to see. Never want to be in a ward again.
 
JusDoIt

JusDoIt

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
34,661
South Central Los Angeles
Etika's community didn't love him. They were entertained by his mental health struggles. It was a game to them.

"They love everything about us except us," is a common refrain among black people for a reason. Don't mistake the attention paid to a black individual by the public for love. Do white people love LeBron James? When he's on the court. When he's off the court it's shut up and dribble. Black lives are never loved, despite how famous that life might be.
 
Valcrist

Valcrist

Tic-Tac-Toe Champion
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,692
Etika is a prime example of how people just don't take mental health issues seriously. It's a shame that went as far as it did.
 
Big_Erk

Big_Erk

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,359
Chief's Kingdom
I had a friend from work, someone that shared my love of gaming, take his own life last year. In my interactions with him I never got the impression that he would do that. Looking back there were things that he said that I just took as him being quirky. Without reading too much into it I hope that anyone who is dealing with depression is not too afraid or embarrassed to ask for help. I don't know if I could have done anything, but I would have tried.
 
Dylan

Dylan

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,260
I've worked in and around mental health for years and I believe we still haven't figured out the basic protocol for helping people in distress. We need an exponential increase in funding social work, for starters, before we can even begin giving people adequate care. I urge everyone to please attention to your local, state/provincial, and federal elections, and demand that funding of mental health care resources are being committed to.
 
Laxoon

Laxoon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Jan 24, 2018
1,831
Had a dream I had stopped him from doing it sometime ago. Miss him a lot, don't think anyone will ever replace that energy he created.
 
Araujo

Araujo

Banned
Dec 5, 2017
2,196
Normally i wouldn't touch a thread like this with a ten feet pole cause Era can be a cesspoll in no time flat for sensitive conversation (and normally is) . That being said...

I Knew very little of Etike aside from the occasional React clip floating here and there. What i got from sheer osmosis when his troubles starting bubbling up was a LOT of people not just saying he was acting up for attention, but that he was not a good person outside of the camera. And that the Youtube struggle and the pressure of the E-Celeb life (which is 100% a real thing) got to him, pretty bad.

And indeed, your fandom can turn your pain into a circus. And often will do... people will gladly feed your worst instincts online just so they can watch you self-destruct. Another thing i saw pretty often around any conversation about Etika in his last few months was many people wishing he would just stop the whole Stream/Youtube thing and get help, take care of himself. There was plenty of talk on how he was surrounded by people who would just enable and instigate self-destructive behavior in his off line live as well. Getting side benefits from his fame.

To toss this conversation "All the way over there", im pretty sure many of you heard of Hana Kimura. Recently became news due to her taking her own life. A Young Wrestler raising in fame at only 22 years old... the cause of it deeply rooted in Online Bullying.
www.dw.com

Suicide of Japanese wrestler blamed on online bullying – DW – 05/26/2020

The suicide of a 22-year-old professional female wrestler has triggered an outpouring of sorrow from friends and fans – but also bitter accusations that she was driven to take her own life as a result of online bullying.
www.dw.com www.dw.com

I can easily drive back 10 years of similar cases from the US and abroad, from black people to latino, asian and many many more.

Is that to say Etika's case matters less or that there is no real struggle behind mental health issues on the black community? Of course not. IF anything else, the systemic racism that endure in the north american culture cannot possibly be talked to without co-relating it to it's impact in the Mental health long term of the same victims of said systemic racism. It just can't.

So, was Etika a decent person off camera? I have no fucking clue. Like i said, i was barely aware of him as a content creator, let alone as a human being. The exact same sentiment can be said of about a thousand or more content creators and celebrities in the early 20's going through absolute horrific mental anguish and pain that was ignited from the once pure spark of wanting to do something they love, turned ugly in a putrid enviroment.

So, what's my point to this?

Maybe there is a discussion to be had on how the public should be educated on using it's power to a more benign cause. Elevating people ( POC as well, of course ) instead of consistently and unabashedly and non-apologetically tearing them down.

This is related, but not just rooted in BLM. People online are all too ready and all too happy to rip your fucking head off just to feel good for a second or two.
 
NO!R

NO!R

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
1,742
Channel5News said:
People with depression (raises hand) often put a lot of effort into concealing their inner darkness, even from themselves. It's a very isolating illness.
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I suffer from it too, but even though I'm fortunate to have a very supportive family it's extremely tricky to convey to them the inner workings of the struggle.

In Etika's case I know for a fact he was insulated from any real care by his fame and online persona. Lots of leeches and fake people only worsen the isolation, plus not having a proper resource to make sense of his demons he just succumbed to shame and suicidal ideation.

That last video he posted walking through the streets, so resigned to end his life, I often think of it.

It's so sad, because it was so preventable.
 
justiceiro

justiceiro

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
6,664
Well, would be good if community treated those celebrities as people for a start.

This community in particular has the tendency of dividing people between those who deserve harassment and who don't. If a celebrity show indication of ideologies that are harmful, quickly that celebrity will be harassed freely. This happened to etika. I still remember his words, when he said he felt like he misstreated the ones who followed him.

Stop demanding perfection from them. Because bad people will just ignore you, but good people will have a hard time forgiving themselves if they don't comply with these demands.
 
Terraforce

Terraforce

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
18,917
I try not to think too much about it, but yeah it still stings. I went my whole undergraduate experience watching his livestreams and taking part in his dumb meme campaigns. His reactions are literally something that can't ever come close to being replicated. Rest in Peace.

Dominic Decoco said:
I will never forget the dumpster fire threads with horseshit takes leading up to his death.
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Yeah the shit was very annoying. Luckily most of the people in question eventually received a ban. It's all fun and games until the person actually offs themselves, then that's when it's time to "feel bad."
 
Alex3190

Alex3190

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,127
I still miss the guy. Dudes hype was way above Huber's and it was great watching his reactions. I can't believe it's already been a year since then. It is sad that no one was there in that time to help him.
 

Pokémon

Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,679
It still makes me angry how his fanbase was memeing despite him showing mental issues on Twitter and YouTube. Sometimes "meme culture" doesn't know when to stop. I still miss him. :(
 
ClickyCal'

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,509
pld said:
It still makes me angry how his fanbase was memeing despite him showing mental issues on Twitter and YouTube. Sometimes "meme culture" doesn't know when to stop. I still miss him. :(
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A huge amount of his fanbase was probably around 14-17ish, so that didn't help at all. Right in the prime edgy phase and not taking anything really seriously.
 
Komo

Komo

Info Analyst
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Jan 3, 2019
7,110
War3190 said:
I still miss the guy. Dudes hype was way above Huber's and it was great watching his reactions. I can't believe it's already been a year since then. It is sad that no one was there in that time to help him.
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People tried but just not hard enough. They sorta just threw him at institutes instead of trying to actually get him the help he needed.
 

Deleted member 13707

Account closed at user request
Member
Oct 27, 2017
851
Up to his death, he just became so much of a spectacle in and of himself, that people just dismissed it as attention grabbing via suicide bait.

That's all too common on the internet. It just becomes a "raising of the bar" to see how can garner the most sympathy/donations. Someone like Etika just got thrown into that pile of lolcows and hasbeens.

We can't separate the characters with such a toxic reputation from those who are seriously losing their grip. The world's empathy has its limits.
 

Deleted member 4034

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
26,560
klier said:
Me too, but I fail to see why BLM has to be dragged into this.
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Because Erika was black and there many instances of black people with mental illness not being taken seriously or they were just seen as a threat and shot for it.

This is a pattern and not just something that happened to your favorite personality.
 
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fontguy

fontguy

Avenger
Oct 8, 2018
16,152
As someone who has lived with severe depression their entire life, and has known the immense pain of being disbelieved, I can forgive people for not taking him seriously. YouTube and huge swaths of the internet in general exist in a constant state of panic and/or outrage over manufactured crises, and even sympathetic or heartwarming tales are constantly revealed to be emotionally manipulative attempts to get those 'likes and subscribes.' The well is thoroughly poisoned.

This goes well beyond "you people didn't believe him," like fans can even intervene in a meaningful way. This is the intersection of multiple societal and systemic failures.
 
Zellia

Zellia

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,769
UK
I wasn't super into Etika or his work, but he stands as a tragic example of what happens when mental health isn't taken seriously. It's not a fucking game and Era really did not cover itself in glory with regards to his behaviour and disappearance - though in truth it seems Etika was failed by all those around him.

I can only hope he has the peace now he didn't have in life.
 
Handicapped Duck

Handicapped Duck

▲ Legend ▲
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May 20, 2018
13,661
Ponds
Etika/Desmond's case was an incredibly sad one, it seemed like he was at a conundrum; either get off the internet and get the help he needed for a few months, but then be without an income. Or, as we sadly saw, stay on the internet/e-celeb train because that is his primary source of income and he doesn't have a choice in leaving, allowing his fans and the internet to exasperate his depression to the end result we saw.

The lack of any proper avenues for mental health for people, but especially black people, shows how society has failed Etika/Desmond and others like him. People need to do better, and learn to recognize signs of depression and crys for help, myself very much included in that.
 
Charred Knight

Charred Knight

Member
Oct 8, 2019
9,128
NO!R said:
Sometimes I think about this guy. It seems surreal that someone so energetic and hype was snuffed by depression.
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Its because of the way we treat mental illness



We ostracize them or pass off our horrendous gun problem on them. We force the police to deal with them which frequently ends with them getting killed because the police aren't properly trained to deal with them.
 
diakyu

diakyu

Member
Dec 15, 2018
17,525
Damn I forgot we were approaching the time of his death. The goat man I loved him.

i think the biggest takeaway was to also treat each breakdown seriously. So many people just rolled their eyes at someone who clearly needed help. I didn't believe it myself till that video with the cops coming to his apartment then I knew something was up. Even then though so many people didn't believe it.
 
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