Gurus on Youtube

I just wanted to say a few things about something that I've noticed on youtube lately, in regards to "gurus". I am subscribed to several different beauty channels and I am very picky about what I watch. I watch some of the big ones such as Kandee Johnson, Pixiwoo (the first ones I ever watched and still my favourite, if I could only watch one it would be those girls without question), Pixi2woo (Tanya is a close second), and I also watch some not so big ones such as Petjachannel (she's one of my favourites too, I don't nderstand how she's not more popular) and of course I support the Irish gurus like LittleKiva and Siobhan of Letzmakeup (not just cos they're Irish, those girls are brilliant, professional makeup artists). I'm very much attracted to the skills of the artist making the video, and personality helps because I can't stand to watch a video made by someone who doesn't seem to care enough to put an effort in, and equally I don't like OTT bullshit!

One guru who I've started to watch recently, and what came with it is what's prompting me to write this now, is Samantha Schuerman. I, like many others, started off watching her beauty channel. For someone who is not a trained makeup artist I felt she had an amazing knack for makeup, and the more I watched, the more I started to like her as a person. She seems to be such a nice girl, she's quirky in a nice way and can have a laugh about herself. I can't even put my finger on it, I just liked the girl. I learned more about her as I watched her videos too, and this led me to start watching her daily vlogs on her other channel Schuermanshow. I haven't been watching for very long, maybe a couple of months, and to be fair, I liked the little family, I enjoyed watching their videos, but my life wasn't over if I missed one.

When I started watching was around the time of Sam and Jay's (her husband) 2 year wedding anniversary, and they were receiving lots of gifts in the post. I personally found this a bit strange, not so much that Sam and Jay were receiving presents, but more because people actually spent money on this family that were practically strangers to them. Anyway, as time went on, I started to notice a recurring trend in the comments section of their videos - lovers and haters. There are literally fights happening all the time between the 2 groups, it's so extreme that it is actually beyond a joke now. At first I thought it was mental that people seemed to be so offended by the Schuermans (for an array of different reasons, some valid, some ridiculous), but then I was gobsmacked by the people who were jumping to their defense. Nobody could say one remotely negative thing about the Schuermans, no matter how small (sometimes it wasn't even intended to be negative) without getting a torrent of abuse by their "supporters". To be honest, I'm not even going to go into the details of it, too much has been said and done and it's very tiring and time-consuming, not least for the Schuermans themselves.

I understand that when someone puts themselves out there on the internet for people to watch, they're going to face some scrutiny and criticism as well as receiving support and encouragement. And of course everyone is entitled to an opinion, that's what the comments section is for. However, the extremity of the views in regards to the Schuermans has effectively ruined the whole thing. It got so bad that, the other day, Sam herself had enough and decided to shut their channels down, without warning. I personally think that this was the right thing for them to do, but after a couple of days they decided to start a new channel (due to their fans begging and pleading with them to do so). Now I completely get it that they felt they had the support of their fans and were going to start clamping down on internet bullying, because that is what they were dealing with. However, now they are receiving a backlash of a different kind, and Jay in particular seems to be unable to do anything right in their fans eyes. Everything he says is taken the wrong way (God forbid the man wants to defend his family), and he has now said that they will take a break until the new year. Of course he got a backlash for that too.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the Schuermans #1 fan by any means, and some of the points people made against them I would agree with to an extent. What I don't agree with is attacking a young family from behind a computer screen, for what appears to me to be no good reason. The hatred towards them, and also the adoration people have for them has ruined the whole thing for me, and I bet lots of other people too. The fights, the nastiness, the personal insults - there's just no call for it. I know I've given detail about the Schuermans but in reality, most gurus experience it.

I was recently led to a website called gurugossip.com, which is exactly what it says it is. They have a "Trash a Guru" section, with sections for most of the big names in youtube, and the users literally do just that, trash gurus. Most of the gurus on youtube seem to be aware of it, with Sam of Pixiwoo even commenting once to defend herself and Nic (her sister) against stupid accusations. While I reiterate again that everyone is entitled to their opinion, this website is the most disgusting, nasty place on the internet as far as I'm concerned. The claims made against some of the gurus are horrible, spiteful, exaggerated and while some have truth to them, most absolutely do not, and the people who are involved in some of the debates should be ashamed of themselves. Why do people think it's ok to act so disgracefully towards another human being just because it's on the internet? They wouldn't behave like that to someone's face. And I bet the people involved are normal, everyday people who go about their daily business without calling anyone any names or any drama, they probably have friends and family who think they're brilliant. They should stop and ask themselves how they'd feel if the show was on the other foot.

I think the Schuermans should be left to have their Christmas in peace and that goes for anyone who is brave enough to put themselves out there for people to rip apart. I just don't condone bullying behaviour in any form, no matter who it's against - nobody deserves it. Make your point constructively and respectfully and then move on. It's been turned into a whole fiasco and it didn't need to go down that road at all. So what I say is, think about what you say, if there's a need to say it, how you say it, and the age-old saying "Treat people how you like to be treated", then hopefully we can all make the internet and youtube a nicer place to be!

Thanks for reading,

Suzie