why i HATE CDawgVA - My problem with Connor as a Japanese person

So today I want to talk about a pretty big

YouTuber called CDawgVA, one of my

favorite YouTubers who— well, I used to be

a very big fan of CDawgVA and used to

watch a lot of his videos since a very

long time ago, but recently I can't really

say that I can support him very much.

I've kind of got 2 bones to pick with him.

Number one, he is kind of disrespectful to

his viewers, and also he's kind of

disrespectful to the privacy of the

Japanese people when he's out and about

live streaming on Twitch.

So the main thing I find kind of annoying

about CDawgVA is the way he's got this

very strict policy about not taking photos

or selfies with fans when he livestreams.

Obviously people know where he's going to

be located and they try and find him, and

if they ask for a selfie, he usually says,

no, sorry, I don't take pictures.

Do you think I could get a picture?

Oh, sorry, I'm not doing pictures.

Okay, so you don't like stream snipers,

right?

Uh, yeah, mostly not.

And this all kind of started with

PewDiePie refusing to take pictures with

selfies— I mean, with fans— which I've

always found extremely bizarre, weird, and

very disrespectful.

Number one, it literally takes 5 seconds

to take a selfie with a fan.

Number 2, if it wasn't for the fans, you

wouldn't have any money.

You would have to go and get a real job

like the rest of us.

The only reason why you've got millions of

fans and hundreds and thousands of

millions of dollars in the bank account

and you don't have to get a real job like

everyone else is thanks to your fans.

And the fact that you won't even take 5

seconds of your day to take a little

selfie, which would make their day, it

would really, really make them happy if

you just took the selfie and all it costs

you is what, 5 10 seconds and you don't

want to do that, I find that extremely

selfish.

So basically what you're saying is that

you signed up to be a famous person, a

celebrity basically, and you're refusing

to do the things that are part of the job

of when it comes to being a celebrity.

Yeah, you've got to take photos, you've

got to answer questions from the press and

the media, you'll get harassed by people

who want to take your photo, the

paparazzi, if you get to that level of

fame.

You can't just turn around and say, oh, I

don't want to do that, I don't want to do

this.

You should have thought about that before

you decided to embark on this journey

towards becoming a celebrity or like like

a B-list celebrity as a YouTuber.

Now I can kind of accept that it might be

a bit annoying if you're not making any

content and you're just going to the local

supermarket to get some food, or you're

just trying to enjoy a nice day out with

your family at a restaurant, and then some

fan comes up and he's like, oh hey, can I

get your signature?

Can I get autograph?

Can I get a photo?

Yeah, okay, it might be a bit annoying,

but when you're literally live streaming

to your entire audience on Twitch, to an

audience of over 20,000 people, and you're

just telling everyone, hey guys, I'm right

here, you can easily track me down and

follow me, if you wanted to, but please

don't do that.

Obviously, a lot of people are going to

respect that and they're going to listen

to you, but a lot of people are just not

going to care or listen to your wishes

because they just want to meet you.

They love you.

You've got millions of people who love you

and love your content.

Obviously, there's going to be a few

people who would be desperate to meet you

no matter what.

And I think it's kind of silly to

livestream in public and not expect people

to come find you, especially if you're in

a very popular area like Tokyo or some

kind of big American city where most of

your viewers are probably from.

Obviously they're going to come and track

you down.

So I don't think you can really complain

about it.

I think if you don't like that, then you

shouldn't be doing IRL streaming.

Just stay in your room and livestream,

because I mean, what really is the

difference?

Because you're just really doing it to

interact with viewers.

And if the main reason is not to interact

with viewers, which is kind of stupid,

obviously you do a livestream to interact

with the viewers.

But when he livestreams, he barely ever

says anything to the chat.

Even when he gets donations, he never says

thanks for the donation, mainly because

he's just getting too many to be able to

really acknowledge all of them and just

say

Oh, thanks for the $5.

Thanks for the $2.

I personally thank every single donation I

get because I don't really get many.

But he doesn't even say thanks for the

donos.

He doesn't really talk to the chat.

The chat is just constant barrage of

endless people chatting, so he can't

really talk to them because there's too

many of them.

But he doesn't really talk to his chat.

He doesn't say thanks for donos, and he

doesn't like it when he gets stream

sniped.

So he doesn't want any kind of fan

interaction.

Then what is the point of doing a

livestream?

Why not just vlog it?

If you want to go out and show life in

Japan and show interactions with people

and stuff,

you could just bring a GoPro or a camera

and just film it, and you don't have to

worry about the fan interaction because

there wouldn't be any until after you've

posted the video.

The only reason to do a livestream over a

vlog is because a livestream is like a

lazy way to make content.

You don't really have to plan anything,

you don't have to worry about the editing

or the cinematography.

You just like go live and that's it, and

people will watch it because they're your

fans.

And also you get all the donations and

it's like easy money.

So I'm mainly thinking it's just like a

cash grab to do all these livestreams

instead of making a video that takes a bit

more effort, but then you also get

cut out the unwanted fan interaction,

which he blatantly doesn't want any fan

interaction when he does his live streams.

And then coming to my second problem with

him, it's kind of a problem with IRL

streaming in Japan, is the fact that you

can't edit the stream.

You can't blur out people's faces, you

can't put a mosaic over their face whilst

you're live.

And in Japan, they've actually got very

strict laws when it comes to people's

privacy when showing their face on

television.

Television broadcasters and television

programs have to follow very strict

regulations when it comes to filming

outside.

They need permission to do anything,

basically.

I've seen programs in Japan where they

didn't get permission and they basically

had to blur out the entire screen, and the

only thing you could see was like this

square bit in the middle where the

presenter was standing and visible.

And they had to blur out everything else,

like the shops, the background, the

streets, people's houses, people's faces.

If anyone comes into the shot, they had to

be blurred out.

When it comes to television in Japan,

they're very strict about keeping people's

privacy private.

But you only got all these streamers in

Japan, like YouTubers, Twitch streamers,

Kick streamers, that just walk around with

a camera filming everything.

And in most cases, it doesn't really

matter because these streamers don't

really get many viewers.

But with someone as big as CDawgVA, he

gets over 20,000 concurrent viewers.

This is probably more viewership than a

lot of TV programs get in Japan.

And he's just walking around with his

camera on his shoulder on the streets of

Japan.

People don't really know that he's

filming, or not really aware that he's

filming, or at least not really aware that

they're being shown to over 20,000 live

viewers and also hundreds of thousands of

VOD viewers who watch the video, the

stream, after it's ended.

So they just have no idea that they're

being exposed to this level of exposure.

And when I streamed in Japan, some people

weren't very happy with me walking around

pointing a selfie stick because they don't

want to be filmed.

And I think, okay, in a public space, you

know, you have the right to film.

It's public space.

But also people have the right to be

annoyed and not want to be caught on

camera when they're just going out and

about doing their daily tasks.

And it's just kind of frustrating that all

these other people get pushed back and

they have to follow these regulations like

on TV, and they make videos like— even

Chris Broad, when he makes a video

outside, he'll blur out people's faces.

But Connor goes live on Twitch and he

doesn't have to care about it, and he

doesn't get any pushback because let's

face it, he's white, he's pretty

good-looking, he's tall and handsome.

Japanese people love white people, and if

you're handsome, they love you even more.

If I go around the streets of Japan

streaming, let's be honest, I look kind of

creepy because I'm kind of weird and I'm

not white.

I've never been praised or complimented

for looking foreign because I basically

don't really look that different to your

average Japanese person.

And most Japanese people wouldn't even

believe that I'm from England even if I

told them.

They'll be like, oh, did you move there?

Oh, were you originally from China and

then you immigrated?

No, I was born in England.

I'm actually half white even though it

doesn't look like it.

Yes, my dad was fully white, but I never

get any compliments.

I never get people coming up to me on the

street saying, oh, hello, welcome to

Japan, where are you from?

But if you're white, blue-eyed,

blonde-haired, or not even that, all

you've got to do do is be white.

People will come up to you and they'll

just— well, Japanese people come up to

you, initiate conversation, try and

practice their English.

So people love Connor in the streets of

Japan.

Japanese people love him because he's

white and he's pretty good-looking and

he's got kind of confidence and charm.

It doesn't come across as creepy like I

do.

I streamed outside in Japan.

I got yelled at from old men.

I had young boys, like teenagers,

harassing me, screaming in my ear as they

rode past on their bicycles.

Also a gang of kids ran up to me with

fists curled like they're gonna about to

fight me just because I was walking around

filming.

So I get very different treatment when I

IRL stream in Japan, but he doesn't, and I

find that kind of unfair.

But you know, we live in a racially biased

society, so you can't really help that.

For example, he literally just walks

around drinking streets in Japan, Tokyo,

with his friend Pete, and they just go

into bars.

And okay, they've got the camera focused

on them for most of the time, But when

they enter the bar, they show everything.

They show everyone.

Everyone's in the shot.

Sometimes they actually point the camera

at the bartender or the person behind the

bar and they capture everyone in the shot

without asking.

Did they ask for permission of everyone

else in the bar?

Did they say, oh, is it okay if I take

everyone's video for the livestream?

No, they didn't.

They just assumed that everyone's going to

be cool with it when they don't know that

everyone's going to be cool with it.

They just think, oh, we'll get away with

it because we're white and we're funny

guys.

Yeah.

So very disappointing behavior and

attitude coming from CDawgVA.

And I don't like this precedent

that these streamers are setting where

they're acting very entitled, acting like

they don't need the viewers, refusing to

take selfies, which is a bare minimum

effort little task, thinking that they're

better than the viewers when the viewers

are basically the ones who made them in

the first place.

They think they're like hot stuff when

actually, uh, we need— they need us more

than we need them.

They could disappear and we'll just find

some other guy who's streaming in Japan,

and they're just basically easily

replaceable.