Tuesday 23 March 2010

Question: Are you capitalizing off this? (in repspect to a YouTube post).

@s10458 Q. Are you capitalizing off this?

This is a good question. The short answer is yes, but of course that is only part of the answer. The majority of posts we get are positive and heart warming and people are genially interested in updates.

I set myself some moral guidelines over two years ago and I am happy to say I have not broken these in any aspect. We have not ‘sold out’, we do very few interviews and television appearances by choice. We do not advertise on the pages over and above the standard things offered by YouTube despite daily requests. We save any monies earned as we view it as the boy’s future. We have not changed as a family.

The word capitalise means 'to draw advantage from'. Yes we do that and I have answered on this basis. I do not think there are many people who would not draw advantage from something that falls in their lap. However we have not ‘taken advantage’ and we have not really done anything more than we would have done without the YouTube interest. If you meant capitalise in any other context then you should disregard my answer.

A minority of people say we exploit the boys. The definition of exploit is ‘to employ to the greatest possible advantage’ or ‘to use selfishly or unethically’. Another definition is ‘to advertise and promote’. Had you used this word and meant either of the first two then firstly I would not have bothered to answer your question but if I had to answer I would have said no. I hope you can see this from the paragraph above. Do we ‘advertise and promote’. Well actually we don’t do this either. I have only once sent out a message to people on YouTube when I have put a new clip up and the only other places you would find links are on the blog, Facebook and Twitter for those who subscribe.

The problems I see are that people struggle to actually understand the words they are using (especially with relation to other more appropriate words) and therefore are not able to understand answers they may get in the correct context. Words are used because other people have used them there appropriateness is not necessarily a concern. People assume their view and understanding of the world is either the same as everyone else’s, the only view possible, or both. I also see people unable to review something objectively, i.e. without bringing in their own preconceived prejudices of what is right or wrong. The English language is rich and subtle. However in these times we live in people seem to struggle to understand anything within the boundaries of extremes.

To some I am sure they have no idea what I am talking about. Those are the people who leave comments that I have to clean up later.

2 comments:

  1. Good day how is your family doing? good i hope. i like how you answer the question as it seems you are doing it with the boys future in mind. through the videos that you shared we the public could catch glimpses of how the your children have grown and how the family bonds. so kudos for taking the opportunity for the benefit of your kids.

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  2. You are saving the money for the boys, you are not "using" them to support the family financially. You are maximizing an opportunity, I commend you!

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