Welcome to the next level of trivialising mental health issues and turning them into cheap, conveyor-belt entertainment.

The recent series on a US celebrity, Jake Paul, the arbitrarily presumed sociopath, is enough to turn the stomach of anyone who rejects the idea of such a circus based on a serious topic.

The backdrop is an Idiocracy-like entertainment scene, involving people who are so rich they seem detached from reality. None of what goes on there is relatable to most people.

To be frank, I don’t care about any of these individuals – but some things annoyed me so much I feel the need to rant about them. Warning; none of these characters are likeable. 

The therapist pitching a borderline-scamming mental health service is potentially the least likeable of all.

The whole thing was “sponsored by Better Help”, which means it was created with the purpose of highlighting a mental health issue, in order to lure more people to that company, as many videos have been to date.

A popular YouTube content creator (Shane Dawson) secured an invitation to this guy’s house, accompanied by an undercover licensed marriage therapist (also a content creator with a channel based on mental health issues), as well as his cameraman. Together, they had hatched a plan to attempt to determine whether Jake Paul was a sociopath, inclined to think so based on his shock-value videos.

 

Taking advantage of a low IQ Individual…?

To start with, the subject of the “project” seems to be more than a tad slow (having a very limited vocabulary, difficulty processing even simple issues etc). Of course this is just my opinion; I’m in no capacity to claim one thing or another. If this is genuine, it very much looks to me like they took advantage of him to create this caricature of “spot the spath” hunting game, and he was none the wiser.

This guy can barely string a sentence together.

If the whole thing was an arrangement between all of them to garner views and make money (which is possible), I take that back, minus the part about trivialising these genuine issues. Of course that would turn said content creators into liars and wouldn’t be any better on their part.

Throughout the footage filmed at his house, it was clear he had no idea what was going on, while they went around whispering their observations about his behaviour and potential mental condition to each other. Which brings me to the next thing.

Making people trust you in order to back-stab them is scummy 

They were in this guy’s house, laughing and joking and smiling to his face. Pretending to be friendly.

They were filming behind his back, making assumptions about the slightest detail of his behaviour, which seemed polite and natural enough in real time. He smiled, he was nervous, he showed this or that reaction. As if they were observing an animal in a laboratory, or an alien, or something.

The only tension was in their heads; the occupants of the house were behaving naturally and seemed to be having fun, while they were taking “secret” footage discussing the presumed deranged individual.

A genuine therapist…?

The therapist, Kati Morton, has been involved in a number of videos with other content creators recently, to “raise awareness” of mental health issues and plug Better Help, of course.

First off, the whole “undercover therapist” business was unethical. She was allowed into someone’s private space on false pretences, being affable to this person’s face and  pretending/ lying naturally, with no remorse about the deception and her actual plan. All throughout. I don’t know what others think, but people who lie so easily and slip into character effortlessly… well, they show a propensity towards manipulating others. They certainly demonstrate that ability.

Secondly, she showed no empathy for the person she was going to evaluate (without their knowledge and permission). It almost appeared as if she were setting on a journey to spot a rare animal species. She kept saying “they do this, they do that, look out for this, ask this” etc.

Regardless of the scenario – if this is real or fake, the thought that this woman is actually counselling people in any capacity is unsettling. She seemed box-ticking superficial, manipulative (deceiving naturally to reach her goal) and seemed to lack any openness to those she was speaking to.

A therapist is meant to be open to others and actually listen, not merely check if they can tick the boxes on a spreadsheet in order to label someone.

And if the drama is all fake, as some speculate…

Which is an actual possibility, of course.

This therapist is real. Her licence is real. The business she plugs is real. It exploits real people. And the influence all these individuals have through their platforms is still real, at the end of the day.

 

Welcome to Idiocracy.