Viewer Discretion Advised?

Something that's been bothering me lately (it seems many of my recent posts are about that) is all the censorship going around. No, I don't mean in the news or social media banning users or something like that, though these are indeed real issues.
No, the one that's been bothering me is that I keep seeing censored videos/images, both on Facebook and YouTube. Well, I don't think they're new to YouTube, but they're still annoying and that's not really the issue, whether they're new or not.

Just now, I was clicking on a video and I was stopped by YouTube warning me the content might be inappropriate for some users, I must click again to show I'm willing to risk it. Now, before you get any ideas into your heads, it was a music video for the song 'Hurricane' by 30 Seconds to Mars. And while I get why it's inappropriate (the full, uncensored version features quite a bit of nudity, several BDSM scenes and things like that), I don't get why YouTube feels the need to tell me that. Chances are that if I'm a fan of the band (which I am), I'm gonna click through to it. 30STM made that video for their fans, I imagine they knew what their fans would like to see. And even those who didn't like it...who cares? You don't like it, you move on.

Not anymore. Now, you need to be pampered, precautions need to be taken so that big baby doesn't get upset. I know, you might think such warnings are for kids who might've stumbled on that video. But let's be serious for a second, if kids want to see something naughty, chances are they will get around whatever barriers you set them. They're children, they're not stupid. So no, the 12 year old who wants to go on that video won't click away simply because you tell him it's inappropriate. He'll want to see it even more when you tell him that because that's how humans work. We like forbidden fruit, remember?

So if it's not for kids, then for whom? Adults? Why? What's the worst that can happen? You see the video or the censored image or whatever it is and you don't like it. Big whoop, who has time to get upset over that? Especially on YouTube, where you clicked on that video, you should take the risk you might not like what you see. Do we really need a special extra warning telling us we might be upset?

Are we made of cotton-wool? Well, yes. Most of today's society is in fact made of cotton-wool. The slightest disturbance is enough to destroy their pretty pink world, making them run back to their safe spaces. And this sort of behavior by media giants such as YouTube and Facebook only encourages that sort of shit. Used to be you saw a naked lady, you moved on, you saw a violent video, you moved on. Sure, you might see some stuff you don't like or something that upsets you, but that's life. And no, pretending it's all perfect won't actually make it so. A few weeks back, when the whole story with those murdered Swedish girls was making the rounds I kept finding it censored on Facebook. I don't mean the video, either, you know, just articles about it. Dude, somebody is murdering innocents and you have time to get upset it popped up in your feed? What you don't know can't hurt you, right? Until they come for you and then, nobody will know because it will be censored.

I'm tired of seeing all these warnings, like I'm a toddler who needs to be told not to play with knives. Let me cut myself, for fuck's sake. If I see something truly disturbing, then I'll learn not to go on such videos in the future.

Oh, that video by 30STM is quite great, by the way, you should watch it (if you're not a snowflake easily disturbed by a bit of skin). It has a great message behind it, too. But why focus on the deeper message when we can be fragile little princesses?

Basically, the message is there's a dark side to each of us and if we don't face it, it will end up destroying us. Very true and quite interesting realization. Seems to me like that message has a lot more potential to upset you than a naked ass. But why bother thinking about it when you can be “triggered” by a man spanking some lady?

Thanks for reading,