Being a complete strawber on social media and then "apologising"

This is a thing. We need to talk about it etc!

People acting like total strawbers on social media - quite often YouTube - and, some time later, making a fake "apology".

The latest example is this guy who made a video about not paying for travel and food whilst traveling in Japan.

BBC News wrote:He later pretends to be a guest at a hotel in order to get a free breakfast. "And we're leaving the hotel without getting caught and without any problem," he says to the camera.

The guy has 2.4m subscribers and his vid had over 1m views. And now he has made an "apology":

"Hello beautiful people, I apologize to the Japanese people if we made them feel bad that was not our goal!"

This is exactly the style of apology that seems to be made nowdays. "Oh! People got upset because I acted like a strawber and I didn't want them to feel bad! I only acted like a strawber to get hits on my video! Lol!".

Strawbers! Strawbers everywhere!

I think the word "strawber" annoys me far more than somebody stealing a breakfast.

Stop trying to make 'strawb' happen, jawa.

The banana split needs a slap.

Edit: (not Jawa)

"I'm sorry if you felt that way."

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Also in the series:

The Foolproof Guide On How To Get Rich By Being A Corporate Shill Online
The Foolproof Guide On How To Get Rich By Knowing This One Trick Nobody Else Has Discovered

Reminds me of the time Tesco had a go at Peter.

Moggy wrote:I think the word "strawber" annoys me...

Cuttooth wrote:Stop trying to make 'strawb' happen, jawa.

But it's a really cool new phrase that originated in GR

.

Octoroc wrote:The banana split needs a slap.

Edit: (not Jawa)

.

Zilnad wrote:"I'm sorry if you felt that way."

Exactly, man. Faux apologies!

I'm not sure if he has but always amuses me when the apology video is monetised.

The grift never ends.

I've created an alternate account so I can attack racists on twitter, very happy to have it to.

'Strawbers' as a term needs to get in the bin.

jawa_ wrote:
Moggy wrote:I think the word "strawber" annoys me...
Cuttooth wrote:Stop trying to make 'strawb' happen, jawa.

But it's a really cool new phrase that originated in GR .

I'm sorry if you were offended.

Moggy wrote:I'm sorry if you were offended.

I had to watch two adverts before I could read that post

.

jawa_ wrote:
Moggy wrote:I'm sorry if you were offended.

I had to watch two adverts before I could read that post .

...and the accompaying music was to goosebrers

rinks wrote:

What's he done now?!

Hypes wrote:
rinks wrote:

What's he done now?!

Cuttooth wrote:Stop trying to make 'strawb' happen, jawa.

The influencers need to be stopped.

I would have to say. Even a sincere apology (albeit admittedly better than no apology or a feigned one) is relatively useless when compared with actions. Words also do little or close to nothing on their own.

In an apologetic culture, like England, it's pretty easy to apologise however sincerely at every opportunity (and so often as to become quite meaningless). What this inadvertently creates is a culture in which you can get away with whatever if you say sorry. No you can't. It's far harder to correct your mistakes and so hardly anyone does that.

I think I put it well in a letter a while ago, so I'll just quote myself, as I spend a ridiculous amount of time writing similar things.

"... because of the work I have been doing to change, rather than self preserving any kind of arrogance or victimhood, or somewhat pointless mea culpa in place of change (which is pretty much another excuse, that is to say, "I am only human and make mistakes" - the point is to not make the same mistakes repeatedly and expect an apology to change anything, because it won't)."

For that reason, I don't see much value in the phrase, "Being only human...", or "I am only human and make mistakes", either. These are all just variations of absolving oneself of responsibility - and that can include apologising. Many crappy people and manipulators learn this tactic. As long as they say "sorry", everything's fine.

I guess some people may never apologise but they do stop the behaviour. I'd rather that than someone who apologises all the time but never changes.

The media cycle for this sort of thing is pretty short. So yes, you'll get an apology of some description, or a non-apology like that, and people will move on. But does anyone follow up on that?

On the other hand, the only thing you really can change is yourself, so in general, people probably should move on. People can change, but they do it without you. You can contribute to the environment in which change might be more likely, or easier, but that's about it.

A lot of generalisations in this post, so I'm not talking about specific crimes or trauma etc.

KK wrote:The Foolproof Guide On How To Get Rich By Being A Wanker Online. Out now at Waterstones.

Considering my recent viewing figures, i should probably buy that.

Being a complete strawber on social media and then "apologising"

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