#and abandoning your channel partner through this is pretty awful behavior if that is indeed true

[bulletsandbracelets]

I’m always torn when things like this happen. On one hand - people with an audience of his size do not have the grace to make mistakes the same way others do. And I do sympathize with how much hatred is probably coming his way. That is tough, and I really hope people are not going out of their way to make things worse. The idea that people have to “atone” for things like this is pretty messed up - he will learn or he won’t. Just move forward knowing that.

I think the best thing to do is take it at face value, then decide personally if you think the right lessons were learned. If not, then just continue not supporting him. That’s where I land. I think he probably won’t plagiarize again, but I don’t think he fully accepts why people are upset with him over it. I also think he would be better served with reaching out privately to those he owes apologies to and just leaving the internet profit attempt behind. Because that is always where these apologies fall flat - if you are looking to move forward and continue profiting in the same way, they will never not look like saving face.

I don’t think it’s great to speculate on if an apology is genuine in general when you don’t personally know the person. And I don’t think it’s great to make their life miserable the way some do after things like this come out. But it’s kind of a known effect of the sort of work he’s trying to do, and if the public outcry is affecting him this way, he really should take a break. He shouldn’t already be coming back with talk of new content. All that’s going to bring is a new wave of criticism, even if he does nothing new wrong.

Usually, if there’s enough truth to something like this that it justifies a public apology, the only way to actually “atone” and “make things right” is not coming back into the public spotlight. I don’t personally always think that’s right, but my personal opinion hardly matters. Public opinion is almost impossible to change, especially with public statements.

Me and @thebibliosphere watching the James Somerton apology video together