From Salem to Stonewall

November 4, 2022 10:42 AM

What is a Groomer? is a documentary by little hoot and Caelan Conrad on moral panics, LGBTQ+ stigma, and stochastic terrorism.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs (16 comments total)

The title's fuck you aimed at Matt Walsh is a wonderful bit of shade.
posted by NoxAeternum at 10:46 AM on November 4, 2022 [14 favorites]

The beeps on so many common words are distracting me for some reason.
posted by The Monster at the End of this Thread at 10:56 AM on November 4, 2022 [3 favorites]

This got recommended to me by Jessie Earl, who also did a very detailed dismantling of Matt Walsh's stupid-ass movie (warning, this is almost five hours long). I'm adding it to my watch list after I finish a few more things.
posted by mephron at 12:22 PM on November 4, 2022 [2 favorites]

What is going on with the sound mixing in this video? The voice sounds like all vocal fry with by extremely titchy consonants, and the inhale of breaths are the loudest thing on the whole track. Is this just a case of “I am old now”?
posted by Jon_Evil at 1:30 PM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

I personally have that version of the Dungeon Master's Guide and AC/DC's Highway to Hell (on Vinyl!) but, sadly, no giant statue of Baphomet. Joking aside, I remember being a DND playing, metal-loving teen during the heart of the Satanic Panic and it was not particularly fun, however, the ever escalating conspiracy-baiting and outright calls for violence against the LGBTQ+ community (among others) makes the satanic panic of the 80s look like a delightful afternoon garden party. It's truly terrifying.
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 1:38 PM on November 4, 2022 [16 favorites]

i absolutely comprehend and identify with the gravity of this subject matter, but i am baffled by the production decisions. i too wonder if this is a generational issue.
posted by glonous keming at 2:43 PM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

The Monster at the End of This Thread: The Beeped words are to prevent YouTube from demonetizing the documentary. Because god forbid we watch anything that ever discusses abuse of any form....
posted by LeRoienJaune at 3:03 PM on November 4, 2022 [7 favorites]

They're less worried about the money and more about the way videos with bad words get algo-buried. They want this to be discoverable, so much beeps.

My problem is the tone they're using for the beep is the one that makes my brain say "call waiting", which is a bit disconcerting. So many calls, and I'm not even on the phone!
posted by hippybear at 3:15 PM on November 4, 2022 [5 favorites]

So, that was an interesting video to watch. I wasn't sure I was going to be held for 2 hours, but it introduced new threads and wove them in very expertly, and I am glad I watch to the end. Thanks for posting.

(I live in perpetual fear of being named a groomer because I'm one of the few known gays in my small town, and I don't even have contact with kids but man, that can destroy you.)
posted by hippybear at 4:19 PM on November 4, 2022 [8 favorites]

Caelan recently did a series on the "Gender Critical" movement from the inside, having infiltrated their private spaces online; it's a three-part series and it's horrifying. Like, you think what they say to outsiders is bad? The shit they say when they feel comfortable is absolutely monstrous. The whole thing's about 5.5 hours and starts here.
posted by Pope Guilty at 7:00 PM on November 4, 2022 [9 favorites]

I'm glad he's doing that kind of reporting, but for me personally, I don't need to watch that. I noped out on The Bear when the first "pussy faggot sissy" insult tirade flew. I'm sure it's a fine show, but wow, don't need that in my life.
posted by hippybear at 7:12 PM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

That's 100% understandable; I needed multiple breaks to get through each part.
posted by Pope Guilty at 10:29 PM on November 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

‘Women are sex and sex is bad’ (spoiler alert) is a salient point - alongside the many things I was naive about as Hillary lost coming off of 8 years of Obama, I recall quite clearly thinking ‘it’s way more socially acceptable to be sexist than racist’. Sexualized power structures, to the detriment and repression and marginalization of groups is as casual as lines in a song.
posted by allisterb at 12:36 AM on November 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

For what it's worth - and I'm sure both creators are either friends, or allies, so this isn't a competition - Thought Slime made a (somewhat) similar video recently that breaks down the insincerity of the arguments made about groomers, LGBT youth, and much more in less than 30 minutes by way of that whacky purple M&M.

They point out how those trying to make weird-ass arguments that go beyond strawman arguments into "well let's just pretend a bunch of aliens were ALSO strawmen and they ALSO made the points that literally no one could genuinely make and believe in" is the reason these bad-faith arguments are made in the first place.

(I present this because I similarly struggled with many of you above with both the length of the video and the audio levels, so consider this a corollary to the presented video)
posted by revmitcz at 1:59 AM on November 5, 2022 [7 favorites]

I presume it’s not intended here but complaints about “vocal fry” have been something of a dogwhisitle since Gamergate. For both sexist and transphobic signaling.
posted by snuffleupagus at 7:53 AM on November 5, 2022 [6 favorites]

The beeps on so many common words are distracting me for some reason.

so, the interesting thing behind this is that it was clearly done to try and avoid demonetization; unfortunately, YouTube, bastion of anti-Queer hate speech, demonetized it anyway.

It was the same thing that happened to Jessie Earl's video (also linked above), where she went and re-edited the video because it was originally delisted.
posted by i used to be someone else at 5:25 AM on November 7, 2022 [1 favorite]