If only Jake Novak had been wearing Well Played provided by Scentbird at the time of recording its impressive, self-assured scent would have given him the grace and foresight to prevent such an unfortunate blunder. Not unlike the smooth, confident air Ro carries, bergamot and fresh lavender open the scent on a vibrant note, while rich elements like tonka bean, cocoa seed, and a light air of incense add character and warmth that were so tragically absent from his performance. Thanks to Ro and Scentbird for saving me from being part of a future cringe compilation
I was once included in a cringe compilation of fat people. I was at the beach. I was playing in the waves while on vacation. It was good times. There was one point when I realized I might look ridiculous and did look up to see two teen girls laughing. They could be laughing at anything, I told myself. A year later a friend informed me that she had seen me in the cringe compilation. At first I was mortified, and there are still times when it makes me self conscious, but I've learned to deal with it. I try not to let that experience dictate what I do and don't do in public and I'm starting to feel bad for the girls. I think what made it worse is that I didn't film myself and put it on the internet for everyone to judge. People judged me and filmed me without my permission. It's that invasion of private that pisses me off now. I know defenders of it will say that once you're in public you don't have the right to privacy but to that I say bullshit. People have a right to exist in the immediate environment that they're in without worrying about what the world might say about them. Existing in public is not permission to be filmed by strangers.
@@HollyAnn Even when I'm getting a photo of a public area just to capture the scenery, I try ro avoid getting people in the frame. Or at least people who are close-up
I’m sorry that happened to you; though it sounds like you handled it like a badass. As a fat kid I was too scared to go into the main city center in my area because I was so scared that a news crew would film me for one of the frequent segments on obesity among kids. They would always film from the neck down but friends and schoolmates know peoples clothes, hair and body.
"the video description says 'silence is complicity', but i would argue that the answer is not POP/RAP either.." i dont know how youre so succinct and fucking hilarious at the same time. your content is so rejuvenating to my brain. thank u ro
I feel somewhat similar about people posting "silence is violence" actually. It has always stuck in my craw for some reason I couldn't define until recently, and it's this: It may well be true that saying nothing when you see shit happening is an act of aggression, but sitting there and parroting pithy phrases of solidarity doesn't do anything to fix the issue, either. Either do something or GTFO. Stand up, or GTFO. Which ironically, is all "silence is violence" is trying to say.
As a furry who’s been around for 6-ish years, I’ll NEVER forget the shit that was said to us 💀 I got death threats because I like to dress up as a bat for fun like wtf did we do to you?!
I knew this day would one day come. Question, do bat fursuits have wings and arms, or are they combined? At this point in my life i have found so many random furries that i knew i would find a bat furry at some point that i hope might have the answer
@@bjam89 depends! a lot of bat suits have the wing hanging off the arm and connecting to the body, but my fursona has little chibi wings so they’re just sewn onto her back :)
It's been interesting to me seeing how much hate musical theater has been getting online recently. On the one hand, I get it because theater can be pretty cheesy and overly dramatic, but on the other hand, theater has been a place where a lot of queer people have been able to express themselves when they weren't able to express themselves in other places, and the queer community has been very linked to theater as an art form, so it feels to me like there's some subconscious anti-queerness going on when people label all musical theater as "cringe". Like you said in the video, I think we should try to not be so overly critical of things that aren't overtly harmful because what is "cringe" to us might be a safe space for someone else to express themselves.
Agree! Also like the number of successful Jews in musical theater too. Like there are marginalized people of all sorts who find success or comfort in musical theater. Also the shout-out to furries was nice. Furry is an extremely queer space also, and I'm sure that's what leads people to look down on the community for sure, as she said.
Theater as a place for queer folks: good, great, we love it. Theater as a self-aggrandizing “sPeAkInG tRuTh To PoWeR” thinking you’re actually making real tangible change: bad, “cringe”, stop it.
I think musical theatre gets a lot of flak because it's composed in large part of wealthy and out of touch white people who use characters as a conduit to experience a systemic hardship that they'll never have to endure, like poverty. I was obscenely into musical theatre for many, many years and I have a theatre degree, so I'm quite familiar with theatre people- specifically musical theatre people. They can be totally unbearable lol.
I think above all else cringing is an act of empathy, it’s saying I’m human too, I too have been/have the capacity to be embarrassing, I understand how this looks from the outside and how it may feel from the inside. Cringing only becomes mean spirited when people allow themselves to distance from that truth and instead feel superior to the subject. Stepping back and objectively looking at Jake, he is exactly the same as everyone making fun of him, he needs to survive and he wants to do so in a way that feels good. The human experience when viewed from a far enough angle is universal. We are all constantly flailing and failing at that pursuit, it hardly matters if that is publicly or privately. Really interesting video as always! Love the concluding thoughts especially.
I would highly suggest Contrapoints' video "Cringe", it really delves into why cringe is so much more painful when it's about things and people we relate to
I got to a thought in a separate comment, but it strikes me that sincerity is on the path to being cringe. Yet, sincerity is absolutely beautiful and essential. We need more people with the courage to be cringe, so that they may fail and only be wonderful instead.
@@hilde2097 i was just gonna say! yeah the concept of contemptuous vs compassionate (i think thats right?) cringe that she talks about in it is really fascinating
its wild because i honestly didnt find him that cringe, but ive also been fixing myself in alignment with "do not cringe at the parts of yourself you hate, hate the parts of yourself that cringe". i think that when a person is able to unironically, wholly, sincerely embrace parts of themselves that others hate or would find embarrassing, it becomes a lot easier to look at sincerity at find not cringe, but joy. "cringe content" is raw, unfiltered sincerity, and i just need more of that in this post-ironic world. i cant stop my eyes from physically watering whenever i listen to bad music covers, but mentally im at peace with them.
I think for me personally, watching Jake's song and pitch for SNL triggered the feeling of cringe because of the Dunning Kruger effect being put on display with no awareness. He's not new in the entertainment industry, especially in comedy. He's confidently proclaiming how worthy he is of this major break on the basis that he's talented and funny and unique while displaying the exact opposite in his video. He's researched enough to think he's the perfect fit and ready to be on SNL, but he's so unaware of how much he has to learn. That's the cringe I experience. It's the entitlement to opportunity without the work, the confidence without cridentials, it's the ego without the humility to admit you have a lot more to learn. And in case you were curious, yes. I am super hilarious and a comedy writer who is the best ever and expert in all things funny and no, I've never not known everything and have always been this perfect and entertaining.
actually i'm making the most correct and flawless commentary videos, so any critique you have is completely irrelevant and it is impossible to be more correct than me i think
I am inclined to agree as that is typically my gut reaction to situations such as this as well. A question for people such as you and me though that I feel important to raise is... so what? I have to ask myself this constantly. Like, if someone isn't good at something (that has no tangible harmful impact) but thinks they are, what's the harm? Why cringe in the first place? I struggle with this question because I have no justifiable answer to it, I really just want to be validated in my emotional reaction so I cling to this narrative that I just want them to improve, but I know on some level that isn't true. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing people get better, but that's never been the alterior motive for my cringe/critique of individuals. Now this isn't to say we shouldn't be critical, but for me I think the question should be is it harming anyone? I want to get to a point where my sense of cringe is only activated by harmful acts, rather than my personal taste, which is hard because I've been hard wired this way (by product of toxic cynicism), but it's at least something to strive for. Anyways, just somethin to consider! TL;DR I relate heavily, but I think that's a pathology we should deconstruct in ourselves. Hope you're doing well and stayin safe! :D
I think you articulated this very well! Yes, I think it's perfectly natural, reasonable, and educational to cringe when someone exhibits Dunning-Krugerism or hubris and bites off more than they can chew. This kind of cringe can prevent us from making a similar faux pas--and can also prevent us from taking even healthy risks, potentially, if the fear of being cringe balloons out of control!
About the Karen thing, it’s annoying cause it was a thing that the black community only created to specifically talk about the type of racism that white women inflict on us and it’s super annoying that non-black and white people have diluted that context so much that it means nothing now, it’s become just a woman someone doesn’t like 🙄. It shouldn’t be simply cringe. Good video, it’s important to explore these concepts.
I think the implication is still there even in recent karen mentions. Most if not all of them are white women (sometimes men) acting entitled or abnormally in a public setting and it got the general message across to me, and I didn't really see any until it got popular
@@legend7951 Well, I can tell you I’ve been called “Karen” by more Republicans than I care to count because I’ve spoken up in favor of trans liberation. White dinguses have definitely appropriated the term for their own use. And it’s not supposed to be “white women acting entitled,” as if we’re the only people that do that, it’s meant to be white women endangering/disrupting Black people just living their lives.
I've literally had my mom be called a Karen by my own goddamn brother more than once. Why? Because sometimes when we eat out and don't recieve everything that we've paid for she brings it up to the staff. She's not mean about it, she's usually annoyed and pretty direct (because that's just who she is as a person) but she's never been genuenly rude to the workers. She just feels that we're entitled to recieve what we've paid for, which all customers are. But the internet have fumbled the term Karen so hard that she's now lumped into the same category as white women using their privelige and entitlement to harass black people by her own goddamn son just because she wanted to make sure that he got what he actually ordered. I know a lot of people roll their eyes when women complain about Karen becoming a more misogynistic term but it genuenly is. Diluting this term created and used by black people to descride a certain type racism into just "woman I find mildly annoying" is just kinda gross.
i am so very tired with every concept being simplified and put into succinct phrases but "don't kill the cringe, kill the part of you that cringes" is good and useful and im glad its caught on
i’ve really tried to embody the idea that “(harmless) cringe is dead” for a while now but i find it hard sometimes in public or around specific people. i’m a gnc trans man and i love alt fashion and music, and i love the idea of being perceived by other people as a drag queen rather than a woman, and part of me wants to say “YES, CRINGE IS DEAD BE (harmlessly) OBNOXIOUS IN PUBLIC, THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT WOULD DELIGHT AT THE SIGHT OF YOU BEING YOURSELF!”, but there’s still this part of me with like. an ingrained sense of shame whenever one of the weird songs i like plays around people, whenever my makeup is smudged in some way, whenever someone else notices me singing along to something in public when i didn’t mean for them to or when i’m being A Little Too Much for the public. maybe it’s cuz i grew up in a christian republican household, maybe it’s because i’m fat and made to feel like i take up too much space, maybe it’s just because i’m publicly perceived as a woman but. whatever it is it’s keeping me from actually embodying what i truly believe to be true, that being silly and being unashamed of who you are and what you want to be in public spaces should be a joyous experience, not something you need to be hiding out of fear of being too “cringe”. idk just something i’ve been thinking about for the past few years tbh,,
I believe it's more of a sense of not being able to embody and represent what you actually intended. If you try to make something emotionally charged and it flops, it's not really about who likes it and who doesn't, it's about your perception of what you're like vs what you're like in reality being way off. Imagine a hell dimension in which everything you do is cringe - when you're sad and need emotional support, when you're scared and need someone to make you feel safe, when you're worried about a loved one's safety, etc. It's not really about being judged, it's about not being able to translate what you want to portray into the real world. Even if everyone understood, you still wouldn't align with what excites the emotions you intend to excite. Even if them cringing at you has everything to do with them and their insecurities, the flow of the path you intended to take is still broken and you're faced with having to leave or be the butt of the joke. It doesn't matter how many people see that and consider you not to be cringe, it's a cesspool of multisided degradation you don't want to be a part of. People have a drive to transcend boundaries and extremes, should they function properly. How can you develop and grow if you can't even get it right in the first place? It's the stress and confusion of not knowing if it's your fault or that of others which makes being cringe such an awful thing to be. Are they justified in their displeasure regardless of how they chose to express it? It's more than being called unfunny or unoriginal, it's being oblivious to your own performative worth and presentation despite being convinced of their quality. It's okay to not be satisfied with yourself. It's not okay to make others feel like they're the scum of the earth and deserve to be shamed and driven out of a space or platform just because you see them as cringe. It's okay to "not be there yet" and act like you are. It's not okay to make someone feel like they're cringe for sharing their progress despite its state. If I had been afraid of being cringe as a teenager, and believe me I was really, really cringe, I wouldn't have polished any of my personality or expression. I'm talking real cringe, like meowing at people and writing facebook posts about the edgiest stuff in the most generic and childish way possible. It's not about being okay with embodying cringe for the rest of your life, it's about accepting the fact trial and error is necessary and if you want to be efficient, you will undoubtedly have to flop tremendously throughout the process of exploration.
Big mood. I liked listening to Japanese music as a teenager and due to my parents constantly asking "what are they REALLY saying?? Are they sending secret DEATH THREATS TO AMERICA?? How do you REALLY know what's being said??" I skip any non English song whenever I have the aux cord in the car even a decade later.
god yes this. should go without saying it’s not limited to growing up in christian republican families either - I had no shame in watching magical girl anime out loud in front of my liberal family. that is, until my sibling and parents started making fun of how high pitched they sounded. I get that that’s not everyone’s thing but this was a show for kids. and also thats racist stop it while they’re a bit more understanding now, occasionally (not from my immediate family) i’ll get the “is this ‘x jpop band I used to listen to’” when I play song with someone remotely young sounding, or i’ll say the word “triforce” and i’ll get “you’re speaking japanese” nngggh really gets under my skin of how those old, exaggerated stereotypes are still engrained in the minds of some people and I really should not let a few racist remarks shame me out of liking what I like i still feel pretty cringy except around my friends who totally get it. but man, slowly unlearning that feeling of cringe has been difficult in practice (for me at least), and i give you credit for pushing on despite the obstacles
@@FeatherVoid me, listening to japanese girls with high-pitched voices sing about cats: your parents: "THEY ARE SENDING DEATH THREATS AND THEY WANT TO *_DESTROY AMERICA_* "
as an autistic person who has been ridiculed for just being an autistic person, cringe is feeling more and more separated from embarrassment to the new R slur almost. not quite but it’s getting there
@@luxill0s same, i feel like im gonna suffer if i act like everyone else. Its so exhausting, so im just going accept the fact that people will hate on me😅
As an autistic person, the way cringe can be weaponized against neurodivergent people just hurts. I myself have an inner voice that bullies me to be as not-autistic or ND in public because of how I’ve been conditioned as a young person to not be perceived as cringey. It just gave me horrible social anxiety and made me so quiet that I didn’t feel like a person for soooo long because I was so closed off to avoid hate and outward hostility.
Yes! I feel this way too, I’ll make fun of myself for my weirdly specific hyperfixations on topics that, if i weren’t interested in, i’d probably find “cringe” and there’s something about being self aware about it that sucks Not to mention that soooo many communities that ARE made fun of for being cringe have HEAPS of people who confine in those areas because they’re neurodivergent and it’s comforting/ helps them feel like themselves (especially the furry fandom, cosplayers, etc) but it’s so hard to enjoy those sort of things knowing you’re probably going to be made fun of regardless as to why you enjoy it- the whole cringe “culture” is based on awful morals and it’s so…. demeaning.. especially to ND people ..
Yeah Im autistic im super "cringe" and I really felt bad for a long time because I was so intensely into topics like Tolkien and anime, I wished I could just like things a "normal" amount.
I'm also neurodivergent and I'm kinda glad cringe wasn't a thing when I was in school, I got called dorky and a nerd but for me somehow cringey feels worse?? Idk why
"Social media seeks to simultaneously amplify our voices and undermine their efficacy, which turns us into these deluded, weird little goblin freaks that at once feel both useless and venerated by whatever size of audience we have." Hit me like a ton of bricks, I feel like I need to put that on my wall somewhere.
worrying less about seeming “cringey” has gone hand in hand with my efforts to start unmasking, and my internalized ableism has for sure fueled my own instincts to find other things/people cringey. obviously i still find things cringe, and that is always going to involve my biases and insecurity, but i’m trying to find a balance of being kind to myself and others and having fun laughing at bad tiktoks
I'm kinda working on the same thing, being myself like that and I don't think I was ever that good at masking but it still feels so hard and like after you leave everyone is judging you...hope you're doing well with that and doing ok my friend 💜
As far as cringe goes, for me it depends on what you're cringing at. It's far more justified to cringe at antisocial behavior and ignorant statements than at someone's relatively harmless symptoms of being neuro-divergent, for example.
@@decrepitwitch I’d argue that it’s “cringe” to cringe at people who’s behavoir has to do with a mental illness, esp if you do so with the knowledge they have one. But antisocial behavoir is rough one, esp if their actions don’t elicit much empathy.
@@sjworrier0613 having low or no empathy is also an autistic trait. people will say they support neaurodivergent and specifically autistic people but then point out the various traits of autism as negative.
you saying that many furries are autistic and queer made me tear up because someone finally noticed that! im an autistic queer furry myself and its usually written off as me being cringe but its a huge form of expression for myself, thank you for bringing that up :]
I think every fan artist, especially fan artists of communities known as cringe know the struggle of sharing their work, especially with people in their everyday life. Fanart can sometimes be dismissed as lesser art as it is derived from something else. But fanart is full of talent and passion! Just because you might not like the source doesn’t mean you can dismiss it as cringe, especially if the artist is less established in their art style or younger.
I've only found out about this guy yesterday and I didn't find the snl video cringy at all! I mean, isn't the entertainment industry about "faking it until you make it"? I can see how one would find that video low-key embarrassing, but this amount of hate and vitriol? Idk internet, specially tiktok and twitter, encourages bullying to such an amount that not participating in it feels like you're missing on a cultural event or something
I feel the same way. Maybe it's because I don't really understand SNL because I'm not American but the video seemed just fine to me. People really dig into how he he hypes himself up in the video. But like, it's an audition video? What is he supposed to do if not try and sell himself with confidence??
@@SidheKnight that's one reason I stay on shorts, genuinely the comments on tiktok are ALWAYS meaner, significantly so. And Twitter I quit a year or so ago and I stg my mental health has been better for it. So many angry people screaming into the void, I hate when people take those voices and opinions and extrapolate them to represent the general public man
I loved Garfield as a child, I drew a gigantic five foot tall Garfield for my bedroom door and I think I wrote Jim Davis a letter one time saying he's my creative inspo. Had to fast for 48 hours & enter sensory deprivation trance to recover these memories & everything is worse now
i have separate feelings about the first part of the video, mainly how there's a time and place to show off one's talent and jake novak needs to read the room a bit, but the second half is what resonated with me. i've been waiting for someone to address the topic of cringe in internet spaces as a whole. the ever-growing "fear of cringe" is something that has held a grip on people's creativity, particularly those outside the status quo as you mentioned. i'm a singer who occasionally does drag, but i'm also trans, visibly autistic, and plus-sized (basically huge prime target for folks who love to cringe), and the idea that i may end up on someone's cringe comp has solely restricted me to performing live. i wish i could put myself out there online, but people are cruel. Cringe by adult actions is inevitable and we all do it, and it absolutely IS a sign of self-growth when we cringe at our past selves, but we do need to learn to be less volatile about it in general.
Contrapoints and the liberal cook both did good videos on cringe! (One called Cringe, the other called postmodernism is dead). A personal favorite is a video essay called Art, Furries, God, which celebrates sincerity. Would highly, highly recommend, they and videos like them help me as I try to unlearn my anxiety and trauma around public creation.
@@blinkfilms1 I have a poor memory so I can't remember exactly what happens in it, but I do remember finding the youtube vid by Shanspeare on cringe culture interesting too, if anyone is looking for more recommendations lol :) Take care everyone. You all matter and your existences are important.
Hey man, if you ever feel like posting any performances...I would love to see them 💜 but I feel you and I know its a very difficult decision to weight against potential hate. But your people and community will be there to support you no matter what you do or don't do, and I hope you're taking care of yourself in this political climate and doing what's best for you but also what your heart is calling you to do man 💜💜
I never really understood the fuss, cause like, who cares? He made an audition, good for him! He's pursuing his dreams! Idk, I'm trans and queer and I've ALWAYS been weird, so like... Just be kind to people? Even the "Bad Gun" thing--Tasteless, maybe, but at least he cares? He put forth an effort to be anti-gun when... He didn't HAVE to. Idk! Very good vid tho, really enjoyed it. And I hope Jake is doing well wherever he is.
Oh my god every sentence that comes out of your mouth sounds like a meticulously well-crafted roast that feels too relatable not to be a direct diss towards me. You’re an amazing writer
Imma be honest and say I think a big part of the negative reaction is how bubbly he is it comes across kind-of corporate "hey fellow kids!!" All wide eyed and toothy, It feels fake
I feel like a big part of me being autistic is not 'growing out' of things that I loved as a child. Still struggle with embracing them sometimes, but learning to respect mine and other people's interests has been really freeing :)
I like JUST learned how young Ro is (I thought she was like 26 or something) and she's so witty and mature and articulate it kinda blew my mind. Not like younger people can't be that way, bc I guess for my own reasons or biases it wasn't what I was expecting I'm so glad I found this channel dude, Ro is TOP TIER as far as commentary/video essay videos go!!
I am a furry and my best friend thinks they are cringe. It hurts my feelings that he knows that I am yet still decides to make fun of them and troll. Just trying to have fun by dressing up and liking humanoid characters isn’t bad and I don’t understand all the hate. He really doesn’t get it and often compares us to Zoophiles, which is completely not what we are. I would never want to do anything with an animal, that’s disgusting. He has gone into furry discord servers and trolled with another one of my friends before and has bragged about it to me. Being unkind to the people who you don’t understand just because it’s not normal to you is rude and childish. I really like the way Ro handles this video because she does not want to hate on people doing no harm but she will call out the things that make it distasteful. I dunno why I commented this but I just wanted to let it out there that this video made me happy. And say thank you to Ro if she reads this. It made me feel a little less insane. :))
you def deserve a way better friend, what an asshole. i have friends who are furries and all the hate you guys get is not justified in the slightest. i have never met a community so against zoophilia as the furry community. the stereotypes are so out of pocket, you guys are one of the kindest communities i interacted with. you arent insane or cringe, but your so called friend sure is. hope they grow up and get well soon.
Any decent friend can at least not joke like that in front of you. A best friend not respecting your boundaries? You deserve far better! From a fellow furry💕
That's messed up, they should be more supportive of your interests:( I don't dress up or anything but I draw some furry characters and idk why it has to be something so "cringe" it's just cartoony anthro art to me
Thank you, I felt really uncomfortable with how much people were mocking the audition video. He’s just overeager, and people seem so excited to tear someone down for putting themselves out there (albeit in a rather embarrassing way).
i've always been a HUGE fan of cringe, but like, relatively benign and relatable cringe if you will! when i was still in therapy a big component of my recovery was hinged on getting over my social anxiety which had morphed into some pretty bad agoraphobia. part of my supplemental therapy was consuming cringe content (tho this was all the way back in 2009 before that phrase had even been coined) whether it be timeless internet videos or TV shows that relied on cringe comedy. and y'know what happened? i never judged anyone, fictional or otherwise. i never laughed *at* them, rather *with* them since i could usually relate all too well. on top of making me feel less alone, like less of a loser or a weirdo, it also helped me understand that most people reacted the same way i did whenever something embarrassing happened - with either indifference or compassion! not contempt! after all we're human, and human beings are far from perfect. why rake someone over the coals for a silly "mistake" or a harmless interest when we've all been there? lets just say i'm glad i completed my therapy back in 2010 rather than 2020, when the mentality surrounding cringe was far less cruel, at least overtly anyway! now i try to tell people how fond i am of cringe and i'm lumped in with a bunch of gamergate freaks. :')
Literally the best thing I’ve done for my mental health is to accept that I have been, am, and will forever be cringe. I was a band kid in middle school, obsessed with parkour and free running, a brony in early high school, listened to EDM in my formative years, and spent almost every waking moment in high school playing League of Legends. Whatever cringe may be to someone, I was it, and I’m okay with that. That is apart of me but that ME no longer exists, and that’s okay. I have always been embarrassed by the way i acted and the things I was into but that’s the person that existed then and that’s what made them happy, and that’s okay.
As a writer, I've discovered that once I finish writing ANYTHING, I immediately nitpick it to death and in about 2 years time I always end up hating it with a passion, to the point that I sometimes just delete hundreds of thousands of words that took me months to do just because I, the older and more experienced version of me, have deemed it "too cringe," or "not researched enough," or "poorly edited," etc. It's really hard to work against your own bias and keep that stuff within public view, because I've found that even if I don't like it anymore, there are people who do. I think this is true for a lot of people in a lot of creative processes, where they end up regretting half of their backlog and denounce their works, whether people love them or hate them. It's a tricky line to walk.
one of my closest friends who i look up to in a lot of ways constantly quotes “i am cringe but i am free”. i know it’s from a meme but seeing them be so unashamed to be themself and to express themselves freely is so cool. for a long time i was obsessed with the notion of not being cringe and i ended up being the most unhappy with myself i’ve ever been. but since i met them i’ve learned to embrace the sides and aspects of myself i hid away for years and it’s so liberating. i know you’ll never see this, but sage you’re wonderful and i love you so much
Thinking about this more in depth and how I related to it/experienced it when I first found out about it, I find that Jake Novac is doing everything they say you should do when applying for a job. Sell yourself, research the company, use key/buzz words to interest the company, maybe fudge your talent/experience a little, and even apply for jobs you don't match experience 100% because you never know. Right now I've been sending out applications and DESPERATELY updating and redesigning and restructuring my resume to fit companies I hadn't even known about yesterday. I feel desperate and so so cringe. To see what my much quieter personal struggle might look like to the recipients of my applications is almost unbearable...
Good luck! Don't worry about the recipients. If they like you, you'll know and if they don't, I doubt they'll spend any more time on it than necessary. You'll prob never even know. Good for you for getting out there and doing your best to get what you want! I don't understand why people associate desperation with cringe/embarassement. Perhapse because it requires vulnerability and most people struggle with being vulnerable. We all feel desperate at times. We all have wants and needs. It's very human. I hope we can get to a place in society where we can extend some compassion and empathy to those who struggle going after the things they want in life. It's brave to be bold and be out there.
i think you really knocked it out the park with this one ro i think that the mix of internet bubbles with differing rules and constructs, bastardization of the concept of cancellation/"problematic" creators and this media atmosphere that fosters both self-hatred and self-righteousness leads to a very toxic environment where people end up harassing others to deflect from their own insecurities while at the same time convincing themselves that they are doing what is just. while sometimes a negative reaction is warranted and even needed, people get so lost with the social appearance aspect that they end up regurgitating their own insecurities on the creators while completely ignoring what made that creator worthy of being criticized in the first place, leading to a space where 1. the original issue is never addressed, and is propagated without pushback, and 2. the community it originates from gets more wary of social faux-pas, while still being unable to pinpoint exactly what is a social faux-pas, leading to even more hostility to anyone doing anything even slightly weird or unusual. its such a vicious cycle and im glad you were able to put it in video while still keeping it entertaining. great work as always :)
I remember how bad for me cringe culture was, it made me limit my art and hide my passions, and worst of all it made me look down on others who had earnest interests and hadn’t hidden their entire personality under 7 layers of irony. It impacted my enjoyment of things and changed my life for the worse.
thank you for making this! it's all the thoughts I have on cringe put into a video. As I've grown more skeptical of the authorities on social norms, i've found things infinitely less 'cringe'. Whenever i see someone being 'cringe' by being proud of their impressive (but obviously imperfect) selves, I can't help but be proud with them. Self-love has become 'cringe' because people can't imagine that expressing love for yourself isn't a hierarchical expression of superiority. I hope jake can learn and grow and get to the places he wants to go :)
" _people can't imagine that expressing love for yourself isn't a hierarchical expression of superiority_ " This is so true, now that I think about it. People hear "I am happy with my cooking skills" and interpret that as "I can cook better than you" or "you're a bad cook" as if it was a commentary on _them_
@@SidheKnight Yes exactly! I think a lot of 'cringe' derives from the fact that people are not only *breaking* social rules, but they're breaking them *because* they are happy with themselves and others judge that confidence as misplaced feelings of superiority ("Why does this person have the audacity to put themselves out there as if they're better than everyone else. We all know that we're not good enough to put ourselves out there, and this person is mistaken, so it's cringe" Is the underlying feeling, I think). very happy that someone else could relate :')
@@SidheKnight oof that last part was so well put. Probably not helped by how much competition and being the ABSOLUTE BEST at things is encouraged in at least American society
Everyone might be laughing at him, but it's these types of people who are actually doing things that eventually get somewhere. I'm jealous that he has the guts to try.
well i find everything related to snl "cringy" so i thought his video was on brand. but seriously getting second hand (and first hand) embarrassment is a part of life. the most i've felt it is while watching the movie ratatouille and that's part of what makes it slap so hard. imagine if we all just pointed and laughed at ratatouille we'd be dismissing a masterpiece
Feeling cringe is ok. It can even inspire empathy and compassion. Shaming other people for their (harmless) cringe behavior is what is _not_ ok. Point and laughing at people one finds cringe, publicly humilliating them, that's not ok. That's bullying.
this is so weird to me because i didnt find his audition cringe at all. it felt very standard to me? like, not my thing but snl isnt my thing so who cares? idk its just weird to see the widespread consensus is "this is cringe" when it genuinely just feels like a normal if misguided video to me
I have such complicated feelings abt cringe but you being able to poke fun in a normal way is really what hits the right note for me. Like imo ppl can dislike something and find it embarrassing or bad but then just move on- the current attitude of pointing and laughing and dog-piling is honestly making it so hard to be a normal hater lmao
That kneejerk cringe to something that reminds you of a former version of yourself is so real and reminds me of my experience as an older sibling. Learning not to do that has been hard but wonderdul in that it has allowed me to be kinder to others and myself. Also free Palestine!🇵🇸✊
i loved this video and your empathy for others is so admirable. as a little psychology major you always put my brain into your videos it feels like lol
Ro your ratio of succinct social commentary to quick-fire jokes is unmatched as always. As far as Jake Novack, if he was making these videos in 2014 he would be brought on Ellen. But also I don’t think I’ve earnestly cringed at something other than my own embarrassing moments in quite a few years. Not sure if the internet has harvested so much of my data that it knows what not to show me or if I’ve seen too much and been fully desensitised to it. Regardless the outwardly vitriolic reaction to cringe on the internet reminds me of putting my age in my bio at 14 because I thought “ah finally, the internet will take me seriously.”
strongly recommend the video "This is Phil Fish" by Innuendo Studios. it's so old it's still 4x3, yet it feels like the definitive text on internet fame.
owning newspaper comic strip collections are actually a sign of taste like having a really old bottle of whiskey or a scentbird subscription use code RORAMDIN 55% off on your first month
I like RM Brown’s concept of “cringe herd immunity.” The basic idea is that with the advent of social media, we all post things that will at some point in time become cringe if they aren’t already. So eventually we will all be exposed to an amount of cringe that eventually, we will be immune to its effects (at least on ourselves, internally).
Just want to say I am consistently impressed by how good you are at articulating your thoughts. Your writing really feels like it occupies a distinctly higher caliber than 99% of internet content
Listen, as an open and unashamed furry/brony, I am used to being treated as "cringe" or even outright accused of being an animal abuser simply because I like drawing colorful animal-people so I've just stopped really seeing other people as cringe. Honestly as long someone isn't actively harmful to others, I really don't care anymore. And I don't even feel like this dude is that cringey anyway, it feels like he's a less polished and established Bo Burnham who could definitely catch the Gen Z market with a few tweaks to his concepts and delivery.
your point about cringe and where it comes from is so spot on and also something being on the internet necessitates us to really look at and then actively consider, as you say - so thanks for another really thoughtful and interesting video
the older i get, the less i care about what is or isn't cringe. i'm 27, i spent a long time being embarrassed about things i did in my teens/early 20s that are ultimately harmless. is the fanfiction i published in 2009 cringe? probably, but it was some of the first writing i ever shared, & it was the start of a hobby i genuinely enjoy. i used to have opinions & engage in behaviours that were genuinely problematic, & i continue to learn & grow from those experiences. but i refuse to cringe at my past self for being obsessed with twilight & dressing like aliexpress avril lavigne. i'm still cringe; i write fanfiction, i love minecraft, i'm definitely furry-adjacant, & i have 5k hours in the sims 4. my youngest brother thinks i'm cringe asf which i think is pretty adorable tbh. i've experienced ridicule & harrassment from strangers online, definitely not on the same scale as jake, but i remember it being quite harrowing as i was only like 22 at the time. i hope jake is doing ok, & i hope he learns from his past blunders without ceasing to follow his dreams & doing what he loves. sorry for the rambly comment lol, your videos are just very thought provoking. thank you for sharing your perspective 💛
I feel like this and Sarah Z’s video: the panopticon of west elm Caleb, are great together. Fully dissecting the dog pile that happens to people online and why it’s cathartic and honestly isolating to the person it’s happening to. Amazing video, great call to action! Keep it up Ro!!! 💕💗
As an elder millennial, I remember when we said "awk-ward" and watched the rise of people saying things were cringe on social media. I thought, can't teenagers and others be free to do embarrassing things? That's your most awkward time. Or the groups outside of the social norm. Or someone just having a playtime moment. Just the overuse of cringe was demeaning, but now I'm aware of the social judgement and derision.
I never thought i would relate to a video in the first 15 seconds so much. Then you mentioned being cast as Jack Scott and I fucking LOST IT. Jack Scotts of the world unite.
JACK SCOTT THE VELVET FOG OF EAST HIGH!!! I never comment but today is the day I break my silence… I was also Jack Scott and I’m schocked to learn theres more of us. Please if anyone else out here has played Jack Scott make yourself known. WE MUST UNITE. Im thinking we could do some sort of get-together/JackScottCon somewhere in the middle of Ohio… #JackScott4life #LetsGoWildcats
As a whole this video was incredibly well done, but the way in which she defines "cringe" combining the original etymological roots with the contemporary uses was amazing *chef's kiss*
I was a homestuck kid who wore his Tavros horns to school. For six months i never took off black cat ears i got at aki con. On fridays i used to cosplay to school. I used to go to my public libraries anime club. I was overtyl political.... as a 12 year old. I still dont know how to tell when im yelling or being too loud. And sometimes i get so excited i give myself an anxiety attack. Cringe for life
I wore a fox hoodie with a tail and ears from lemonbrat with a collar with my sona name on the tag in highschool :p before that I wore a tail, and before that I wore MLP shirts and hoodies. I was a furry long before 2012 but that's when bronies were super popular so I embraced that a bit. But this was in 2012. So cringe culture wasn't at its prime in 2016. Also a lot more people didn't know about Furries. I actually got a lot more compliments than hate! I think people respected my enthusiasm and shameless interests. Even teachers sometimes asked questions and I would just respond "I'm a furry" all my friends were usually like "how do you just not care about saying that" :P The only teacher to ever give me strife was a christian conservative old white lady. She thought I was promoting buttplugs. I took the tail off and put it back on at the end of class. She never mentioned it again lol. I also had a lot of girls interested in me apparently, but I'm gay :v The only time I had something weird happen to me was in the food court. Dude ran up to me, lifted my tail and started air humping me. But I was so nonchalant about it and just unphased the dude ended up looking weird instead of me because I didn't give them a reaction that they wanted. That dude was weird. I found that ironic :D
Damn this just kinda reminds me of a how great BDG's audition video for Polygon was. Now that's a sweet boi that would give me an actual reason to care about SNL.
I've been getting really into sincerity lately. Maybe, if I believe in myself enough, I'll be able to sincerely release all that art I've been scared of into the world. Maybe not, but hating myself for making it isn't making the world any better. Who fucking cares?
Idk if anyone will see this since the video is kind of old, but I think a good way to contrast the topic of school shootings in music is "Thoughts and Prayers" and "Darkside" by Grandson. Grandson is a political rapper so his work is often serious when he's talking about these issues. Both these songs are about school shootings, Darkside being sang from the perspective of a school shooter as his traumatic life that lead to his atrocity is detailed along with his easy access to a fire arm, and Thoughts and Prayers is a lament sang with a child's choir in the chorus as the sorrow and rage towards these events and the politicians who do nothing is clear through his combination of mellow and intense vocals. Both of these artists are competent at their craft and passionate, but the awkward tone of Bad Gun is out of place while Grandson takes a more serious tone to do both sides of these horrors justice (though the empathetic tone of Darkside does end when he starts doing "very bad things"). In short, if you're going to cover a serious topic in art, keep the tone and techniques used consistent with the issue at hand.
first ro ramdin video to make me cry. thank you. Ive only made one video I really consider like a real video and I also get the weekly shame and hate and pain of hating something that means the world to me, the constant painful dialectics between the teenage boy apathy people read into me and my not-a-boy sincerity. Ive put off making another video like it for a while now, first with real reasons, mourning, recovery from covid, and now I just dont have one. Im just scared to be sincere about the things I love, in this case theme parks, and be cringey. I guess I will. thanks
I just wanted to say, ever since i started watching your videos, i really have been doing a lot of inner reflection, and i think im the closest to understanding deeply complex things about myself that ive ever been. I feel a lot more in touch with myself and its been extremely important to me. Thank you for being the catalyst for a new era of self discovery for me
the weezer reference had me choking in my living room, he looks like he'd actually start crying when he hears "say it ain't so" (and he'd be right to do so. my love is in fact, a life taker)
somebird that loves u is my son, q-tip. he is a blind society finch that I rescued (stole) from an aviary in a retirement home when he was a baby. q-tip loves u 🐥
guy (me) who has only ever read about literary shame theory encountering a youtube video on cringe culture: getting some real shame theory vibes from this
watching ro's videos feels like listening to a critical theory undergrad performing slam poetry they wrote with a soggy thesaurus they found in a dumpster behind an abandoned domino's her intentionally overexplained yet somehow endearing comedic sensibilities are leeching on my brain like an alien fungus get out of my head get out of my hea
At what point will we all just become spiralling shapes of self analysis and reflection that we will cease to actually get anything done for fear of it not having been the perfect thing to do? I think it is admirable, morally just, and wonderfully thoughtful, yet also I feel it is a crippling affliction we are burdening ourselves with as a result of social media. I wish we could have the good social change without the weight of it.
It is the attempt to use this thought for our own benefit and yet also remember to forgive our peers (literally everyone, these days) for them still being on the journey, never at the true perfect expression of their wisdom. It is that attempt that is something to aspire to.
Your work always causes me to think, think critically, form an opinion, break that back down again... Basically, your work makes me actually think. I believe that's intentional. It's why I always get excited seeing that you've uploaded something, yet sometimes I will leave the tab open, unwatched, for days before I get up the courage to watch it, to think. It's way easier to think about problems external to oneself, yet somehow your dissection of such things always opens my thinking up to really linger on my own problems, in a way where I can actually think thru them. Then I get to post cringe in TH-cam comments. I love it! Sometimes, I feel like the more a person is sincere in doing something, the more they open themselves up to being cringe. It takes courage to do that, but it is essential. Be cringe == be sincere, so great, be cringe. I agree with your conclusion.
when you were listing off the things you did that could be considered "cringe" i realised i did all those things too. i still do those things. and it's odd because i used to watch cringe comps a few years back. i think a lot of people did, and as you said it is only to mask your personal shame. i really love this video.
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If only Jake Novak had been wearing Well Played provided by Scentbird at the time of recording its impressive, self-assured scent would have given him the grace and foresight to prevent such an unfortunate blunder. Not unlike the smooth, confident air Ro carries, bergamot and fresh lavender open the scent on a vibrant note, while rich elements like tonka bean, cocoa seed, and a light air of incense add character and warmth that were so tragically absent from his performance. Thanks to Ro and Scentbird for saving me from being part of a future cringe compilation
I need to know what that outro is!! TnT
@@cloverring same
@@cloverring same
I was once included in a cringe compilation of fat people. I was at the beach. I was playing in the waves while on vacation. It was good times. There was one point when I realized I might look ridiculous and did look up to see two teen girls laughing. They could be laughing at anything, I told myself. A year later a friend informed me that she had seen me in the cringe compilation. At first I was mortified, and there are still times when it makes me self conscious, but I've learned to deal with it. I try not to let that experience dictate what I do and don't do in public and I'm starting to feel bad for the girls. I think what made it worse is that I didn't film myself and put it on the internet for everyone to judge. People judged me and filmed me without my permission. It's that invasion of private that pisses me off now. I know defenders of it will say that once you're in public you don't have the right to privacy but to that I say bullshit. People have a right to exist in the immediate environment that they're in without worrying about what the world might say about them. Existing in public is not permission to be filmed by strangers.
Both of yall are total badasses.
I'm sorry that happened to you. Filming strangers is so trashy.
Filming strangers or anyone without their express permission is cringe
@@HollyAnn Even when I'm getting a photo of a public area just to capture the scenery, I try ro avoid getting people in the frame. Or at least people who are close-up
I’m sorry that happened to you; though it sounds like you handled it like a badass. As a fat kid I was too scared to go into the main city center in my area because I was so scared that a news crew would film me for one of the frequent segments on obesity among kids. They would always film from the neck down but friends and schoolmates know peoples clothes, hair and body.
And when the world needed her most… she returned 😭
i'm the first woman on youtube now
@@roramdin and when the world needed her most… she replied 🥹
Absolutely
@@hy-iu5yf aren't their pronouns they them?
@@kaithecactus3714 look at her about page in her channel
"the video description says 'silence is complicity', but i would argue that the answer is not POP/RAP either.." i dont know how youre so succinct and fucking hilarious at the same time. your content is so rejuvenating to my brain. thank u ro
thanks *glomps u*
Wow! I didn’t realize you were a Ro enjoyer too! I love your music
..OOMF?
I feel somewhat similar about people posting "silence is violence" actually. It has always stuck in my craw for some reason I couldn't define until recently, and it's this: It may well be true that saying nothing when you see shit happening is an act of aggression, but sitting there and parroting pithy phrases of solidarity doesn't do anything to fix the issue, either. Either do something or GTFO. Stand up, or GTFO. Which ironically, is all "silence is violence" is trying to say.
As a furry who’s been around for 6-ish years, I’ll NEVER forget the shit that was said to us 💀 I got death threats because I like to dress up as a bat for fun like wtf did we do to you?!
What did you do? Exist as your true self
I knew this day would one day come.
Question, do bat fursuits have wings and arms, or are they combined?
At this point in my life i have found so many random furries that i knew i would find a bat furry at some point that i hope might have the answer
Yet when christian bale does it those same bros are like "this is so cool rip jared leto"
@@bjam89 depends! a lot of bat suits have the wing hanging off the arm and connecting to the body, but my fursona has little chibi wings so they’re just sewn onto her back :)
@@countessspiritclaws5465 cool, thank you for the info, and have a wonderful timeperiod
It's been interesting to me seeing how much hate musical theater has been getting online recently. On the one hand, I get it because theater can be pretty cheesy and overly dramatic, but on the other hand, theater has been a place where a lot of queer people have been able to express themselves when they weren't able to express themselves in other places, and the queer community has been very linked to theater as an art form, so it feels to me like there's some subconscious anti-queerness going on when people label all musical theater as "cringe". Like you said in the video, I think we should try to not be so overly critical of things that aren't overtly harmful because what is "cringe" to us might be a safe space for someone else to express themselves.
Hi🥺
so true! i love the way you approach musical theater in your videos because it's so sincere and aware of the kinda cringe status that it has online
Agree!
Also like the number of successful Jews in musical theater too. Like there are marginalized people of all sorts who find success or comfort in musical theater.
Also the shout-out to furries was nice. Furry is an extremely queer space also, and I'm sure that's what leads people to look down on the community for sure, as she said.
Theater as a place for queer folks: good, great, we love it.
Theater as a self-aggrandizing “sPeAkInG tRuTh To PoWeR” thinking you’re actually making real tangible change: bad, “cringe”, stop it.
I think musical theatre gets a lot of flak because it's composed in large part of wealthy and out of touch white people who use characters as a conduit to experience a systemic hardship that they'll never have to endure, like poverty. I was obscenely into musical theatre for many, many years and I have a theatre degree, so I'm quite familiar with theatre people- specifically musical theatre people. They can be totally unbearable lol.
I think above all else cringing is an act of empathy, it’s saying I’m human too, I too have been/have the capacity to be embarrassing, I understand how this looks from the outside and how it may feel from the inside. Cringing only becomes mean spirited when people allow themselves to distance from that truth and instead feel superior to the subject. Stepping back and objectively looking at Jake, he is exactly the same as everyone making fun of him, he needs to survive and he wants to do so in a way that feels good. The human experience when viewed from a far enough angle is universal. We are all constantly flailing and failing at that pursuit, it hardly matters if that is publicly or privately. Really interesting video as always! Love the concluding thoughts especially.
I would highly suggest Contrapoints' video "Cringe", it really delves into why cringe is so much more painful when it's about things and people we relate to
Of course you watch Ro! You know, I'm something of a TH-cam savant myself
I got to a thought in a separate comment, but it strikes me that sincerity is on the path to being cringe. Yet, sincerity is absolutely beautiful and essential. We need more people with the courage to be cringe, so that they may fail and only be wonderful instead.
@@hilde2097 i was just gonna say! yeah the concept of contemptuous vs compassionate (i think thats right?) cringe that she talks about in it is really fascinating
its wild because i honestly didnt find him that cringe, but ive also been fixing myself in alignment with "do not cringe at the parts of yourself you hate, hate the parts of yourself that cringe". i think that when a person is able to unironically, wholly, sincerely embrace parts of themselves that others hate or would find embarrassing, it becomes a lot easier to look at sincerity at find not cringe, but joy. "cringe content" is raw, unfiltered sincerity, and i just need more of that in this post-ironic world. i cant stop my eyes from physically watering whenever i listen to bad music covers, but mentally im at peace with them.
I think for me personally, watching Jake's song and pitch for SNL triggered the feeling of cringe because of the Dunning Kruger effect being put on display with no awareness. He's not new in the entertainment industry, especially in comedy. He's confidently proclaiming how worthy he is of this major break on the basis that he's talented and funny and unique while displaying the exact opposite in his video. He's researched enough to think he's the perfect fit and ready to be on SNL, but he's so unaware of how much he has to learn. That's the cringe I experience. It's the entitlement to opportunity without the work, the confidence without cridentials, it's the ego without the humility to admit you have a lot more to learn.
And in case you were curious, yes. I am super hilarious and a comedy writer who is the best ever and expert in all things funny and no, I've never not known everything and have always been this perfect and entertaining.
actually i'm making the most correct and flawless commentary videos, so any critique you have is completely irrelevant and it is impossible to be more correct than me i think
I am inclined to agree as that is typically my gut reaction to situations such as this as well. A question for people such as you and me though that I feel important to raise is... so what? I have to ask myself this constantly. Like, if someone isn't good at something (that has no tangible harmful impact) but thinks they are, what's the harm? Why cringe in the first place? I struggle with this question because I have no justifiable answer to it, I really just want to be validated in my emotional reaction so I cling to this narrative that I just want them to improve, but I know on some level that isn't true. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing people get better, but that's never been the alterior motive for my cringe/critique of individuals. Now this isn't to say we shouldn't be critical, but for me I think the question should be is it harming anyone? I want to get to a point where my sense of cringe is only activated by harmful acts, rather than my personal taste, which is hard because I've been hard wired this way (by product of toxic cynicism), but it's at least something to strive for. Anyways, just somethin to consider!
TL;DR I relate heavily, but I think that's a pathology we should deconstruct in ourselves. Hope you're doing well and stayin safe! :D
Yeah, I've been applying to jobs I'm not quite qualified for because why not take that chance? Glad I'm not doing it in any public forum.
I think you articulated this very well!
Yes, I think it's perfectly natural, reasonable, and educational to cringe when someone exhibits Dunning-Krugerism or hubris and bites off more than they can chew. This kind of cringe can prevent us from making a similar faux pas--and can also prevent us from taking even healthy risks, potentially, if the fear of being cringe balloons out of control!
Yea, he had a tv show on mtv when he was a kid, right? It’s that guy, yea?
About the Karen thing, it’s annoying cause it was a thing that the black community only created to specifically talk about the type of racism that white women inflict on us and it’s super annoying that non-black and white people have diluted that context so much that it means nothing now, it’s become just a woman someone doesn’t like 🙄. It shouldn’t be simply cringe.
Good video, it’s important to explore these concepts.
I think the implication is still there even in recent karen mentions. Most if not all of them are white women (sometimes men) acting entitled or abnormally in a public setting and it got the general message across to me, and I didn't really see any until it got popular
🤣
@@legend7951 Well, I can tell you I’ve been called “Karen” by more Republicans than I care to count because I’ve spoken up in favor of trans liberation. White dinguses have definitely appropriated the term for their own use.
And it’s not supposed to be “white women acting entitled,” as if we’re the only people that do that, it’s meant to be white women endangering/disrupting Black people just living their lives.
I've literally had my mom be called a Karen by my own goddamn brother more than once. Why? Because sometimes when we eat out and don't recieve everything that we've paid for she brings it up to the staff. She's not mean about it, she's usually annoyed and pretty direct (because that's just who she is as a person) but she's never been genuenly rude to the workers. She just feels that we're entitled to recieve what we've paid for, which all customers are.
But the internet have fumbled the term Karen so hard that she's now lumped into the same category as white women using their privelige and entitlement to harass black people by her own goddamn son just because she wanted to make sure that he got what he actually ordered.
I know a lot of people roll their eyes when women complain about Karen becoming a more misogynistic term but it genuenly is. Diluting this term created and used by black people to descride a certain type racism into just "woman I find mildly annoying" is just kinda gross.
i am so very tired with every concept being simplified and put into succinct phrases but "don't kill the cringe, kill the part of you that cringes" is good and useful and im glad its caught on
i can see the sentiment behind that but...the reason we cringe is because our mirror neurons are firing. id be very concerned if that never happened.
sometimes you scroll through tumblr, see a post with a phrase going around, and think "that one's going in the cultural logbook for the rest of time"
i’ve really tried to embody the idea that “(harmless) cringe is dead” for a while now but i find it hard sometimes in public or around specific people.
i’m a gnc trans man and i love alt fashion and music, and i love the idea of being perceived by other people as a drag queen rather than a woman, and part of me wants to say “YES, CRINGE IS DEAD BE (harmlessly) OBNOXIOUS IN PUBLIC, THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT WOULD DELIGHT AT THE SIGHT OF YOU BEING YOURSELF!”, but there’s still this part of me with like. an ingrained sense of shame whenever one of the weird songs i like plays around people, whenever my makeup is smudged in some way, whenever someone else notices me singing along to something in public when i didn’t mean for them to or when i’m being A Little Too Much for the public.
maybe it’s cuz i grew up in a christian republican household, maybe it’s because i’m fat and made to feel like i take up too much space, maybe it’s just because i’m publicly perceived as a woman but. whatever it is it’s keeping me from actually embodying what i truly believe to be true, that being silly and being unashamed of who you are and what you want to be in public spaces should be a joyous experience, not something you need to be hiding out of fear of being too “cringe”.
idk just something i’ve been thinking about for the past few years tbh,,
Exuding cringe is asshole repellent ^^ only let the people into your life who find you mutually pleasant!
I believe it's more of a sense of not being able to embody and represent what you actually intended. If you try to make something emotionally charged and it flops, it's not really about who likes it and who doesn't, it's about your perception of what you're like vs what you're like in reality being way off.
Imagine a hell dimension in which everything you do is cringe - when you're sad and need emotional support, when you're scared and need someone to make you feel safe, when you're worried about a loved one's safety, etc. It's not really about being judged, it's about not being able to translate what you want to portray into the real world. Even if everyone understood, you still wouldn't align with what excites the emotions you intend to excite.
Even if them cringing at you has everything to do with them and their insecurities, the flow of the path you intended to take is still broken and you're faced with having to leave or be the butt of the joke. It doesn't matter how many people see that and consider you not to be cringe, it's a cesspool of multisided degradation you don't want to be a part of.
People have a drive to transcend boundaries and extremes, should they function properly. How can you develop and grow if you can't even get it right in the first place? It's the stress and confusion of not knowing if it's your fault or that of others which makes being cringe such an awful thing to be. Are they justified in their displeasure regardless of how they chose to express it? It's more than being called unfunny or unoriginal, it's being oblivious to your own performative worth and presentation despite being convinced of their quality.
It's okay to not be satisfied with yourself. It's not okay to make others feel like they're the scum of the earth and deserve to be shamed and driven out of a space or platform just because you see them as cringe. It's okay to "not be there yet" and act like you are. It's not okay to make someone feel like they're cringe for sharing their progress despite its state. If I had been afraid of being cringe as a teenager, and believe me I was really, really cringe, I wouldn't have polished any of my personality or expression. I'm talking real cringe, like meowing at people and writing facebook posts about the edgiest stuff in the most generic and childish way possible. It's not about being okay with embodying cringe for the rest of your life, it's about accepting the fact trial and error is necessary and if you want to be efficient, you will undoubtedly have to flop tremendously throughout the process of exploration.
Big mood. I liked listening to Japanese music as a teenager and due to my parents constantly asking "what are they REALLY saying?? Are they sending secret DEATH THREATS TO AMERICA?? How do you REALLY know what's being said??" I skip any non English song whenever I have the aux cord in the car even a decade later.
god yes this. should go without saying it’s not limited to growing up in christian republican families either - I had no shame in watching magical girl anime out loud in front of my liberal family. that is, until my sibling and parents started making fun of how high pitched they sounded. I get that that’s not everyone’s thing but this was a show for kids. and also thats racist stop it
while they’re a bit more understanding now, occasionally (not from my immediate family) i’ll get the “is this ‘x jpop band I used to listen to’” when I play song with someone remotely young sounding, or i’ll say the word “triforce” and i’ll get “you’re speaking japanese”
nngggh really gets under my skin of how those old, exaggerated stereotypes are still engrained in the minds of some people and I really should not let a few racist remarks shame me out of liking what I like
i still feel pretty cringy except around my friends who totally get it. but man, slowly unlearning that feeling of cringe has been difficult in practice (for me at least), and i give you credit for pushing on despite the obstacles
@@FeatherVoid
me, listening to japanese girls with high-pitched voices sing about cats:
your parents: "THEY ARE SENDING DEATH THREATS AND THEY WANT TO *_DESTROY AMERICA_* "
as an autistic person who has been ridiculed for just being an autistic person, cringe is feeling more and more separated from embarrassment to the new R slur almost. not quite but it’s getting there
No you’re 100% right. Cringe is anti autistic violence
I’ve gotten called “cringe” for past hyperfixations so many times that I’ve accepted it. I am cringe. I embrace the cringe lovingly in my arms
@@luxill0s same, i feel like im gonna suffer if i act like everyone else. Its so exhausting, so im just going accept the fact that people will hate on me😅
Yeah it's always been bullshit to shit on people who are weird. Like... let people be, if they're not hurting anyone who cares?
Some people confuse "normal" with "moral" cuz they simpletons
that sponsor transition was smoother than my skin on estrogen
lmaoooo I love that comparison
Can’t relate tho, I’m transing the other way 😎
love this comment 🏳⚧
As an autistic person, the way cringe can be weaponized against neurodivergent people just hurts. I myself have an inner voice that bullies me to be as not-autistic or ND in public because of how I’ve been conditioned as a young person to not be perceived as cringey. It just gave me horrible social anxiety and made me so quiet that I didn’t feel like a person for soooo long because I was so closed off to avoid hate and outward hostility.
Yes! I feel this way too, I’ll make fun of myself for my weirdly specific hyperfixations on topics that, if i weren’t interested in, i’d probably find “cringe” and there’s something about being self aware about it that sucks
Not to mention that soooo many communities that ARE made fun of for being cringe have HEAPS of people who confine in those areas because they’re neurodivergent and it’s comforting/ helps them feel like themselves (especially the furry fandom, cosplayers, etc) but it’s so hard to enjoy those sort of things knowing you’re probably going to be made fun of regardless as to why you enjoy it-
the whole cringe “culture” is based on awful morals and it’s so…. demeaning.. especially to ND people ..
Yeah Im autistic im super "cringe" and I really felt bad for a long time because I was so intensely into topics like Tolkien and anime, I wished I could just like things a "normal" amount.
I'm also neurodivergent and I'm kinda glad cringe wasn't a thing when I was in school, I got called dorky and a nerd but for me somehow cringey feels worse?? Idk why
"Social media seeks to simultaneously amplify our voices and undermine their efficacy, which turns us into these deluded, weird little goblin freaks that at once feel both useless and venerated by whatever size of audience we have." Hit me like a ton of bricks, I feel like I need to put that on my wall somewhere.
Being cringe is relative. As long as your having fun and no one gets hurt that’s all that matters!! ^v^
Agreed
But this is the internet you're not allowed to have fun unless its *relatively popular and accepted internet thing*
#real
being cringe is camp actually
@@okayokayfineilldoit this is unironically the best take on cringe i’ve ever heard
worrying less about seeming “cringey” has gone hand in hand with my efforts to start unmasking, and my internalized ableism has for sure fueled my own instincts to find other things/people cringey. obviously i still find things cringe, and that is always going to involve my biases and insecurity, but i’m trying to find a balance of being kind to myself and others and having fun laughing at bad tiktoks
I'm kinda working on the same thing, being myself like that and I don't think I was ever that good at masking but it still feels so hard and like after you leave everyone is judging you...hope you're doing well with that and doing ok my friend 💜
the GarfieldEATS reveal fucking took me out to a empty field and firing squad executed me
So true. Have you seen Izzzzzyz video on it?
bro,,, i love GarfieldEATS they're just so.... i dont know how to describe them but its positive
New ro video just dropped everyone wake up!
As far as cringe goes, for me it depends on what you're cringing at. It's far more justified to cringe at antisocial behavior and ignorant statements than at someone's relatively harmless symptoms of being neuro-divergent, for example.
Isn't being antisocial a mental ilness? a neurodivergence?
I agree about the ignorant statement bit but I'm pretty sure antisocial behaviour can be a symptom of some neurodivergence
@@stanalex3966 there's a difference between mental illness and neurodivergence. They are not one in the same.
@@decrepitwitch I’d argue that it’s “cringe” to cringe at people who’s behavoir has to do with a mental illness, esp if you do so with the knowledge they have one. But antisocial behavoir is rough one, esp if their actions don’t elicit much empathy.
@@sjworrier0613 having low or no empathy is also an autistic trait. people will say they support neaurodivergent and specifically autistic people but then point out the various traits of autism as negative.
you saying that many furries are autistic and queer made me tear up because someone finally noticed that! im an autistic queer furry myself and its usually written off as me being cringe but its a huge form of expression for myself, thank you for bringing that up :]
Oo what's your fursona like?? :)
@@alim.9801 its a hybrid of a wolf and a bat, but i made an opossum fursuit head in January for a school project :]
I think every fan artist, especially fan artists of communities known as cringe know the struggle of sharing their work, especially with people in their everyday life. Fanart can sometimes be dismissed as lesser art as it is derived from something else. But fanart is full of talent and passion! Just because you might not like the source doesn’t mean you can dismiss it as cringe, especially if the artist is less established in their art style or younger.
Yup, you worded it perfectly!
felt this. 100%. (
@@feitphikz This is so niche and that is amazing
@@snowysheep3857 ::)
I can't keep up with the jokes in the intro alone. I have to pause every time to laugh 😮💨 i have arthritis now. Thanks, Obam- ROSE!
I've only found out about this guy yesterday and I didn't find the snl video cringy at all! I mean, isn't the entertainment industry about "faking it until you make it"? I can see how one would find that video low-key embarrassing, but this amount of hate and vitriol? Idk internet, specially tiktok and twitter, encourages bullying to such an amount that not participating in it feels like you're missing on a cultural event or something
I feel the same way. Maybe it's because I don't really understand SNL because I'm not American but the video seemed just fine to me. People really dig into how he he hypes himself up in the video. But like, it's an audition video? What is he supposed to do if not try and sell himself with confidence??
@@evelyneca7454 oooh that's definitely a factor as well!! I'm also not from the US so SNL and everything around it doesn't hit the same way.
_internet, specially tiktok and twitter, encourages bullying_
^ This
Yeah it's goofy, but not cringe. I read it as sort of satirical and poking fun at himself for BEING openly cringy and overly earnest.
@@SidheKnight that's one reason I stay on shorts, genuinely the comments on tiktok are ALWAYS meaner, significantly so. And Twitter I quit a year or so ago and I stg my mental health has been better for it. So many angry people screaming into the void, I hate when people take those voices and opinions and extrapolate them to represent the general public man
I loved Garfield as a child, I drew a gigantic five foot tall Garfield for my bedroom door and I think I wrote Jim Davis a letter one time saying he's my creative inspo. Had to fast for 48 hours & enter sensory deprivation trance to recover these memories & everything is worse now
aww that's just cute.
but that slaps so hard!
i have separate feelings about the first part of the video, mainly how there's a time and place to show off one's talent and jake novak needs to read the room a bit, but the second half is what resonated with me.
i've been waiting for someone to address the topic of cringe in internet spaces as a whole. the ever-growing "fear of cringe" is something that has held a grip on people's creativity, particularly those outside the status quo as you mentioned. i'm a singer who occasionally does drag, but i'm also trans, visibly autistic, and plus-sized (basically huge prime target for folks who love to cringe), and the idea that i may end up on someone's cringe comp has solely restricted me to performing live. i wish i could put myself out there online, but people are cruel.
Cringe by adult actions is inevitable and we all do it, and it absolutely IS a sign of self-growth when we cringe at our past selves, but we do need to learn to be less volatile about it in general.
Contrapoints and the liberal cook both did good videos on cringe! (One called Cringe, the other called postmodernism is dead). A personal favorite is a video essay called Art, Furries, God, which celebrates sincerity. Would highly, highly recommend, they and videos like them help me as I try to unlearn my anxiety and trauma around public creation.
@@blinkfilms1 I appreciate these recommendations, I love learning to move past cringe being bad! I hope your day is going good.
Salem Tovar also has a video on it that i rlly enjoyed it's called "cringe culture isn’t real yall are just toxic"
@@blinkfilms1 I have a poor memory so I can't remember exactly what happens in it, but I do remember finding the youtube vid by Shanspeare on cringe culture interesting too, if anyone is looking for more recommendations lol :) Take care everyone. You all matter and your existences are important.
Hey man, if you ever feel like posting any performances...I would love to see them 💜 but I feel you and I know its a very difficult decision to weight against potential hate. But your people and community will be there to support you no matter what you do or don't do, and I hope you're taking care of yourself in this political climate and doing what's best for you but also what your heart is calling you to do man 💜💜
I never really understood the fuss, cause like, who cares? He made an audition, good for him! He's pursuing his dreams! Idk, I'm trans and queer and I've ALWAYS been weird, so like... Just be kind to people? Even the "Bad Gun" thing--Tasteless, maybe, but at least he cares? He put forth an effort to be anti-gun when... He didn't HAVE to. Idk! Very good vid tho, really enjoyed it. And I hope Jake is doing well wherever he is.
Oh my god every sentence that comes out of your mouth sounds like a meticulously well-crafted roast that feels too relatable not to be a direct diss towards me. You’re an amazing writer
Imma be honest and say I think a big part of the negative reaction is how bubbly he is it comes across kind-of corporate "hey fellow kids!!"
All wide eyed and toothy, It feels fake
That really seems like a more fair critique than just calling it cringe, I could see it
I feel like a big part of me being autistic is not 'growing out' of things that I loved as a child. Still struggle with embracing them sometimes, but learning to respect mine and other people's interests has been really freeing :)
Ro's wit and intellect juxtaposed with the idea that she's "too young to get cigarettes" is always so mind-blowing to me. Just such fantastic content.
I like JUST learned how young Ro is (I thought she was like 26 or something) and she's so witty and mature and articulate it kinda blew my mind. Not like younger people can't be that way, bc I guess for my own reasons or biases it wasn't what I was expecting
I'm so glad I found this channel dude, Ro is TOP TIER as far as commentary/video essay videos go!!
I am a furry and my best friend thinks they are cringe. It hurts my feelings that he knows that I am yet still decides to make fun of them and troll. Just trying to have fun by dressing up and liking humanoid characters isn’t bad and I don’t understand all the hate. He really doesn’t get it and often compares us to Zoophiles, which is completely not what we are. I would never want to do anything with an animal, that’s disgusting. He has gone into furry discord servers and trolled with another one of my friends before and has bragged about it to me. Being unkind to the people who you don’t understand just because it’s not normal to you is rude and childish. I really like the way Ro handles this video because she does not want to hate on people doing no harm but she will call out the things that make it distasteful.
I dunno why I commented this but I just wanted to let it out there that this video made me happy. And say thank you to Ro if she reads this. It made me feel a little less insane. :))
if your best friend does not respect you like that, maybe you need to find a new one.
hey it seems like they have quite a bit of maturing to do, you can definitely find and deserve more supportive friends
you def deserve a way better friend, what an asshole. i have friends who are furries and all the hate you guys get is not justified in the slightest. i have never met a community so against zoophilia as the furry community. the stereotypes are so out of pocket, you guys are one of the kindest communities i interacted with. you arent insane or cringe, but your so called friend sure is. hope they grow up and get well soon.
Any decent friend can at least not joke like that in front of you. A best friend not respecting your boundaries? You deserve far better!
From a fellow furry💕
That's messed up, they should be more supportive of your interests:( I don't dress up or anything but I draw some furry characters and idk why it has to be something so "cringe" it's just cartoony anthro art to me
Thank you, I felt really uncomfortable with how much people were mocking the audition video. He’s just overeager, and people seem so excited to tear someone down for putting themselves out there (albeit in a rather embarrassing way).
Just bought all of those ScentBird fragrances for a very reasonable $17 per month with the coupon roramdin I will defeat the AXE body spray children
I find it weird how we love sitcom characters who are earnest and hopeful and vulnerable, but not real people who have these qualities?
"Social media seeks to simultaneously amplify our voices and undermine their efficacy"
i've always been a HUGE fan of cringe, but like, relatively benign and relatable cringe if you will! when i was still in therapy a big component of my recovery was hinged on getting over my social anxiety which had morphed into some pretty bad agoraphobia. part of my supplemental therapy was consuming cringe content (tho this was all the way back in 2009 before that phrase had even been coined) whether it be timeless internet videos or TV shows that relied on cringe comedy. and y'know what happened?
i never judged anyone, fictional or otherwise. i never laughed *at* them, rather *with* them since i could usually relate all too well. on top of making me feel less alone, like less of a loser or a weirdo, it also helped me understand that most people reacted the same way i did whenever something embarrassing happened - with either indifference or compassion! not contempt! after all we're human, and human beings are far from perfect. why rake someone over the coals for a silly "mistake" or a harmless interest when we've all been there?
lets just say i'm glad i completed my therapy back in 2010 rather than 2020, when the mentality surrounding cringe was far less cruel, at least overtly anyway! now i try to tell people how fond i am of cringe and i'm lumped in with a bunch of gamergate freaks. :')
It's so refreshing to hear empathetic takes about cringe. I absolutely agree.
Literally the best thing I’ve done for my mental health is to accept that I have been, am, and will forever be cringe. I was a band kid in middle school, obsessed with parkour and free running, a brony in early high school, listened to EDM in my formative years, and spent almost every waking moment in high school playing League of Legends. Whatever cringe may be to someone, I was it, and I’m okay with that. That is apart of me but that ME no longer exists, and that’s okay.
I have always been embarrassed by the way i acted and the things I was into but that’s the person that existed then and that’s what made them happy, and that’s okay.
sometimes you gotta be able to say "this is weird, but its not doing anything harmful"
As a writer, I've discovered that once I finish writing ANYTHING, I immediately nitpick it to death and in about 2 years time I always end up hating it with a passion, to the point that I sometimes just delete hundreds of thousands of words that took me months to do just because I, the older and more experienced version of me, have deemed it "too cringe," or "not researched enough," or "poorly edited," etc. It's really hard to work against your own bias and keep that stuff within public view, because I've found that even if I don't like it anymore, there are people who do. I think this is true for a lot of people in a lot of creative processes, where they end up regretting half of their backlog and denounce their works, whether people love them or hate them. It's a tricky line to walk.
one of my closest friends who i look up to in a lot of ways constantly quotes “i am cringe but i am free”. i know it’s from a meme but seeing them be so unashamed to be themself and to express themselves freely is so cool. for a long time i was obsessed with the notion of not being cringe and i ended up being the most unhappy with myself i’ve ever been. but since i met them i’ve learned to embrace the sides and aspects of myself i hid away for years and it’s so liberating.
i know you’ll never see this, but sage you’re wonderful and i love you so much
Thinking about this more in depth and how I related to it/experienced it when I first found out about it, I find that Jake Novac is doing everything they say you should do when applying for a job. Sell yourself, research the company, use key/buzz words to interest the company, maybe fudge your talent/experience a little, and even apply for jobs you don't match experience 100% because you never know. Right now I've been sending out applications and DESPERATELY updating and redesigning and restructuring my resume to fit companies I hadn't even known about yesterday. I feel desperate and so so cringe. To see what my much quieter personal struggle might look like to the recipients of my applications is almost unbearable...
Good luck! Don't worry about the recipients. If they like you, you'll know and if they don't, I doubt they'll spend any more time on it than necessary. You'll prob never even know. Good for you for getting out there and doing your best to get what you want!
I don't understand why people associate desperation with cringe/embarassement. Perhapse because it requires vulnerability and most people struggle with being vulnerable. We all feel desperate at times. We all have wants and needs. It's very human. I hope we can get to a place in society where we can extend some compassion and empathy to those who struggle going after the things they want in life. It's brave to be bold and be out there.
The job search process is a beast. Don't use this as an example. Do your best and the right place will say yes ❤
i think you really knocked it out the park with this one ro i think that the mix of internet bubbles with differing rules and constructs, bastardization of the concept of cancellation/"problematic" creators and this media atmosphere that fosters both self-hatred and self-righteousness leads to a very toxic environment where people end up harassing others to deflect from their own insecurities while at the same time convincing themselves that they are doing what is just. while sometimes a negative reaction is warranted and even needed, people get so lost with the social appearance aspect that they end up regurgitating their own insecurities on the creators while completely ignoring what made that creator worthy of being criticized in the first place, leading to a space where 1. the original issue is never addressed, and is propagated without pushback, and 2. the community it originates from gets more wary of social faux-pas, while still being unable to pinpoint exactly what is a social faux-pas, leading to even more hostility to anyone doing anything even slightly weird or unusual. its such a vicious cycle and im glad you were able to put it in video while still keeping it entertaining. great work as always :)
I remember how bad for me cringe culture was, it made me limit my art and hide my passions, and worst of all it made me look down on others who had earnest interests and hadn’t hidden their entire personality under 7 layers of irony. It impacted my enjoyment of things and changed my life for the worse.
thank you for making this! it's all the thoughts I have on cringe put into a video. As I've grown more skeptical of the authorities on social norms, i've found things infinitely less 'cringe'. Whenever i see someone being 'cringe' by being proud of their impressive (but obviously imperfect) selves, I can't help but be proud with them. Self-love has become 'cringe' because people can't imagine that expressing love for yourself isn't a hierarchical expression of superiority. I hope jake can learn and grow and get to the places he wants to go :)
" _people can't imagine that expressing love for yourself isn't a hierarchical expression of superiority_ "
This is so true, now that I think about it. People hear "I am happy with my cooking skills" and interpret that as "I can cook better than you" or "you're a bad cook" as if it was a commentary on _them_
@@SidheKnight Yes exactly! I think a lot of 'cringe' derives from the fact that people are not only *breaking* social rules, but they're breaking them *because* they are happy with themselves and others judge that confidence as misplaced feelings of superiority ("Why does this person have the audacity to put themselves out there as if they're better than everyone else. We all know that we're not good enough to put ourselves out there, and this person is mistaken, so it's cringe" Is the underlying feeling, I think).
very happy that someone else could relate :')
@@zaenaschannel My thoughts exactly :)
@@SidheKnight oof that last part was so well put. Probably not helped by how much competition and being the ABSOLUTE BEST at things is encouraged in at least American society
Everyone might be laughing at him, but it's these types of people who are actually doing things that eventually get somewhere.
I'm jealous that he has the guts to try.
well i find everything related to snl "cringy" so i thought his video was on brand. but seriously getting second hand (and first hand) embarrassment is a part of life. the most i've felt it is while watching the movie ratatouille and that's part of what makes it slap so hard. imagine if we all just pointed and laughed at ratatouille we'd be dismissing a masterpiece
Feeling cringe is ok. It can even inspire empathy and compassion.
Shaming other people for their (harmless) cringe behavior is what is _not_ ok. Point and laughing at people one finds cringe, publicly humilliating them, that's not ok. That's bullying.
this is so weird to me because i didnt find his audition cringe at all. it felt very standard to me? like, not my thing but snl isnt my thing so who cares? idk its just weird to see the widespread consensus is "this is cringe" when it genuinely just feels like a normal if misguided video to me
I have such complicated feelings abt cringe but you being able to poke fun in a normal way is really what hits the right note for me. Like imo ppl can dislike something and find it embarrassing or bad but then just move on- the current attitude of pointing and laughing and dog-piling is honestly making it so hard to be a normal hater lmao
That kneejerk cringe to something that reminds you of a former version of yourself is so real and reminds me of my experience as an older sibling. Learning not to do that has been hard but wonderdul in that it has allowed me to be kinder to others and myself. Also free Palestine!🇵🇸✊
learning that ro went through a phase of being really obsessed with garfield as a kid is a very niche she just like me fr moment
like my super wise friend once said "Kill not that what within you that is cringe, kill that what cringes"
i loved this video and your empathy for others is so admirable. as a little psychology major you always put my brain into your videos it feels like lol
Ro your ratio of succinct social commentary to quick-fire jokes is unmatched as always. As far as Jake Novack, if he was making these videos in 2014 he would be brought on Ellen. But also I don’t think I’ve earnestly cringed at something other than my own embarrassing moments in quite a few years. Not sure if the internet has harvested so much of my data that it knows what not to show me or if I’ve seen too much and been fully desensitised to it. Regardless the outwardly vitriolic reaction to cringe on the internet reminds me of putting my age in my bio at 14 because I thought “ah finally, the internet will take me seriously.”
strongly recommend the video "This is Phil Fish" by Innuendo Studios. it's so old it's still 4x3, yet it feels like the definitive text on internet fame.
When Ro explained the concept of Bad Gun I said “oh no” out loud in my empty kitchen
Cringe is often just envy of someone sincerely enjoying something or being something.
“he can’t remember if it’s pizza or french fries to stop” nah if im him this is my last straw lmaoo
owning newspaper comic strip collections are actually a sign of taste like having a really old bottle of whiskey or a scentbird subscription use code RORAMDIN 55% off on your first month
"...dear evan hansen jared kinnie thespian..."
I thought this was a safe space.
I like RM Brown’s concept of “cringe herd immunity.” The basic idea is that with the advent of social media, we all post things that will at some point in time become cringe if they aren’t already. So eventually we will all be exposed to an amount of cringe that eventually, we will be immune to its effects (at least on ourselves, internally).
Just want to say I am consistently impressed by how good you are at articulating your thoughts. Your writing really feels like it occupies a distinctly higher caliber than 99% of internet content
That tripod critique was withering
“I’m too young to get cigarettes” fried the eyebrows clean off of my face
The yarn I'm knitting with is so similar to the background lighting and the vibes are immaculate. Thank you Ro for planning this
Listen, as an open and unashamed furry/brony, I am used to being treated as "cringe" or even outright accused of being an animal abuser simply because I like drawing colorful animal-people so I've just stopped really seeing other people as cringe. Honestly as long someone isn't actively harmful to others, I really don't care anymore. And I don't even feel like this dude is that cringey anyway, it feels like he's a less polished and established Bo Burnham who could definitely catch the Gen Z market with a few tweaks to his concepts and delivery.
your point about cringe and where it comes from is so spot on and also something being on the internet necessitates us to really look at and then actively consider, as you say - so thanks for another really thoughtful and interesting video
I am cringe
🌊🐄 ⛱️
But I am free
It seems that ContraPoints 2020 video on cringe needs a resurgence
"he smiles like a little european boy whose papa has brought home astro pops" is the best roast i've heard in years
“silence is complicity but i don’t think the answer is pop rap either” made me laugh
the older i get, the less i care about what is or isn't cringe. i'm 27, i spent a long time being embarrassed about things i did in my teens/early 20s that are ultimately harmless. is the fanfiction i published in 2009 cringe? probably, but it was some of the first writing i ever shared, & it was the start of a hobby i genuinely enjoy.
i used to have opinions & engage in behaviours that were genuinely problematic, & i continue to learn & grow from those experiences. but i refuse to cringe at my past self for being obsessed with twilight & dressing like aliexpress avril lavigne.
i'm still cringe; i write fanfiction, i love minecraft, i'm definitely furry-adjacant, & i have 5k hours in the sims 4. my youngest brother thinks i'm cringe asf which i think is pretty adorable tbh.
i've experienced ridicule & harrassment from strangers online, definitely not on the same scale as jake, but i remember it being quite harrowing as i was only like 22 at the time. i hope jake is doing ok, & i hope he learns from his past blunders without ceasing to follow his dreams & doing what he loves.
sorry for the rambly comment lol, your videos are just very thought provoking. thank you for sharing your perspective 💛
I feel like this and Sarah Z’s video: the panopticon of west elm Caleb, are great together. Fully dissecting the dog pile that happens to people online and why it’s cathartic and honestly isolating to the person it’s happening to. Amazing video, great call to action! Keep it up Ro!!! 💕💗
As an elder millennial, I remember when we said "awk-ward" and watched the rise of people saying things were cringe on social media. I thought, can't teenagers and others be free to do embarrassing things? That's your most awkward time. Or the groups outside of the social norm. Or someone just having a playtime moment. Just the overuse of cringe was demeaning, but now I'm aware of the social judgement and derision.
I never thought i would relate to a video in the first 15 seconds so much. Then you mentioned being cast as Jack Scott and I fucking LOST IT.
Jack Scotts of the world unite.
JACK SCOTT THE VELVET FOG OF EAST HIGH!!! I never comment but today is the day I break my silence… I was also Jack Scott and I’m schocked to learn theres more of us. Please if anyone else out here has played Jack Scott make yourself known. WE MUST UNITE. Im thinking we could do some sort of get-together/JackScottCon somewhere in the middle of Ohio… #JackScott4life #LetsGoWildcats
As a whole this video was incredibly well done, but the way in which she defines "cringe" combining the original etymological roots with the contemporary uses was amazing *chef's kiss*
I was a homestuck kid who wore his Tavros horns to school. For six months i never took off black cat ears i got at aki con. On fridays i used to cosplay to school. I used to go to my public libraries anime club. I was overtyl political.... as a 12 year old. I still dont know how to tell when im yelling or being too loud. And sometimes i get so excited i give myself an anxiety attack. Cringe for life
I wore a fox hoodie with a tail and ears from lemonbrat with a collar with my sona name on the tag in highschool :p before that I wore a tail, and before that I wore MLP shirts and hoodies. I was a furry long before 2012 but that's when bronies were super popular so I embraced that a bit. But this was in 2012. So cringe culture wasn't at its prime in 2016. Also a lot more people didn't know about Furries. I actually got a lot more compliments than hate! I think people respected my enthusiasm and shameless interests. Even teachers sometimes asked questions and I would just respond "I'm a furry" all my friends were usually like "how do you just not care about saying that" :P The only teacher to ever give me strife was a christian conservative old white lady. She thought I was promoting buttplugs. I took the tail off and put it back on at the end of class. She never mentioned it again lol.
I also had a lot of girls interested in me apparently, but I'm gay :v The only time I had something weird happen to me was in the food court. Dude ran up to me, lifted my tail and started air humping me. But I was so nonchalant about it and just unphased the dude ended up looking weird instead of me because I didn't give them a reaction that they wanted. That dude was weird. I found that ironic :D
Damn this just kinda reminds me of a how great BDG's audition video for Polygon was.
Now that's a sweet boi that would give me an actual reason to care about SNL.
I often daydream of being as articulate as Ro
I've been getting really into sincerity lately. Maybe, if I believe in myself enough, I'll be able to sincerely release all that art I've been scared of into the world. Maybe not, but hating myself for making it isn't making the world any better. Who fucking cares?
You should! I bet your art is great :D
your videos always make me cry from how vulnerable you are and I really appreciate it. I appreciate it so much
and love who you are
Idk if anyone will see this since the video is kind of old, but I think a good way to contrast the topic of school shootings in music is "Thoughts and Prayers" and "Darkside" by Grandson.
Grandson is a political rapper so his work is often serious when he's talking about these issues. Both these songs are about school shootings, Darkside being sang from the perspective of a school shooter as his traumatic life that lead to his atrocity is detailed along with his easy access to a fire arm, and Thoughts and Prayers is a lament sang with a child's choir in the chorus as the sorrow and rage towards these events and the politicians who do nothing is clear through his combination of mellow and intense vocals. Both of these artists are competent at their craft and passionate, but the awkward tone of Bad Gun is out of place while Grandson takes a more serious tone to do both sides of these horrors justice (though the empathetic tone of Darkside does end when he starts doing "very bad things").
In short, if you're going to cover a serious topic in art, keep the tone and techniques used consistent with the issue at hand.
first ro ramdin video to make me cry. thank you. Ive only made one video I really consider like a real video and I also get the weekly shame and hate and pain of hating something that means the world to me, the constant painful dialectics between the teenage boy apathy people read into me and my not-a-boy sincerity. Ive put off making another video like it for a while now, first with real reasons, mourning, recovery from covid, and now I just dont have one. Im just scared to be sincere about the things I love, in this case theme parks, and be cringey. I guess I will. thanks
I just wanted to say, ever since i started watching your videos, i really have been doing a lot of inner reflection, and i think im the closest to understanding deeply complex things about myself that ive ever been. I feel a lot more in touch with myself and its been extremely important to me. Thank you for being the catalyst for a new era of self discovery for me
not gonna mention how he's dressed like Jake (Andy Samberg) from Brooklyn 99 and how that's clearly intentional visual messaging?
the weezer reference had me choking in my living room, he looks like he'd actually start crying when he hears "say it ain't so" (and he'd be right to do so. my love is in fact, a life taker)
the border slowly filling up red on the ad was GENIUS WHY DOES NO ONE DO THAT
I love you! bergamot is an herb that has a citrusy flavor. Its also the flavor in early grey tea!
somebird that loves u is my son, q-tip. he is a blind society finch that I rescued (stole) from an aviary in a retirement home when he was a baby. q-tip loves u 🐥
"someone whose illmatic is words word words" is so funny
guy (me) who has only ever read about literary shame theory encountering a youtube video on cringe culture: getting some real shame theory vibes from this
watching ro's videos feels like listening to a critical theory undergrad performing slam poetry they wrote with a soggy thesaurus they found in a dumpster behind an abandoned domino's her intentionally overexplained yet somehow endearing comedic sensibilities are leeching on my brain like an alien fungus get out of my head get out of my hea
I don't really know how or why, but any time you post it seems to correlate with some terrible event befalling me. Slay
At what point will we all just become spiralling shapes of self analysis and reflection that we will cease to actually get anything done for fear of it not having been the perfect thing to do? I think it is admirable, morally just, and wonderfully thoughtful, yet also I feel it is a crippling affliction we are burdening ourselves with as a result of social media. I wish we could have the good social change without the weight of it.
It is the attempt to use this thought for our own benefit and yet also remember to forgive our peers (literally everyone, these days) for them still being on the journey, never at the true perfect expression of their wisdom. It is that attempt that is something to aspire to.
Your work always causes me to think, think critically, form an opinion, break that back down again... Basically, your work makes me actually think. I believe that's intentional. It's why I always get excited seeing that you've uploaded something, yet sometimes I will leave the tab open, unwatched, for days before I get up the courage to watch it, to think. It's way easier to think about problems external to oneself, yet somehow your dissection of such things always opens my thinking up to really linger on my own problems, in a way where I can actually think thru them.
Then I get to post cringe in TH-cam comments. I love it! Sometimes, I feel like the more a person is sincere in doing something, the more they open themselves up to being cringe. It takes courage to do that, but it is essential. Be cringe == be sincere, so great, be cringe. I agree with your conclusion.
My notification that you posted showed up 5 mins later than you actually posted. My whole life is absolutely useless now. Thanks for ur content!!!!
That's a really eclectic post, nice to see people living up to their username.
old enough for marriage, too young for cigarettes, the world really is a fuck
when you were listing off the things you did that could be considered "cringe" i realised i did all those things too. i still do those things. and it's odd because i used to watch cringe comps a few years back. i think a lot of people did, and as you said it is only to mask your personal shame. i really love this video.
My girlfriend worked at an ad agency who had garfield eats as a customer, i heard an unleaked garfield eats theme song through her