WhyTube

Search “Liver Fluke” on YouTube.

Go ahead…I’ll wait.

See what I mean?  It’s there.  Right on your screen, in the privacy of your home, you can learn how to acquire, detect, identify, treat, and remove a liver fluke in yourself or one of the barnyard animals that look to you for sustenance.

How great is that?

In my last post I was a little down on the whole social media world.  I questioned the effect that Facebook “friendships” might have on real relationships—particularly our relationship with Jesus.

But YouTube is different.

YouTube is awesome.

Here we find the Internet at its best.  This is a place where—at no cost—you can expand your mind…explore your world…express yourself.

And then there’s the weird stuff.

You’ll see things on YouTube that are truly worth thinking about.  I have watched debates on faith, politics, economics, and current events that have a real impact on my world.  I have been exposed to viewpoints that are new to me, and have been confronted by ideas that require careful consideration.  I have also gained deeper knowledge of classic films such as The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu and Yor, Hunter from the Future.

There is nothing—no thing—you can’t learn to do on YouTube.  There are 136 videos to teach you how to make a proper chicken sandwich.  Granted, some of them include beak and feathers, so, you know, caveat emptor.  Are you concerned about how to prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse?  You have people, and they are waiting for you on YouTube.  You say you have always wanted to know more about the mating rituals of the wombat?  Perhaps learn to play the glockenspiel?  It’s all there.  Really.  Several months ago, I used YouTube to learn how to replace the heating element on my oven.  Easy-peasy.  Twenty years ago (pre YouTube) I tried the same thing with Cathy’s oven.  I blew up.

More than teaching and exploring, YouTube is a place to express yourself.  Everyone and their cousin seem to upload video.  The vast majority of what is uploaded is of no interest to anyone outside of the uploader, but that doesn’t matter.  What matters is self-expression.  Apparently. We share video of our kids, our dogs, our idiot selves. I’ve seen video of toenail art.  I’ve seen video of toenail fungus.  Neither was particularly compelling to me, but I’m glad that someone out there felt the freedom and empowerment to share.  I spent a full minute watching a Japanese woman do an interpretive dance.  Her costume was adorned with what appeared to be stovetop burner covers. There must have been fifty of them…she was covered head to toe.  It was mesmerizing.  I don’t know how I stumbled upon it, and I haven’t come across it since, but it was a significant moment.

Like every powerful tool, YouTube is a two-edged sword.  It goes without saying–OK, just a little saying–that much of what you find on YouTube is inappropriate, if not obscene. If you don’t have a good filter in place–like maybe a blindfold–you may find yourself in a place you don’t want to find yourself.  In.

Even the innocent stuff comes at a price.  What YouTube grants in personal enrichment, it demands in time.  I once had a good friend named James who was very serious about his relationship with Christ.  Each night before he went to sleep, James would think back over his day, considering whether he had spent it wisely.  He would then ask God to forgive him for any time he had wasted.  I admire that attitude, though I admit it frightens me a bit.  I imagine praying, “God, forgive me for spending 30 minutes of precious life you gave me watching Ultimate Cat Fails.”  I mean, I know he knows, but you know?

Your turn.  What is the oddest, strangest, freakyist thing you’ve come across on YouTube?  Don’t be embarrassed—we’re all friends here.  Share your find below.  If it’s named the weirdest by our judges (Alec and Carissa), you may win a fabulous prize.

I happen to know where to obtain a liver fluke.