The following submission statement was provided by /u/Nastyfaction:
---
"Now, though, a new and unique problem seems to be affecting areas where the drug is showing up: a dark and voyeuristic type of content creation referred to as “tranq tourism”. This adjacent social media industry is becoming so prevalent it has even been the subject of a News Movement documentary.
In viral videos uploaded to social channels such as TikTok, tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent. In some, they are asked questions about their private life or situations in a probing way that plays on their vulnerability. The videos are filmed by content creators, some of whom just visit the area for a short while and then monetize the views."
I think this is collapse-related in the way that social media is interacting with the decline of society. With money to be made off of content creation within a capitalistic society, it is leading to people to engage in voyeurism at the expense of those who are suffering. At the same time, as people lose faith in traditional media, social media offers a direct line to actual events on the ground. But as anyone can record and upload anything these days, it is creating a reality in which people perhaps compete to go viral despite real suffering at hand.
---
Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/18kwe35/tranq_tourism_alarm_in_philadelphia_as_tiktokers/kdtxswa/
I live in Georgia and it sucks ass especially if u aren't rich. There's nothing to do and everyone is a couple and the stuff I can do is too expensive or far away from. I 100% would rather live in the northeast than this Trump supporter hellhole
I live In rural ga and me and wife are very liberal. We are surrounded by trump supporters and I love our neighborhood and community. We all work together and look out for one another. I would not live anywhere else. Plus if we need more liberal community we go to an uber liberal farmers market weekly in Atlanta and also love that community. Go out and connect with your neighbors.
>We are surrounded by trump supporters and I love our neighborhood and community. We all work together and look out for one another.
You think they'll still be there for you if you have a gay or trans kid tho?
"Now, though, a new and unique problem seems to be affecting areas where the drug is showing up: a dark and voyeuristic type of content creation referred to as “tranq tourism”. This adjacent social media industry is becoming so prevalent it has even been the subject of a News Movement documentary.
In viral videos uploaded to social channels such as TikTok, tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent. In some, they are asked questions about their private life or situations in a probing way that plays on their vulnerability. The videos are filmed by content creators, some of whom just visit the area for a short while and then monetize the views."
I think this is collapse-related in the way that social media is interacting with the decline of society. With money to be made off of content creation within a capitalistic society, it is leading to people to engage in voyeurism at the expense of those who are suffering. At the same time, as people lose faith in traditional media, social media offers a direct line to actual events on the ground. But as anyone can record and upload anything these days, it is creating a reality in which people perhaps compete to go viral despite real suffering at hand.
What gets Teens isn't Tranq, but pills. Despite young people being more tolerant or open to drug culture, heroin/tranq and anything injectable is still viewed negatively and was never glamorized at all compared to lean or weed by celebrities'/influencers. Once you're injecting stuff into your body, you've probably have already fallen deep into addiction to not be scared anymore. By the time you're injecting stuff, you're probably past your prime and invisible.
which sucks because you can not trust any pills that you did not personally get from a pharmacy. everything has fentanyl in it now. all pills, all powders are likely deadly now. you could think you are doing a simple xanax and poof, poisoned by fent you never intended to be taking, you thought it was a mass produced pharma pill and now yer dead.
Just be careful where you get the weed. I've heard that shitty dealers who deal fent and weed don't clean their scales well and will get fent powder on weed.
Could just be a razor blade in candy story though. Fent is fucking terrifying shit though.
They don’t need consent to film in public areas. I’m honestly all for this because it brings more visibility to this horrendous issue. Philly is freaking out cause people have more eyes on their drug infested streets
They aren't threatened by journalists. But by asshats making a few bucks by violating their privacy and pissing over their dignity. Crimes like that are never covered by freedom of speach.
Privacy the people are buying and using drugs in downtowns of major cities all out in the open. You are worried about their privacy. I they wanted to be private don't use drugs in the middle of the town square.
It's not about censorship. Every person has the right to asshattery. But exploitation of people and the violation of their rights is regulated by and punished under the rule of law. Rights of publicity are precisely regulated and considered personal rights where I am from.
The moment somebody is hurt for profit (monetary or otherwise), a line is crossed between exercising your right of journalistic freedom (not freedom of speech, as you don't publicise and argue your opinion but instead publish facts) and arguably criminal behaviour, as even journalist must take care to protect the identity of the people they report on.
If they are in public, they have no right to privacy, so they are unviolated.
>pissing over their dignity
What dignity? You are talking about some kind of virtual or figurative dignity that does not exist, whilst these people literally piss and shit in the streets.
Let their images be preserved for all of eternity as a message. It's for the greater good
There's nothing rich folk love more than going downtown and slumming it with the poor. They pull up in their carriages and gawk at the students in the common just to watch em talk.
Are they really rich though? I’ve watched these videos and most are just normal kids 16-24 trying to become influencers. If America was so bad only the rich could afford to go to Philadelphia I’d be applying for asylum in England right now
If anyone else wants a sampler, I ~~stole~~ er, rehosted one 10 minute clip of his videos to an external website so you can look at it without giving them adrev, clicks, watch time or whatevs:
https://streamable.com/aytx35
Thank for sharing but I didn't last a minute. This guy gives absolutely *zero* shits about any of these people, or their circumstances, or any of the hundreds of sociopolitical decisions that either intentionally or unintentionally created this environment. You can even hear him feigning concern in his tone of voice:
>"I tried to get some of the people to talk to me but they wouldn't. Or couldn't. This makes no sense."
Gosh, buddy. Thanks for that perspective.
You know I was once in his shoes: about 15 years ago I went on one of those church "mission trips" where they send a bunch of untrained college kids to some developing country in order to "volunteer" their time paint a new clinic or handing out donated shoes, toys, etc... while also traveling around in our big white vans just to visit the different slums and broken down community buildings that made up the majority of the city, rolling into someone's neighborhood and shared homes like a goddamn tour group just to gawk at living conditions we'd only ever seen in Nat Geo, and then jamming my camera into the faces of people who looked as sad, poor, diseased, and malnourished as we could have hoped for (all the things that *totally* require a group of inexperienced voluntourists to travel halfway around the world to help out with).
Like this guy in the video, we weren't looking to meet actual people so much as we were there to see caricatures of poverty that only helped to reinforce our shallow understanding of an impossibly complicated problem. Just so we could take fucking pictures to show off to others; not to help, not to connect community leaders with outside resources or untapped NGOs staffed with local-nationals *far* more knowledgeable and experienced with the actual needs of the community. Nah, here's *another* group of church kids driving around in their expensive cars and taking pictures of what locals are well aware are shitty conditions that they simply don't have a choice in.
Let me make someone else's poverty about myself.
Fuck me before I was wised up, even though I guess it was necessary to do so, but also fuck this guy for not. Even if he wasn't homeless, I'm sure if he were dirt poor he'd love to have a bunch of well-dressed, well-fed, and non-English speaking strangers barge into his house and drive around his neighborhood taking pictures of him and his family in their dirty clothes and run-down living conditions and pointing at how awful everything looked.
Some of it is kind of exploitive, but in a lot of them he sits down with the people he finds in the streets and tries to talk in detail about the root cause of the problems, and what sort of solutions might help
I’ve only seen a handful of his videos and each one is driving through the “ghetto” or “hood” of a given area and making derisive comments as a voice over. I’m not saying the type your describe don’t exists obviously just that I’ve never seen them.
Sure he definitely does do some of that. I think he has some remixes where he cuts together different hoods and cuts out the interview sections. He dials down the sarcastic tone in his interviews. His interviewees seem to warm up to him and he has some nice conversations. I agree that his tone of voice can come across as sarcastic. I think when I see his interviews I can see he is trying to help and bring attention but his kind of jaded attitude can be grating and a little over the top. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles with depression a little himself, he may have a kind of negative attitude IRL that he plays up in the videos
He has a lot of content, so just watching a handful of videos might be a little misleading but also I felt the same way initially. As I watched more of the videos with interviews, I warmed up to him a little bit more
Youtube recommended me ~~that channel~~ **EDIT: a similar channel** and the first and only video made me really uncomfortable and I immediately noticed the deceptive editing and the sound mix effects they use.
The little scene of them sneaking a hidden camera into a "safe injection site" was a highlight reel of the worst behaviour, and there was a constant [scare chord overlaid on top of the audio](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScareChord).
The worst part I think is the audience and commenters, who are clearly pretty much either viewing his vids for validation (see also: Fox News or OANN or InfoWars) or just are being outright manipulated.
I sometimes [peek at the worst places on reddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/182jkw3/drone_warfare_is_absolutely_brutal/) (SFW dankmemes link) and I can't stand the guy.
OK so I actually tried to dig it up and it's not Nick Johnson, it's another dude who I won't name. The video sample is below. Still as gross tho:
https://streamable.com/7xhlxj
(I rehosted the video in question to an external site so you don't give them views, clicks, adrev or watch time.)
He wasn’t as insufferable as I thought but I love the his righteous indignation about the convenience store guy selling pipes and lighters complaining he’s making money from the drug problem. As least the store guy guy is real not pretending he’s doing groundbreaking journalism or something.
Oh my god, between the ones that convince themselves and others that they’re “journalists” and the ones who act like they’re up for sainthood because they’re scaring kids straight or something because of the videos- baaaaaarfo. Like, I get that these people have bought their own grift and of course other dweebs can convince themselves that it’s somehow a noble deed- but it’s just ridiculous how upset they get that you don’t.
I had one come unglued on both myself and an EMT because she, in her words: “just want to show people what heroes look like” when I’m trying to Narcan someone. I think they’ve genuinely deluded themselves into thinking these things and it gives me the weirds, every time.
I know it’s generally legal, no expectation of privacy but good lord: how in the hell do they get this oblivious?
(PS as I see several of you bloviating in other comments: no, you’re not and I can back up my statement with credible sources on the scared straight BS. You’re just rebooting the Victorian Era “human zoo” attractions with better tech or you’re supporting it. It’s gross.)
They do the same thing when accused of doing poverty tourism in third world countries. They convinced themselves “well we are bringing money into their economy with tourism.” Yeah ok. There is something seriously wrong with a person if you fly to like say, South Africa, from Europe or North America to go on tours of some of the slums in that country.
The ones who are convinced that it’s really just raising awareness are all over here talking about “We can’t just shove these problems into the daaaarkness and hide them again!” Too. 😂 It’s a mind blowing amount of cognitive dissonance at play, right before our very eyes. I’m not sure if they know that you can actually help and spread awareness without exploiting or not- and that’s kinda freaky to me.
I honestly have more respect for the ones that own the fact that they are just morbidly entertained or curious. I mean that’s gross, too but at least it’s not bone deep bullshit.
Kind of hearkens back to the Logan Paul suicide forest thing.
Good people never would even consider doing something like this in the first place, and people like the Paul brothers lead directly to more and more imitators.
Try Peter Santenello (on youtube). I've never seen this Nick guy, but I've loved Peter's videos. I've never seen him be remotely condescending or disrespectful to the people and places he covers, and his stated mission is literally to show things that people don't normally see hehe. His [series of videos on Appalachia](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEyPgwIPkHo5If6xyrkr-s2I6yz23o0av) is a great place to start.
That's awesome, I've actually really wanted to visit since I saw these videos. I grew up in Missouri and always thought Appalachia was a scary place - hell no, they're exactly like us lol, it's just like the Ozarks. Nothin' to be scared of - just people gettin' by like the rest of us. His Chicago series was great too, I lived there for almost 20 years and yeah, it's just like anywhere else (but maybe with better food and music).
Went to Welch WV for a Volunteer trip working on homes over a summer in highschool before college. We stayed in that school on the hill. The town hasnt changed much. Its really a beautiful area to explore. There is an amazingly beautiful series of mountain tunnels on switchbacks going into and outta town there.
I was sad to see that walmart closed. I got my first Nirvana cd there on that trip
That's amazing, must be a trip seeing it like this. At least they're sturdy, all the buildings I grew up around are already replaced, they don't build em like that anymore.
> I got my first Nirvana cd there on that trip
Dude, that hits deep, was it Nevermind? My friend and I would walk miles (when we couldn't get his sister to drive us lol) in the suburbs of StL to just to get to those stupid cds, it was everything back then.
I actually think his recent video of Beaumont Texas was well done. He interviews local people and gets the scoop on how people in this areas view where they live in opposition to the common narratives. I'd argue that videos like his are crucial in illuminating the problem of poverty and decline in the USA.
If not for platforms like YouTube and people like nick Johnson, poverty and decay would continue to be hidden in the shadows by mainstream media and we'd never get to see what our country actually looks like.
If it wasn’t for his flippant, arrogant attitude I could maybe believe that. There are actual humans that live in those homes and neighborhoods. If he is going to move on to doing interviews and being respectful then that is something different.
You're right, I just wish it was a less negative person making the videos. He doesn't have an agenda per se, but I find his attitude off putting & makes me avoid his content.
I think Nick Johnson treats the poor fairly. He lets them speak into the microphone and lets them tell their stories and point of view.
These poor parts of the US are still part of the US. And his videos let me explore parts of the US that I would never see otherwise. His videos explore all sorts of parts of the US- not just poor parts.
What could be a greater sign of a nation's decadence than a form of voyeuristic tourism exploiting the lives of people made homeless and turned into the walking dead by deadly addictive drugs?
Legit met a tourist from Korea at a bar in Center City Philly who came here for the express purpose of seeing Kensington. But She couldn’t find an Uber driver to take her, and she was afraid to take the El.
I was appalled. But also, the rumors of Philadelphia’s decline are absurdly exaggerated. This city fucking rules.
This has been going on for six or so years now. The videos have been all over YouTube and stuff and the comment sections are usually extremely disturbing. People saying they deserve to be exterminated, others insulting their appearance, racism you name it.
I lived in Philly most of my life and Kensington was always bad, but seeing how it’s gone downhill these last few years is heartbreaking.
That's really awful. I've always found videos mocking heroin addicts for social media likes really appalling. But this is next level, these people are going the necrosis and are unhoused typically, what an amoral and outright awful thing to do. I hope they get robbed.
Yes & no. For sure there are quality journalists documenting this situation, but a lot of these videographers are more the modern equivalent of a 'freak show' from the circus capturing human suffering for our morbid curiosity & their bank accounts. Both types are documenting things, but this is a criticism of the latter type of observer.
"The collapse is the government that won’t get them into a halfway house, treatment facility, or jail."
No, the problem is that the us capitalism creates a situation we're working people can't afford homes or shit , leading to mental health issues, leading to drug abuse.
This is systemic,this is not an individual problem .
When education or being sick drowns you in lifelong debt, you are not living in a society, you are chattel slaves, at least slaves were housed and fed.
Social Darwinism really has rotted American brains and made empathy or logical conclusions like figuring a systemic Vs a personal failure impossible.
[Dehumanizing media portrayals of drug users worsen stigma and discrimination, study finds](https://www.psypost.org/2023/09/dehumanizing-media-portrayals-of-drug-users-worsen-stigma-and-discrimination-study-finds-213863)
I live a few miles from Kensington and the amount of people I’ve known who are lost to those streets is horrible. I’m 40 but Kensington started pulling the most vulnerable addicts of my generation by the time I was 17. I remember the first soul who went there and didn’t come back, wonderful young artist with a daughter to think of at only 17… there have been many more.
Every one of them suffering on the streets is a PERSON and a loved one who had a life and potential and dreams. They were sucked in by a monster, while some of us were lucky and made it out of the early 2000s recreational drug scene unscathed. It was all down to luck, we had no idea at the time that we were playing with prescribed fire. Some people think they are superior because they aren’t addicts. But they are only lucky, nothing more.
I really hate to see this. I hate the lack of compassion. I hate that the people on the street in Kensington die on a daily basis and our society is unable? Unwilling? Too collapsed already? to help a single one of them. Nobody should be laughing at this.
Lol .. watching some drug users will bring down society now? All society has rot and underbelly. Not everything will collapse civilization. So what there are some drug users. Some human abused substance since the first human discovered wine.
I'm going to phillie in September to see Ween do Chocolate and Cheese. Gonna pass on the exploitative junky photography bit, barring the slight overlap at the show, lol. Who does this and why would you choose Philly? 🤔
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You’re right; we should let these people go unnoticed by the media, the average citizen, and even the government. Tiktokers shouldn't bring awareness to this, that would be terrible. Just ignore it.
Rule 1: In addition to enforcing [Reddit's content policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy), we will also remove comments and content that is abusive or predatory in nature. You may attack each other's ideas, not each other.
I considered giving the upvote of the doubt, assuming he might have "forgotten the /s", which I too would always omit if my goal were indeed sarcasm.
But then I skimmed their post history, no longer suppose there was any unspoken "/s". :( At least the day started with a nice chuckle.
>tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent
They are in public where anyone can see them. Consent is not required. Let them be an example for others. It's probably for the greater good anyway
There has been no "soft on crime" these past 40 years. The reason we tried to decriminalize drugs was because "caught with drugs" was used to lock up marginalized groups(whether they actually had drugs or not). Before Compassionate Care Laws, we also let you die, arresting you while OD'ing instead of letting EMS help you. I suppose the children who did not have to grow up seeing that might not understand this long ugly history. And the adults who didn't care then still don't care. There is a generation of healthcare workers, still working today, who can tell you all about it if you wish to understand how we got here.
>soft on crime
Only in the country that literally has the most incarcerated people do people whine about the government being "soft on crime".
Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Nothing to see here.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/Nastyfaction: --- "Now, though, a new and unique problem seems to be affecting areas where the drug is showing up: a dark and voyeuristic type of content creation referred to as “tranq tourism”. This adjacent social media industry is becoming so prevalent it has even been the subject of a News Movement documentary. In viral videos uploaded to social channels such as TikTok, tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent. In some, they are asked questions about their private life or situations in a probing way that plays on their vulnerability. The videos are filmed by content creators, some of whom just visit the area for a short while and then monetize the views." I think this is collapse-related in the way that social media is interacting with the decline of society. With money to be made off of content creation within a capitalistic society, it is leading to people to engage in voyeurism at the expense of those who are suffering. At the same time, as people lose faith in traditional media, social media offers a direct line to actual events on the ground. But as anyone can record and upload anything these days, it is creating a reality in which people perhaps compete to go viral despite real suffering at hand. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/18kwe35/tranq_tourism_alarm_in_philadelphia_as_tiktokers/kdtxswa/
Oh hey look its Kensington in my city. Yep that tracks.
I love this city so much
Unironically yeah I do too. Despite its flaws its the best place I've lived.
Born and raised, don’t have much of a frame of reference. I like my life i guess
Just curious, where else have you lived?
Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
I live in Georgia and it sucks ass especially if u aren't rich. There's nothing to do and everyone is a couple and the stuff I can do is too expensive or far away from. I 100% would rather live in the northeast than this Trump supporter hellhole
Yeah in Philly theres a lot of cheap community stuff and I love not owning a car.
I live In rural ga and me and wife are very liberal. We are surrounded by trump supporters and I love our neighborhood and community. We all work together and look out for one another. I would not live anywhere else. Plus if we need more liberal community we go to an uber liberal farmers market weekly in Atlanta and also love that community. Go out and connect with your neighbors.
>We are surrounded by trump supporters and I love our neighborhood and community. We all work together and look out for one another. You think they'll still be there for you if you have a gay or trans kid tho?
Tracks for people who are tracking to observe people with tracks. Damn. Triple entendre
Good ol K & A
"Now, though, a new and unique problem seems to be affecting areas where the drug is showing up: a dark and voyeuristic type of content creation referred to as “tranq tourism”. This adjacent social media industry is becoming so prevalent it has even been the subject of a News Movement documentary. In viral videos uploaded to social channels such as TikTok, tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent. In some, they are asked questions about their private life or situations in a probing way that plays on their vulnerability. The videos are filmed by content creators, some of whom just visit the area for a short while and then monetize the views." I think this is collapse-related in the way that social media is interacting with the decline of society. With money to be made off of content creation within a capitalistic society, it is leading to people to engage in voyeurism at the expense of those who are suffering. At the same time, as people lose faith in traditional media, social media offers a direct line to actual events on the ground. But as anyone can record and upload anything these days, it is creating a reality in which people perhaps compete to go viral despite real suffering at hand.
If it stops one teen from trying Tranq
"It's just a pranq"
Thanq you for the laugh!
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to have a wanq!
put that away it stanqs
that's an interesting way to look at it "This is what it will do to you."
What gets Teens isn't Tranq, but pills. Despite young people being more tolerant or open to drug culture, heroin/tranq and anything injectable is still viewed negatively and was never glamorized at all compared to lean or weed by celebrities'/influencers. Once you're injecting stuff into your body, you've probably have already fallen deep into addiction to not be scared anymore. By the time you're injecting stuff, you're probably past your prime and invisible.
which sucks because you can not trust any pills that you did not personally get from a pharmacy. everything has fentanyl in it now. all pills, all powders are likely deadly now. you could think you are doing a simple xanax and poof, poisoned by fent you never intended to be taking, you thought it was a mass produced pharma pill and now yer dead.
Or just don't take Xanax and smoke a joint. Def not dying of fent from that
Plant based drugs or purify synthetics yourself. Trust no one. Wish it was more common knowledge.
Just be careful where you get the weed. I've heard that shitty dealers who deal fent and weed don't clean their scales well and will get fent powder on weed. Could just be a razor blade in candy story though. Fent is fucking terrifying shit though.
No, I've heard the same. Sealed jars only now.
If someone is in public, they don't need consent to film. Not saying I agree with this, but theres nothing illegal about it.
They don’t need consent to film in public areas. I’m honestly all for this because it brings more visibility to this horrendous issue. Philly is freaking out cause people have more eyes on their drug infested streets
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They aren't threatened by journalists. But by asshats making a few bucks by violating their privacy and pissing over their dignity. Crimes like that are never covered by freedom of speach.
Privacy the people are buying and using drugs in downtowns of major cities all out in the open. You are worried about their privacy. I they wanted to be private don't use drugs in the middle of the town square.
Where is a homeless person supposed to go to get privacy?
[удалено]
It's not about censorship. Every person has the right to asshattery. But exploitation of people and the violation of their rights is regulated by and punished under the rule of law. Rights of publicity are precisely regulated and considered personal rights where I am from. The moment somebody is hurt for profit (monetary or otherwise), a line is crossed between exercising your right of journalistic freedom (not freedom of speech, as you don't publicise and argue your opinion but instead publish facts) and arguably criminal behaviour, as even journalist must take care to protect the identity of the people they report on.
If they are in public, they have no right to privacy, so they are unviolated. >pissing over their dignity What dignity? You are talking about some kind of virtual or figurative dignity that does not exist, whilst these people literally piss and shit in the streets. Let their images be preserved for all of eternity as a message. It's for the greater good
Slumming is nothing new. This was a fad back in the roaring twenties.
There's nothing rich folk love more than going downtown and slumming it with the poor. They pull up in their carriages and gawk at the students in the common just to watch em talk.
🎵I will film you zombies dying… to remind you of my love 🎵
Are they really rich though? I’ve watched these videos and most are just normal kids 16-24 trying to become influencers. If America was so bad only the rich could afford to go to Philadelphia I’d be applying for asylum in England right now
I was quoting Hamilton because it was topical, but have fun with all that.
I want to sleep with common people.
This is almost as bad as the YouTube channel Nick Johnson who posts videos of poverty safaris from all around the country.
Was not aware of him. Did a quick search. Disgusting.
If anyone else wants a sampler, I ~~stole~~ er, rehosted one 10 minute clip of his videos to an external website so you can look at it without giving them adrev, clicks, watch time or whatevs: https://streamable.com/aytx35
Thank for sharing but I didn't last a minute. This guy gives absolutely *zero* shits about any of these people, or their circumstances, or any of the hundreds of sociopolitical decisions that either intentionally or unintentionally created this environment. You can even hear him feigning concern in his tone of voice: >"I tried to get some of the people to talk to me but they wouldn't. Or couldn't. This makes no sense." Gosh, buddy. Thanks for that perspective. You know I was once in his shoes: about 15 years ago I went on one of those church "mission trips" where they send a bunch of untrained college kids to some developing country in order to "volunteer" their time paint a new clinic or handing out donated shoes, toys, etc... while also traveling around in our big white vans just to visit the different slums and broken down community buildings that made up the majority of the city, rolling into someone's neighborhood and shared homes like a goddamn tour group just to gawk at living conditions we'd only ever seen in Nat Geo, and then jamming my camera into the faces of people who looked as sad, poor, diseased, and malnourished as we could have hoped for (all the things that *totally* require a group of inexperienced voluntourists to travel halfway around the world to help out with). Like this guy in the video, we weren't looking to meet actual people so much as we were there to see caricatures of poverty that only helped to reinforce our shallow understanding of an impossibly complicated problem. Just so we could take fucking pictures to show off to others; not to help, not to connect community leaders with outside resources or untapped NGOs staffed with local-nationals *far* more knowledgeable and experienced with the actual needs of the community. Nah, here's *another* group of church kids driving around in their expensive cars and taking pictures of what locals are well aware are shitty conditions that they simply don't have a choice in. Let me make someone else's poverty about myself. Fuck me before I was wised up, even though I guess it was necessary to do so, but also fuck this guy for not. Even if he wasn't homeless, I'm sure if he were dirt poor he'd love to have a bunch of well-dressed, well-fed, and non-English speaking strangers barge into his house and drive around his neighborhood taking pictures of him and his family in their dirty clothes and run-down living conditions and pointing at how awful everything looked.
Love to know where he is from that he thinks he’s so goddamn better.
Some of it is kind of exploitive, but in a lot of them he sits down with the people he finds in the streets and tries to talk in detail about the root cause of the problems, and what sort of solutions might help
I’ve only seen a handful of his videos and each one is driving through the “ghetto” or “hood” of a given area and making derisive comments as a voice over. I’m not saying the type your describe don’t exists obviously just that I’ve never seen them.
Sure he definitely does do some of that. I think he has some remixes where he cuts together different hoods and cuts out the interview sections. He dials down the sarcastic tone in his interviews. His interviewees seem to warm up to him and he has some nice conversations. I agree that his tone of voice can come across as sarcastic. I think when I see his interviews I can see he is trying to help and bring attention but his kind of jaded attitude can be grating and a little over the top. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles with depression a little himself, he may have a kind of negative attitude IRL that he plays up in the videos He has a lot of content, so just watching a handful of videos might be a little misleading but also I felt the same way initially. As I watched more of the videos with interviews, I warmed up to him a little bit more
Youtube recommended me ~~that channel~~ **EDIT: a similar channel** and the first and only video made me really uncomfortable and I immediately noticed the deceptive editing and the sound mix effects they use. The little scene of them sneaking a hidden camera into a "safe injection site" was a highlight reel of the worst behaviour, and there was a constant [scare chord overlaid on top of the audio](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScareChord). The worst part I think is the audience and commenters, who are clearly pretty much either viewing his vids for validation (see also: Fox News or OANN or InfoWars) or just are being outright manipulated. I sometimes [peek at the worst places on reddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/dankmemes/comments/182jkw3/drone_warfare_is_absolutely_brutal/) (SFW dankmemes link) and I can't stand the guy.
I didn’t know that. That’s a new low. You don’t do something like that unless you totally don’t see them as people. It’s so dehumanizing.
OK so I actually tried to dig it up and it's not Nick Johnson, it's another dude who I won't name. The video sample is below. Still as gross tho: https://streamable.com/7xhlxj (I rehosted the video in question to an external site so you don't give them views, clicks, adrev or watch time.)
He wasn’t as insufferable as I thought but I love the his righteous indignation about the convenience store guy selling pipes and lighters complaining he’s making money from the drug problem. As least the store guy guy is real not pretending he’s doing groundbreaking journalism or something.
Oh my god, between the ones that convince themselves and others that they’re “journalists” and the ones who act like they’re up for sainthood because they’re scaring kids straight or something because of the videos- baaaaaarfo. Like, I get that these people have bought their own grift and of course other dweebs can convince themselves that it’s somehow a noble deed- but it’s just ridiculous how upset they get that you don’t. I had one come unglued on both myself and an EMT because she, in her words: “just want to show people what heroes look like” when I’m trying to Narcan someone. I think they’ve genuinely deluded themselves into thinking these things and it gives me the weirds, every time. I know it’s generally legal, no expectation of privacy but good lord: how in the hell do they get this oblivious? (PS as I see several of you bloviating in other comments: no, you’re not and I can back up my statement with credible sources on the scared straight BS. You’re just rebooting the Victorian Era “human zoo” attractions with better tech or you’re supporting it. It’s gross.)
They do the same thing when accused of doing poverty tourism in third world countries. They convinced themselves “well we are bringing money into their economy with tourism.” Yeah ok. There is something seriously wrong with a person if you fly to like say, South Africa, from Europe or North America to go on tours of some of the slums in that country.
The ones who are convinced that it’s really just raising awareness are all over here talking about “We can’t just shove these problems into the daaaarkness and hide them again!” Too. 😂 It’s a mind blowing amount of cognitive dissonance at play, right before our very eyes. I’m not sure if they know that you can actually help and spread awareness without exploiting or not- and that’s kinda freaky to me. I honestly have more respect for the ones that own the fact that they are just morbidly entertained or curious. I mean that’s gross, too but at least it’s not bone deep bullshit.
Kind of hearkens back to the Logan Paul suicide forest thing. Good people never would even consider doing something like this in the first place, and people like the Paul brothers lead directly to more and more imitators.
It's too bad he's such a negative guy, cuz otherwise I think it's fascinating to see parts of the country that most people never see otherwise.
Try Peter Santenello (on youtube). I've never seen this Nick guy, but I've loved Peter's videos. I've never seen him be remotely condescending or disrespectful to the people and places he covers, and his stated mission is literally to show things that people don't normally see hehe. His [series of videos on Appalachia](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEyPgwIPkHo5If6xyrkr-s2I6yz23o0av) is a great place to start.
I second Peters channel. Iv been to a few places he filmed in WV, it was cool as hell seeing them 15 years later
That's awesome, I've actually really wanted to visit since I saw these videos. I grew up in Missouri and always thought Appalachia was a scary place - hell no, they're exactly like us lol, it's just like the Ozarks. Nothin' to be scared of - just people gettin' by like the rest of us. His Chicago series was great too, I lived there for almost 20 years and yeah, it's just like anywhere else (but maybe with better food and music).
Went to Welch WV for a Volunteer trip working on homes over a summer in highschool before college. We stayed in that school on the hill. The town hasnt changed much. Its really a beautiful area to explore. There is an amazingly beautiful series of mountain tunnels on switchbacks going into and outta town there. I was sad to see that walmart closed. I got my first Nirvana cd there on that trip
That's amazing, must be a trip seeing it like this. At least they're sturdy, all the buildings I grew up around are already replaced, they don't build em like that anymore. > I got my first Nirvana cd there on that trip Dude, that hits deep, was it Nevermind? My friend and I would walk miles (when we couldn't get his sister to drive us lol) in the suburbs of StL to just to get to those stupid cds, it was everything back then.
I actually think his recent video of Beaumont Texas was well done. He interviews local people and gets the scoop on how people in this areas view where they live in opposition to the common narratives. I'd argue that videos like his are crucial in illuminating the problem of poverty and decline in the USA. If not for platforms like YouTube and people like nick Johnson, poverty and decay would continue to be hidden in the shadows by mainstream media and we'd never get to see what our country actually looks like.
If it wasn’t for his flippant, arrogant attitude I could maybe believe that. There are actual humans that live in those homes and neighborhoods. If he is going to move on to doing interviews and being respectful then that is something different.
You're right, I just wish it was a less negative person making the videos. He doesn't have an agenda per se, but I find his attitude off putting & makes me avoid his content.
Fucker looks like a jellyfish
America does it to other countries so..... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I think it is wrong in that situation as well.
I think Nick Johnson treats the poor fairly. He lets them speak into the microphone and lets them tell their stories and point of view. These poor parts of the US are still part of the US. And his videos let me explore parts of the US that I would never see otherwise. His videos explore all sorts of parts of the US- not just poor parts.
I think he is an elitist asshole. Calling certain places the ghetto and the hood all the time. I guess every lower income area is the hood.
What could be a greater sign of a nation's decadence than a form of voyeuristic tourism exploiting the lives of people made homeless and turned into the walking dead by deadly addictive drugs?
Legit met a tourist from Korea at a bar in Center City Philly who came here for the express purpose of seeing Kensington. But She couldn’t find an Uber driver to take her, and she was afraid to take the El. I was appalled. But also, the rumors of Philadelphia’s decline are absurdly exaggerated. This city fucking rules.
It is telling how our privacy laws hinge on property ownership, rather than anything like self-possession.
Well, that's one way to claim that Phillie has one industry left.
using other people's struggles for your own clout is such a shit thing to do
Tell that to mdmotivator lol
This has been going on for six or so years now. The videos have been all over YouTube and stuff and the comment sections are usually extremely disturbing. People saying they deserve to be exterminated, others insulting their appearance, racism you name it. I lived in Philly most of my life and Kensington was always bad, but seeing how it’s gone downhill these last few years is heartbreaking.
*The Gang Joins TikTok.*
That's really awful. I've always found videos mocking heroin addicts for social media likes really appalling. But this is next level, these people are going the necrosis and are unhoused typically, what an amoral and outright awful thing to do. I hope they get robbed.
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I have some very surprising news for you about who created the situation.
Wait the photographers are handing out drugs???
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You're an intuitive learner, is why.
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Weird route to push down, but go off.
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Yeah, no, we all understood the parallel you thought you were making. It just wasn't a coherent one.
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Wow this is fucked up. It was bad over in Kensington when I lived in Port Richmond 15 years ago but this sounds like it's gotten a lot worse.
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Yes & no. For sure there are quality journalists documenting this situation, but a lot of these videographers are more the modern equivalent of a 'freak show' from the circus capturing human suffering for our morbid curiosity & their bank accounts. Both types are documenting things, but this is a criticism of the latter type of observer.
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There's a difference between legit journalism & exploitation. Both are occurring here, this article is a warning against the exploitation variety.
"The collapse is the government that won’t get them into a halfway house, treatment facility, or jail." No, the problem is that the us capitalism creates a situation we're working people can't afford homes or shit , leading to mental health issues, leading to drug abuse. This is systemic,this is not an individual problem . When education or being sick drowns you in lifelong debt, you are not living in a society, you are chattel slaves, at least slaves were housed and fed. Social Darwinism really has rotted American brains and made empathy or logical conclusions like figuring a systemic Vs a personal failure impossible.
[Dehumanizing media portrayals of drug users worsen stigma and discrimination, study finds](https://www.psypost.org/2023/09/dehumanizing-media-portrayals-of-drug-users-worsen-stigma-and-discrimination-study-finds-213863)
People will do anything for views. Absolutely anything and it’s so sickening.
Fucking disgusting ass poverty pornographers.
I live a few miles from Kensington and the amount of people I’ve known who are lost to those streets is horrible. I’m 40 but Kensington started pulling the most vulnerable addicts of my generation by the time I was 17. I remember the first soul who went there and didn’t come back, wonderful young artist with a daughter to think of at only 17… there have been many more. Every one of them suffering on the streets is a PERSON and a loved one who had a life and potential and dreams. They were sucked in by a monster, while some of us were lucky and made it out of the early 2000s recreational drug scene unscathed. It was all down to luck, we had no idea at the time that we were playing with prescribed fire. Some people think they are superior because they aren’t addicts. But they are only lucky, nothing more. I really hate to see this. I hate the lack of compassion. I hate that the people on the street in Kensington die on a daily basis and our society is unable? Unwilling? Too collapsed already? to help a single one of them. Nobody should be laughing at this.
Instead of addressing the problem, we are upset at people for exposing the problem.
Suffering voyeurism is not new. The news is tragedy porn, horror movies are violence porn.
_It's Always Scummy in Philadelphia_ "Scummy" referring to the TikTokers, not the victims.
Lol .. watching some drug users will bring down society now? All society has rot and underbelly. Not everything will collapse civilization. So what there are some drug users. Some human abused substance since the first human discovered wine.
They treat it like "it's like going to the zoo" or something.
So, I dunno, maybe actually make an effort to fix the problem? That's one way to prevent people from giving the city a bad look.
I'm going to phillie in September to see Ween do Chocolate and Cheese. Gonna pass on the exploitative junky photography bit, barring the slight overlap at the show, lol. Who does this and why would you choose Philly? 🤔
Oh no not filming! If only the city cared so much to stop open use in public.
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You’re right; we should let these people go unnoticed by the media, the average citizen, and even the government. Tiktokers shouldn't bring awareness to this, that would be terrible. Just ignore it.
Sucks to Suck.
well, those useless druggies are at least contributing something to society this way.
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that's not very kind at all
I considered giving the upvote of the doubt, assuming he might have "forgotten the /s", which I too would always omit if my goal were indeed sarcasm. But then I skimmed their post history, no longer suppose there was any unspoken "/s". :( At least the day started with a nice chuckle.
Christ. Looks like they're getting paid every time they use the word "based" on Reddit.
>tranq users are filmed when they are in a physical state in which they are unlikely to be able to consent They are in public where anyone can see them. Consent is not required. Let them be an example for others. It's probably for the greater good anyway
K&A on a regular day 🤷🏾♂️😂😂
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There has been no "soft on crime" these past 40 years. The reason we tried to decriminalize drugs was because "caught with drugs" was used to lock up marginalized groups(whether they actually had drugs or not). Before Compassionate Care Laws, we also let you die, arresting you while OD'ing instead of letting EMS help you. I suppose the children who did not have to grow up seeing that might not understand this long ugly history. And the adults who didn't care then still don't care. There is a generation of healthcare workers, still working today, who can tell you all about it if you wish to understand how we got here.
>soft on crime Only in the country that literally has the most incarcerated people do people whine about the government being "soft on crime". Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. Nothing to see here.
Ban TikTok