Category: Current Events

The Politics of YouTube

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Current Events, Stories16 Comments

I spend three hours a week on YouTube. While not even close to the amount of time others may spend on the mega site, three hours is still a lot. In fact, three hours is enough to do a very long, very nice blog post or advertise this blog. These are three hours that are almost entirely pointless, so why do I waste my time there?

Firstly, let me tell you that, while varied, my watched videos all revolve around the same topics and YouTubers. There are three YouTubers that I follow faithfully: Dude Perfect, Mr. Beast, and Jxmmy. However, the overarching topic on the videos I watch centers around one thing- sports. All other videos are either basketball, football, or soccer videos.

So, why exactly do I spend my time watching Dude Perfect or basketball highlights? Two reasons: current events and political opinions. You would honestly be surprised at the amount of political speech one can find on a basketball channel. All it takes is a small mention of Lebron James’ comments on China and BAM! You have a political statement. While the creator of the video may not believe that statement himself, he certainly is telling about it.

YouTube contains more than just American or Chinese politics. In fact, YouTube contains its own politics. Think about it. When Liza Koshy and David Dobrik broke up, there was so much public outcry, I thought that David would commit suicide. While I didn’t watch this breakup live, I heard pieces of it from friends, several of which were extremely crushed.

“How is this politics?” You may be asking. Well, think about it like this- when a Kardashian situation is brought to a regular, dinner-table conversation, it is usually treated as politics. Your family and friends have differing opinions and viewpoints, and many engage in a large argument. While not specifically politics, these are certainly political opinions.

You see, YouTube is different from Wikipedia. It’s goal isn’t to “provide unbiased fact”. The individual opinions of an individual YouTuber are almost always found. Many YouTubers publicly state their political opinions, often leading their followers down the same path. All it takes is a few minutes of videoing and editing and suddenly millions of people know that Mike Tyson, Dennis Rodman, and Terrell Owens all support Donald Trump.

YouTube is a massive tool. With 350 billion video views per month, YouTube is arguably the most influential app on the Internet. When someone influential posts a highly-viewed video, it affects people. If PewDiePie were to tell his MASSIVE fanbase of well over 100 million followers to follow Donald Trump, they would listen.

In fact, this has happened before. While not necessarily political, the “Raid Area 51” movement was massive. When Matt Roberts, a moderately popular video game streamer, began the event on a Facebook post as a joke. After three days, the event only received forty signatures. Then, the impossible happened- it went viral. Suddenly, everybody was talking about it, and within a few weeks, Roberts had received two million RSVP’s and 1.5 million “maybe” signatures. While only a few people actually showed up, the event still showed that anything could go viral- even illegal ideas.

This also shows the true power of viral content. If something politically humorous goes viral, it is almost guaranteed to impact millions. This is the only true danger of the Internet. It is so easy to get caught up in the fake world and lose touch of what’s most precious to us. While YouTube can be an absolutely fantastic platform (where else can you find videos of people jumping off cliffs and onto trampolines), we must be careful to filter what we see through the lense of Scripture. Instead of following every movement and joining every debate, let’s stay as salt and light and be above this world.

Alright, guys, that’s all for today. Thanks SO much for reading. Your support means a ton to me. If you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen (or the right if you’re on a computer), so as to not miss out on any new posts. Thanks so much, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Latest Post: Are you Making the Most of Your Sabbath?

Featured Post: John MacArthur and the Positions of the Church

Related Post: What Wikipedia Won’t Tell You About Joshua Harris

Reddit for Christian Bloggers- Please Reblog

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events14 Comments

Africa Boy

Hey guys! Today, I get to make an exciting announcement: the popular website Reddit now has a subreddit dedicated entirely to Christian bloggers!

Now, you may be asking, “What is Reddit? How does this apply to me?” If you’re a Christian blogger, it applies to you.

For the last three months, a question has haunted me. “How could I gather a group of Christian bloggers into one place, allowing us to communicate and learn from each other?” For a while, I considered Google Hangouts or Discord. Then, I realized these were too personal. We need a place that is more….professional. Finally, I have found my answer- Reddit.

If you don’t know what Reddit is, you’ve been living under a rock for the last decade. Reddit is a website that qualifies as social media. Basically, it’s a massive discussion board, with “subreddits” for everything. A subreddit is more specific. For instance, if you wanted to read discussions about monkies, you would probably look at a /monkies subreddit. In our case, it’s the /christian_bloggers subreddit.

If you’re a Christian blogger, you need to join. You can create an account and join the subreddit for free. If you’re worried about notifications bothering you, they can be turned off under your profile. Finally, if you wish to have anonymity, you can always change your name.

The benefits of joining this subreddit are huge. You have a way to learn about blogging, bring attention to your posts, and interact with a few friends and fellow bloggers online. This community will be invaluable for your learning experience as a blogger, and I highly recommend that you join as soon as possible.

Now, because this subreddit is new, we need to get the word out. Few people are going to see the subreddit, let alone join unless we take a little action. So, if it’s not too much trouble, please click the Reblog button below this post. There are actually a few benefits to doing so. Not only will this give you content for the day (and who doesn’t like free content?), but you will, through this post, be asking others to reblog it, driving more traffic back to your site. If you can’t join Reddit for one reason or another, at least be sure to reblog this, allowing others the opportunity to join.

Guys, this is huge. You may not realize it, but there are some serious advantages to joining. Please join this movement! You can find the link by clicking here or clicking the one provided below. It only takes a few seconds to create an account and join, so don’t hesitate!

Alright, thanks for reading, and I hope you have at least considered joining the group. Your support and comments mean a ton to me! If you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button, so as to not miss out on any new posts. Thanks, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Join here: https://www.reddit.com/r/christian_bloggers/

Posted originally by Africa Boy.

200 Followers Celebration

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events30 Comments

200 Followers

Yesterday, as I blogged about the African Misconceptions, Africa Boy hit 200 followers. In just under three months, we have gone from 100 to 200 followers! This is absolutely awesome! Now, we’re 20% of the way to our major goal of 1,000 followers. However, this milestone is more meaningful then one might think. For the last three years, Africa Boy has experienced some major changes. Its site appearance, purpose, tagline, writing style, everything has undergone thought and change. Now, we even have a Facebook page! Truly, God is good. All the glory be to him forever and ever.

So, to celebrate our 200th follower, Luke, we’re going to do some unique stuff. Let’s get started!

Five strange things about me.

  1. I have chronic back pain. As a basketball player, I suppose that’s just part of the business, but I am plagued with bad back pain, especially after I play a game or workout.
  2. I am double-jointed. I can flex the first joints of my fingers, allowing me to easily palm a basketball.
  3. I am good at chemistry. As of right now, in 11th grade, Chemistry is by far my best subject. Apparently, I am the only writer/chemist teenager my friend Katelyn has ever heard of.
  4. I enjoy trying strange foods. To date, I have eaten food from China, India, Japan, USA, Uganda, Congo, Ethiopia, Thailand, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Mexico, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and a few more that I have forgotten. My favorite strange food is haggis.
  5. I took three years of piano and quite after my teacher moved away from Uganda to get married. I enjoyed the lessons but haven’t managed to find another teacher since.

Throwback

This post was published by me just a few months ago. Called “The Ultimate Insult”, re-reading it and editing through it proved to be rather interesting. However, if you have any eye for writing, you will notice how much my writing style has changed in just the last few months. Practice makes mediocre, eh?

Looking Forward

While our overall goal is 1,000 followers, to hopefully be completed before 2021 is upon us, Africa Boy’s next milestone is 300 followers, which I hope to achieve before February of 2020.

Anyway, guys, thanks so much for being a part of this, and I truly appreciate you and your efforts. Thanks for reading this post, and if you haven’t already, be sure to click that Follow button, so as to not miss out on any new posts. Thanks again, and I hope you have an epic day!

 

Featured Post: The Quirks of Living in Africa

Last Post: Five More Common Misconceptions about Africa

Related Post: 100 Followers!

A Birthday of Grace

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events11 Comments

Cupcakes and Candles

Today is my sister’s birthday. Elliana McFarland, born on October 2nd, 2009, is now celebrating her tenth birthday. And, through current circumstances, she is proving herself to have already matured in ways I never would have thought possible.

Continue reading “A Birthday of Grace” →

The Brown Problem: An (in)Complete Look at the Antonio Brown Drama

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events7 Comments

Antonio Brown 84

Unless you’ve been off the internet for the last year, you’ve heard of the drama centering around Antonio Brown. Brown, possibly the best Wide Receiver in the league, started the year still in a five year, $72.7 million contract. Unfortunately, the deal turned black as relationships between Brown and head coach Tomlin de-escalated. A few insults later, Brown was being offered up for trade in what was probably the most garage-sale like offer in history. He was eventually traded to the Oakland Raiders, who offered him a contract worth $30 million.

Continue reading “The Brown Problem: An (in)Complete Look at the Antonio Brown Drama” →

Current Events: Hurricane Dorian’s Effect “Total Devastation”

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events4 Comments

Hurricane-PixTeller

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last week, you’ve been hearing numerous reports of Hurricane Dorian. News of death counts and destruction are sweeping the nation (Oh, sorry. Bad pun.), with stories of massive swaths of devastation. Currently, the death count stands at thirty but is expected to nearly triple over the course of the next few days. According to BBC News, The International Red Cross predicted that over 40% of the homes in the Bahamas and Abacos were seriously damaged or demolished. Not only have many government buildings been destroyed, but the only International Airport in the area was also destroyed, potentially grounding flights for the next few months.

Continue reading “Current Events: Hurricane Dorian’s Effect “Total Devastation”” →

The HK Protests: A Repeat of Tiananmen Square?

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events1 Comment

Hong Kong has slowly boiled down. After weeks of protests and mobs, the city has finally settled down to its previously peaceful state. However, on the internet, the protests continue.

These protests are unique because they are conducted entirely on the internet. Since the invention of protests (which probably took place directly after the invention of groundings), people have, for the most part, conducted their protests in a violent manner. The Boston Tea Party. Gandhi’s Salt March. The Boston Massacre. The Storming of the Bastille. And finally, Tiananmen Square.

In China, the Tiananmen square incident never happened. The Wikipedia sites have been blocked, as have many other websites that talk about it (this probably will be, too). To date, there currently exists exactly one memorial to that terrible day, and it’s located in Hong Kong. Needless to say, the story has all but been erased from China.

Regardless, we know the truth about Tiananmen Square. Long story short, several thousand students met at the square to protest government policies. The Chinese government, wrongly believing the protests to be harmful, sent over thirty divisions from the country’s army. These divisions, comprised of over 250,000 soldiers and tanks, went to the Square and eventually killed several thousand innocent civilians and protestors.

Thankfully, the responses to the HK Protests have been far less dramatic. There have been few injuries or deaths resulting from the protests, so the loss of life has not been an issue. Instead, the Chinese government has been attacking the protests over the internet.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all removed Chinese government users from their domains, citing fraudulent accounts as the reason for removal. Twitter, the largest platform for the protests, has removed several hundred government users, all actively working at sabotaging the protests. Some go directly against the protesters, while others take a more subtle approach. These are the most deadly, for they pose as protestors, while actually saying violent and harmful things about the Chinese government. These users are the most dangerous to the protest, for to the common citizen, they are impossible to distinguish. Many normal people have seen these fake users and have assumed they are real protestors, saying terrible things about the Chinese government.

This just fuels the flame that will eventually grow into full-on Chinese oppression of Hong Kong. The Chinese government can cite these fake protestors as real and harmful, using them as a reason for the violent removal of real protestors. Americans, this goes against everything we stand for. We must unite and draw awareness to this growing movement, and, as stated before, pray for the HK protestors, that they would have wisdom in their movement. If these protests reach the level that I predict, it may end up as a repeat of the Tiananmen Square incident.

Guys, this is real life. We cannot avoid this. We cannot shun this. But, as Christians, we can pray for the people of Hong Kong. I beseech you, pray and love, no matter the consequence.

Larry Swearingen: Another Murderer Pretending to be a Christian

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events6 Comments

Yesterday, another murderer was given the death penalty. Larry Swearingen, age 48, was acquitted for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. The murder actually happened over twenty years ago, in 1998, when Melissa disappeared after leaving her dormitory.

After nearly twenty years of trials and jail time, Larry was finally given the death penalty and was injected with a lethal solution of pentobarbital. A few minutes later, he was dead.

What made this interesting, however, was that his last words were, “Lord, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing.” Larry reiterates the words of Jesus before his death by crucifixion (Luke 23:34).

So, was Larry innocent? Well, according to every single person around him, he wasn’t. Many of his neighbors and friends agreed that he was guilty of murder. Swearingen had a massive amount of evidence against him and even tried to get fellow inmates to confess to his crime.

Larry was a murderer. Of this, I have no doubt. There is far too much evidence against him for me to believe otherwise. However, his last words intrigued me. Why would a man, having knowingly committed a heinous crime, restate the last words of Jesus? Once again, this is another case of the John Earnest crime- a psychopath murderer that is self-deceived into believing they are a believer. Even though someone claims Belief, we are to test the spirits, as commanded in 1 John 4:1-6. So, even if your best friend claims Christianity, test the spirits and find if he speaks true. Even those that say “I love Jesus!” may be fake.

Thank you so much for reading! I truly appreciate your support. If it isn’t too much trouble, feel free to click that Follow button at the bottom or side of the screen, or join my Mail Chimp mailing list when the widget pops up. Thanks!

Link to my post about John Earnest: https://africaboy.home.blog/2019/08/15/delusions-about-gods-glory/

Link to my home page: https://africaboy.home.blog/

 

The Hong Kong protests: Justifiable or Condemnable?

On By Elisha McFarlandIn Blog Posts, Current Events2 Comments

protests

Hong Kong has become embroiled in protests. Thousands gathered in central Honk Kong to protest the recently passed Chinese law, allowing China to extradite Honk Kong criminals.

What does this mean? To the average person, this just seems like something small. But, to Christians, this is massive. China is tightening its control over Hong Kong, and that grip is going to slowly continue to squeeze. The last time a protest of this level happened, thousands died (see the Tiananmen square article, found here). If China follows through with its motion and removes criminals from Hong Kong, then this will create an opening to remove not just convicted murderers and thieves, but also “criminals” such as Christians, protesting China’s communist control.

Hong Kong has always been a place of freedom. According to my parents, who’ve been to Hong Kong, even the atmosphere of Hong Kong is different and less oppressive. Hong Kong’s government has allowed freedom of speech and religion, directly contrary to China’s oppressive removal of Christians. Hong Kong is a pinpoint of freedom and love, surrounded by a country that is actively banishing Christians.

So, why protest? The people in Hong Kong have always celebrated their freedoms, especially the previously mentioned freedom of speech and religion. With China encroaching on these freedoms, the people of Hong Kong have gathered in peaceful protests. They wish to show China that they will keep their freedoms, no matter what. These protests seem to be justifiable, as the protestors have not resorted to violent actions, and appear to have good intentions.

What can we do? Well, that’s easy: pray. As Christians, we are called to pray for the people protesting China’s control. Because the protests are peaceful, and not violent, we are called to pray for the people of Hong Kong, that they will exercise wisdom in their protests.

That’s all for today! However, I will come back to this topic, as it continues to fascinate me. Look for a new post about Tiananmen square and its comparison to the Hong Kong protests!

Join my Mail Chimp subscriber list to receive monthly updates! Link: http://eepurl.com/gAQYZj

Link to my last post: https://africaboy.home.blog/2019/08/19/the-versatile-blogger-award/