Summary of Cringe | ContraPoints

This is an AI generated summary. There may be inaccuracies.
Summarize another video · Purchase summarize.tech Premium

00:00:00 - 01:00:00

This video discusses the concept of cringe, or feeling awkward or embarrassed. It is explained that some people enjoy watching cringe-worthy content because it makes them feel better about themselves. However, the author suggests that cringing at transgender people is not helpful, and only serves to isolate them further from society.

00:00:00 The word "cringe" has been on the rise in recent years, and according to writer Melissa Dahl, it's a reaction to moments when we're pulled out of our own perspective and see ourselves from someone else's point of view. Some of the most popular examples on the Internet involve people behaving in cringe-worthy ways, like when a person talks too loud at a wedding or when they remember embarrassing teenage moments.
00:05:00 Cringe is a feeling of discomfort or pain, either in oneself or in someone else. It is thought to be a form of empathy, or feeling the emotions of others, and can be either vicarious or self-cringe. There is a complication with the vicarious embarrassment theory of cringe, in that the person doing the cringey thing may not actually be embarrassed. Bad American Idol auditions are cringe because of the contestants' misplaced confidence. Meesha, who is there with her mother, is cringe-worthy because she is delusional about her singing talent, but I am routing for her, and when she embarrasses herself I feel no joy, only deep and agonizing cringe.
00:10:00 Cringe is a feeling of embarrassment or contempt for someone who lacks self-awareness about the way others are perceiving them. It is often characterized by feelings of solidarity and camaraderie with the person who is embarrassed, and a sense of recognition that we all say the wrong thing sometimes. The online cringe culture is characterized by channels making content that centers on the experience of cringing, and a large audience that seeks out cringe content. In 2016, the word cringe was most associated with a teenage YouTube-er called LeafyIsHere. His videos followed the format of a cringe reaction video, which means he would pause someone else's content to rant about how cringe it is. However, theFat Acceptance Cringe Compilation is not a video of fat acceptance activists behaving cringeyly. It is literally just a compilation of fat people doing things. This video is just a clip of a fat woman swimming. Is this cringe? What is cringe about it?
00:15:00 In this video, various groups of people who are often considered to be cringe are discussed. One example is a feminist known as Big Red, who generated fame through her videos at a Men's Rights event. Another is a protester who was memebified as AIDS Skrillex. Both of these examples highlight the power of cringe as a political tool.
00:20:00 <could not summarize>
00:25:00 The video discusses cringe, a feeling of awkwardness or embarrassment. It is explained that Davis, an extreme example of a lolcow, was so often hilariously inept that he was classified as a lolcow. Harry's videos about Davis or my old videos about The Golden One can be considered lolcow-milking content. The argument from ridicule, or from cringe, is that people should not embarrass themselves like these people. However, the author admits that he is an entertainer and wants people to laugh. There is no need for a political agenda behind milking lolcows, in fact usually there isn't. The purest example of a lolcow is Florence Foster Jenkins, a singer from the early 20th century who was laughed at due to her poor singing. Smith argues that we experience schadenfreude, or pleasure in someone else's misery, because we gain something when other people lose. We are constantly evaluating our own worth by comparing ourselves to other people, and reality TV shows and YouTube videos are designed to produce spectacular moments of humiliation.
00:30:00 Chris-Chan, an autistic trans woman, is the victim of a 13-year-old internet trolling saga. The saga began when 4chan noticed her comic-book series Sonichu, which features a hybrid of Sonic the Hedgehog and Pikachu. The trolls began tormenting her by creating pornographic parodies of Sonichu, posting candid photos of her, and more. Chandler reacted to the trolls, which only encouraged them more. They hacked her accounts, tricked her into giving out passwords, showed up in person and photographed her house, and contacted her herself. She was very willing to divulge mortifying information about herself, which made the trolls even happier.
00:35:00 The Christorians, a group of trolls who obsessively document Chris-Chan's life, have a number of reasons for targeting her. For some, it's a way to feel superior to others; for others, it's a way to feel bad about themselves. Some trolls are autistic, and see Chris-Chan as a symbol of their own inadequacy.
00:40:00 The narrator discusses how, due to feeling ashamed of being transgender and lesbian, he lapse into a habit of cringing at embarrassing transgender lesbians. He wants to explore this further, and consider why he does this.
00:45:00 The author discusses why she cringes at catgirls, which is based on the A-Log theory of morbid cringing, in which people cringe at people who share traits with them because they see something of themselves in them. The author also discusses how she cringe reacts on YouTube, and finds it to be addicting.
00:50:00 This YouTube video is a series of reactions to a GameStop commercial in which a woman tries on various clothes and is called sir by her customer service representative. The reactions range from empathy to contempt and horror. The author suggests that the cringing trans people do is not actually helping them, but instead is only serving to stigmatize and isolate them further from society.
00:55:00 In this video, YouTube personality, Kalvin Garrah, discusses how he cringes at AFAB trans people. He says that he doesn't feel ingroup cringe, but if he were to read a general lesbian subreddit, he would feel ingroup cringe about trans lesbianism. Vanessa, a trans woman who is the second most popular political trans YouTuber, discusses her experience of online cruelty and how it has affected her.

01:00:00 - 01:20:00

In "Cringe | ContraPoints," Vanessa debate Jessica Yaniv, a trans-identified predator, with Rose of Dawn, a conservative trans woman. Rose criticizes Yaniv for her crimes and wrongdoings, but also makes it clear that she is disgusted by Yaniv's appearance. Vanessa and Rose both derive emotional catharsis from making cringe-worthy videos about their "evil" cisgender ex-friends.