# YouTube vlogger: What is wrong with this kid, or is he a faker? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 29, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132 "2008-12-29T23:27:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/21 "2008-12-30T10:41:09Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > First, I didn’t “diagnose” him… I was asking what was wrong with him, and guessed Asperger’s, but that was the whole point of the OP was to get people’s opinions. If he is for real, what is wrong with him? > > Second, what makes you think he’s acting? I guess I could see how you might get that impression from watching short segments from a couple of the videos, but I watched at least 20 of them all the way through and I am having a hard time believing that this kid, who is clearly a young teen (just look at his first videos, he appears 13-14) came up with all that material himself and acted it all so well. > > The naysayer’s quick reactions seem to me to be rationalized by the fact that he’s just so weird, it has to be fake, right? But not necessarily… So the question remains, if he is for real, what is his ailment? Asperger’s? Something else? Is it just me or does he seem a bit psychopathic?? And please, before you give an opinion, watch the videos all the way through (at least several of them)! I think he’s acting because he posts about things which would come with repercussions should they come to light in whatever passes as his social circle (as they inevitably would with him being a minor YouTube celeb), yet there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of such repercussions (i.e. ‘The kid whose ipod I accidentally beat me up’); his clothes seem like a costume; and it doesn’t really take that much acting ability to just mask your real mannerisms with a set of fake ones (a couple of friends of mine made a set of hilarious prank phone call tapes where they posed as adherents of some obscure sect named ‘Harry’ and ‘Krishna’ when they can’t have been older than 13), you basically just need a bit of empathy for that; as I said, I think the greatest difficulty in acting comes when having to fake ‘natural’ responses to scripted events – you basically have to re-learn your whole body language and how to consciously apply it, hence people who slip into a different character can seem to be really good actors when they actually aren’t, which is where the ‘everyone can act’ meme and the atrociousness of daytime soap actors comes from. Also, I don’t see a reason to not think it’s an act. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/22 "2008-12-30T14:50:54Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > The Google Ad on the video is advertising drama classes. > > I think it’s an improv. Not that I’m adding to the debate, but doesn’t google ads just pick up on words used on the page? So it may have picked up on what may have been said in the comments. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/23 "2008-12-30T15:07:43Z")
Point. Still though, the ‘denoument’ of the “girlfriend” sketch seems just too appropriate (and trite) to be real. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/24 "2008-12-30T15:11:01Z")
I agree. Some people are very good at ‘acting out’ especially at that age. I could do it myself when I was much younger. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/25 "2008-12-30T15:12:56Z")
> [@nyctea scandiaca](#): > > **Mindfield** , I had seen that video you linked to, but that doesn’t really prove anything except what his real name is, that he has a sister who is also a YouTuber, and that he played baseball when he was younger. How does any of that prove he is acting, and not really a genuine guy with Asperger’s syndrome? It doesn’t in any way a jury could shake reasonable doubt from, but taken as a whole, the dude’s entire persona is a little hard to swallow. We can start with the idea that even if he lied about his real name to protect his identity, who among even the outcast rejects would willingly and with all sincerity choose to be known as _Bernice Juach III?_ For an adolescent, insecure, allegedly Asperger’s-suffering male who’s just trying to fit in, choosing Bernice as an alias would only serve to further ostracize him, and he _has_ to know that. > [@Lobsang](#): > > Nice backing track. What’s it from? I don’t know, but it’s _epic_. ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/26 "2008-12-30T15:24:12Z")
> [@Mindfield](#): > > I don’t know, but it’s _epic_. Possibly you’re having a joke, but it sounds to me like Ennio Morricone stuff from The Good The Bad And The Ugly. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/27 "2008-12-30T15:27:14Z")
> [@Mindfield](#): > > [QUOTE=Lobsang] > Nice backing track. What’s it from? I don’t know, but it’s _epic_. [/QUOTE] It’s [The Ecstasy of Gold,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0)from Ennio Morricone’s score to _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_. ---
**Author:** ![pkd88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@pkd88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkd88)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132/28 "2008-12-30T15:27:58Z")
The song is from a Clint Eastwood western as I recall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/youtube-vlogger-what-is-wrong-with-this-kid-or-is-he-a-faker/479132.md?page=1)