I've also been around Kiwi long enough to tell you that the dudes here aren't normal. We skew older than your average internet dweller, and even amongst those, we are dudes and dudettes who typically like to read and write, ideally keep up with the news in a time-convenient manner: Fuck watching a video in 20 mins when I can read an article in 4. Forums naturally encourage good research and effort when posting, because almost everyone wants to contribute rather than shit up the thread, where places like Reddit will deck you for having unpopular opinions and you'll be rewarded for the most lukewarm takes. Asmon has a huge subreddit right? That tracks.
The average Kiwi's Youtube algorithm is probably full of educational stuff, probably something dumb that's good for background noise like videos of retarded cavers being retards, trivia on random things, some gossip, and news. When Forum users get on Youtube it's because they're usually looking for something specific. When they talk to ChatGPT, it's because they want to get something done. We are doomed to dislike guys like Phil from the get go. At the same time, that sort of video has more inherent value. Edutainment, even if questionable, is pretty good at building general knowledge. Troubleshooting obscure/decades old tech issues is straight up helpful. Well researched advice on a number of subjects can be pretty damn good. I know I learned how to install blinds from Youtube. And how to debloat computers. And how to pirate and patch up a few old consoles.
Phil however really adds nothing of value, unless you're a retard. He naturally curates his audience to only the people who will believe everything he says. Phil provides a daycare for adult wheelchairs, and while I'm sure some people find value in that, the average normie, or the average Chad-like farmer/forum person that likes well researched, well indexed, well documented information will take one look at this channel and go "What is even the purpose of this shit? What does it do? Who is it for?"
Thing is, even if the average guy on this thread can Quasimodo what the future holds with some degree of accuracy, we'll often wildly misfire on the all-important question of "Just how fucking dumb are people gonna get?" We have reports of six year old former I-pad babies in diapers who can't read and can barely talk. Very frequently when I go out I see parents who refuse to engage their children and just hand them the cocomelon brainrot. Kids now are dumber than bricks with serious developmental issues all the way into their teens. Parents just don't have the time, the will, or either of those, to take on those VERY serious issues. It's easier to just park them in front of an I-pad: They'll sort themselves out! Hopefully. On the other end of the spectrum, boomers are also often relentless morons. Both of them just go on Youtube, or a series page, and find themselves completely lost unless there's reccomendations.
"But what even is on here?"
"I dunno man, just about every TV series from the last 50 years. They got Seinfeld, Family Matters, Fresh Prince, Friends, bunch of weird European soaps, Dr Who, Blackadder..."
"Yes but what do I watch?"
Tiktok was made to exploit these people. It worked WONDERS. People quite literally need companies to tell them what they want now. Mindless consumers like never before. Used to be you had to at least write an overly complicated sales pitch, like asbestos free cereal, or double-toasted tobacco. Nowadays all it takes is "Relax, we'll even choose for you."
On top of that social feeling towards the stupid and/or crazy has mostly shifted. Used to be that retards and the insane were people who needed help from average/slightly smart dudes and dudettes, "Protect weaker monkey" and all that shit, they'd take the help and thank you for it and a good time was had by all. But it turns out that retards nowadays generally don't want any help, least of all from smarter monkeys and you're insulting them by offering. People generally dislike Boomers now, in no small part thanks to this. People loathe having to deal with Zoomers and their short attention spans. And god help us when Alphas start entering adult society. Again, most of them dumb, all of them having REALLY internalized that the tall poppy NEEDS to get the axe and that displays of competence are bad and competitions need to be designed so that everyone has a fair shot at winning, no matter how inept.
Phil's dents are a great example. Try to convince them than Phil's scamming them and they usually just get defensive about it and claim that well he's not scamming THEM, they willingly give money because Phil needs it to be succesful. Phil himself says that his audience wants to see him succeed.
It's akin to telling Rich the boomer grandpa that Monique the hot Colombian 30something lady who has taken him for most he's worth already is probably a gold digger and maybe he should try and save something for his struggling kids, only to be told "Fuck off, it's my life, I've earned it!!!" just makes people go "Man, fuck this absolute mongoloid." Modern society has bred two, maybe three generations of hyper-confident, completely self-centered idiots. And everyone who isn't is just permanently depressed and giving up. Shit's bleak. Phil is in that sweet spot of "Smart enough to play the morons like a fiddle, dumb enough that the morons can still relate to his struggles and personality."
Phil's outrageous self involvement and shortsightedness resonates greatly with his audience. Phil's hedonistic, a spendthrift, confidently wrong on many subjects, and yet he keeps an insanely high level of self esteem. Someone smarter would probably look at Ichiban Kasuga and say "Welp, this guy is super charismatic to the point of magnetism, competent, determined, humble, compassionate, and usually achieves what he sets out to do. Honestly compared to him I ain't shit. Good thing he's fictional." Phil sees the same character and "He's just like me, furfurfur, and you can eat shit out of my fucking ayusss if you disagree."
I mean, I'll agree that Ichiban is mentally touched and sees shit like it's Dragon Quest and Phil seems himself as some sort of unstoppable, handsome, manly wrestling heel that everyone loves and treats unjustly, at the same time, somehow, but that's where the similarities begin and end.
To us, Phil's a cultural Indian call center scammer that somehow lucked out enough to be born well-off white and American. To his average dent, Phil is UNDENIABLY a fucking winner.
- Holds many people's dream job and has done so for nearly two decades. No stacking boxes/wiping asses for him.
- Has a wife. She's fat and they don't fuck but dude, he COULD presumably fuck once a month if he wanted to. Jaxx Raxxor is NEVER getting his dick wet.
- Has all the expensive toys and nuggies he wants.
- Has a cool pet, his own apartment, doesn't ever do anything he doesn't want, not even playing games on anything harder than normal.
- Has retained an audience for two decades in spite of showing a manifest inability to improve. Nevermind that it's mostly bots: There's hundreds of thousands of 0-3 viewer streams out there, and Phil's in the top percentile.
- Is unrelentingly confident in spite of being a verifiable fuckwit. Those times he says the game fucked up? Dude, he BELIEVES that, and to bolster his belief he's unable to understand what the fuck is actually going on.
- Has ALWAYS failed upward. Fired from the helikhapter factory, and straight into youtube. Kicked out of Machinima, kept his partnership and still made money. Went to Twitch, got kicked off the partner program, straight back to Youtube, business as usual. He even managed to get an Evo top ten by a combination of dumb luck and the skill level being subterranean at the time.
In short: Phil has PLENTY of prey to choose from between his retarded boomer whales and the up-and-coming new batch of irredeemably stupid kids, and his rep with the sort of moron that would funnel their kid's college fund into a gacha to get a slight dopamine hit is STELLAR. By gunning specifically for that type of moron, Phil manages to succeed and stay afloat, in part because he really is an amazing fit for the type of trash tier entertainment they'd rather consume, and in part because there really isn't much content aimed at them at all. Phil really is a "Khantent Curator" in the sense that he's one of the very few that do content "For Retards, By Retards."
No kidding, if Phil went back to his edgy King of Hate Shawk Jawk """Character""" he'd probably explode in popularity all over again. He'll never have an audience of normal people who love him, but he is a dumbass narc himself. That could only end in tragedy. If he had any but the most milquetoast, fence-sitting, safe play opinions he could easily muscle in on Asmon's Based Takes racket. It's not like you gotta base those on reality at all, so he could just say out of pocket shit and farm likes and engagement.
