Saturday, June 14, 2014

If it wasn't for Kanadajin3...

For those of you who follow the Jvlogging scene you probably have heard about the drama that had unfolded between Kanadajin3 (Mira) and Rachel and Jun among a few other Jvloggers. I follow a bunch of these ladies and gents on facebook, twitter, instagram, YouTube of course, and a couple of their blogs. I thought something strange was happening when I read Sharla in Japan's comment about a "close friend" of hers and how "being an asshole gets you nowhere". Of course I thought "Hm.. I wonder what happened?" Then a while later I started seeing comments from other people about a video that Rachel, from Rachel and Jun's channel, posted. It was about 21 minutes long and from reading the title I could tell that it was going to be a pretty serious video. (Jump past the blue writing if you know what's happened).

After watching the video (which has now been set to private I guess) I was really shocked at what I had learned from Rachel's side of the story. Basically Mira has been accused of creating sock puppet accounts and posting really hateful comments to many Jvlogger's videos. This started to unfold with Rachel's video review of a company she purchased clothes from. Apparently Mira had contacted Rachel with concern about this company. Mira herself was contacted by a company and after doing research she denied the company of it's request for her to do a video. Mira apparently contacted Rachel warning her of the company and told her what her experience was like. From then on- many comments had been posted to Rachel's video talking about Rachel getting paid to do the video, that she's promoting a scam, leaking private information etc etc etc.   

Rachel's video shows that she went to great lengths to do some research about the attacks that she was receiving from some usernames. She started noticing a pattern in the language that was being used in these comments. I'm not going to go fully into detail because everything was described in the video. Long story short, Rachel had come to the conclusion that Mira was behind all the hating and attacking. Her research and evidence seemed to prove that Mira surely was behind it all.

I've watched many videos from Rachel and Jun and based on the videos (because I have not met any of these people in real life) they seem like truly genuine and honest people. Rachel always seems to have purely honest reviews and opinions about things and that is something to be admired. She doesn't seem like the type of person that would take this much time to call somebody out about the game they were playing behind the scenes. That's why I was so shocked that this has even come about. 

Kanadajin3 was the first Jvlogger I had ever viewed. I came across her by accident and I don't even remember what I was looking for at the time or what video of hers I had seen first. But she really opened up the gateway to the Jvlogging world for me. I became hooked. I would watch her videos for hours long periods of time. Watching her I became introduced to Sharla in Japan. I subscribed to Sharla's channel next and would watch her videos a lot too. To be honest, I gravitated more toward Mira in the beginning. Over time I started to really enjoy Sharla's videos just as much and was always excited about their new personal and collab videos. They were really great together and showed us viewers that they had a wonderful friendship. They were the ones that really got me interested in trying to make videos of my own. My dream was (is?) to make great videos and get their attention and possibly make a collab video in the future. I have posted comments to both of their various accounts and both have replied to me (I fangirled pretty hard ;P ). It was so awesome to hear from them. 

Alas I was extremely disappointed after watching Rachel's video. And I can only imagine how everyone who was affected felt after finding out their close friend had betrayed them. 

However-

Mira finally posted a response video after initially stating that she wasn't going to. 

Her video was a bit lengthy as well and definitely had a very serious tone to it. In a nutshell, she did say that she was sorry for hurting "the individual" (she's of course referring to Rachel) from the comments she had made about the company not being reputable. She never admitted to making fake accounts and hating on all of these Jvloggers. She said that she didn't hate anyone and that if anyone had a problem with her that she would have gladly given them information if they had come to her. She says that no one had ever sent her an email or anything asking her if the accusations were true or not. 

If anyone has followed Mira you know that she has a more unique way of speaking English. It's understandable, but sometimes the way she says things could be misconstrued from what she really meant. I, too, have some issues with this. My point is that I don't think she answered all the questions that everyone was hoping she'd answer. Based on her demeanor and what she did say I could tell that she had been going through a lot. It seemed as though she had made some notes of what to say as I noticed her looking down every so often as if she was reading something. So it seems that she covered everything she wanted to cover. 

What really got to me out of this whole thing is that, according to her, her own family has been contacted as well. So much so that they are in fear for their lives and are actually considering moving. Hearing that I became highly concerned that this whole thing has caused safety issues for numerous people who haven't been directly involved. Although I do agree that this issue probably should have been dealt with in confidence and privacy, the other part of me supports that Rachel shed light on a seemingly dangerous situation as well. And I say "dangerous" as I'm referring to the accusation that Mira had leaked private information; compromising safety for other Jvloggers. 

Now I don't know any of these people personally. I didn't go into complete detail, nor have I been following as closely to this situation as some others probably have. I'm sure I've missed new details here and there (in fact I know I have). Based on Rachel's video it would seem that all fingers point to Mira. Mira's video makes her seem... at least partially innocent. She did admit to hurting Rachel with some comments, but again, never admitted to doing all of it. Again, I don't know her personally, but like Rachel- I have seen many of Mira's videos and I always thought she seemed pretty genuine as well. She had her opinions about things and wasn't afraid to share them. That to me made me think that she was pretty blunt and honest about things. She also didn't seem like the type to go behind her friend's backs and do all these things she's been accused of.

So in conclusion... I don't really have a conclusion. I think the only way to know the truth is to have been the one causing the attacks, or the ones that were affected by the attacks. All the viewers have to go by are the videos and comments that have been made by these Jvloggers. (It's kind of like the point of view you might have about your seemingly "perfect" neighbors- while behind closed doors they could be on the brink of bankruptcy, cheating on one another, abusing an animal... the list goes on). 

--------- What if there was someone out there pretending to be Mira pretending to be all of these different user names? Someone copying her language and spelling mistakes and setting her up? Getting someone's personal information can be really easy sometimes (not that I know, but there are some great hackers out there!) They are probably sitting back in their chairs laughing their asses off for having successfully ruined friendships.-----------   Hey, you never know. 


I remain neutral at this point. I am still fans of all of these ladies and gents I am subscribed to. I do not support hate crimes and attacks or slander- I think it is all unnecessary. 


I'm sad to see that all of this has happened.
I am grateful for being introduced to the Jvlogging world before these events came about.
I do wish everyone the best of luck with everything that they do. 
I wish a happier future for all of those who were affected/involved. 
I also believe in Karma- so the person(s) responsible for these attacks and hate will certainly get theirs in some way, shape, or form.

So for now, quit the hateful comments. As the Jvloggers themselves have said- there is no point in spreading the hate even more by attacking Mira's accounts with more horrible comments. They are only making matters worse. 

What's done is done and can't be undone. The Jvlogging community has hit a rough patch but I'm sure will be back to normal in the near future. 


Hopefully history won't repeat itself anytime soon.


Found this picture at: http://unwrittenmemoirs.blogspot.com/2008/12/dozen-broken-friendships.html