Messy Mya Dead: YouTube Partners Must Be Careful

The murder of YouTube comedian Messy Mya recalls the murder of 20 year old Asia McGowan (in photo from Flickr), and since there was no motive given for what happened to Messy Mya, requires YouTube Partners and performers to be reminded of the dark forces in society that appear with New Media fame.  (Hat tip to Rolling Media for blogging about this.)

First, Asia McGowan

Asia McGowan was a 20 year old YouTube contributor who was murdered by a man named Anthony Powell on April 10th, 2009. Powell's motives were the product of a nutcase who had weird beliefs about black women that this blogger will not repeat here. Also on YouTube, Powell railed against anyone who believed in the theory of evolution.

Powell reportedly wanted to date McGowan but at the same time was what is called a "hater." Asia made a video about that before her passing:



What's A Hater?

"Hater" is a word used so much over the last five years, it now has an official designation in The Urban Dictionary. Here it is:

A person that simply cannot be happy for another person's success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person. Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesnt really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock somelse down a notch.
Susan: You know, Kevin from accounting is doing very well. He just bought a house in a very nice part of town.

Jane (hater): If he is doing so well why does he drive that '89 Taurus?

"Hater" described a culture that's all too active in Oakland, California, but that's for another blog post.  The bottom line is that, from observation, that term started to be widely used just over the last five or six years.  It roughly matches the rise of a digital generation and rapid stardom fueled by reality TV and performance shows like American Idol.

It seems that this new way of creating stars also formed a current of jealously on the part of those who may want the same level of attention, but for whatever reason don't get it.  Rather than constructively dealing with the feeling associated with such a position, some lash out against those who they perceive as successful.

This happens on YouTube all too often.

Toward YouTube Support Groups

One thing lacking is something I call a "YouTube support group," or a place for YouTube Partners and performers to go where they can be around supportive people.  In the way I see such a group, a criteria for membership is they have to be a YouTube Partner, which is a person permitted by Google / YouTube to make money from ads posted on their videos.

Stay tuned.