I’ve always been fascinated by the much-maligned medium of expression known as the YouTube comment. Among the usual hate speech and Obama conspiracy theories, you can find these amazing nuggets of humanity—heartbreaking moments from people’s lives recalled by an old favourite song, stories of love and loss, perfectly crystallized moments of nostalgia, all of which would be lost forever if it weren’t for YouTube’s easy, mostly anonymous commenting system. I almost feel like you could write a Studs Terkel oral history of America culled entirely from YouTube comments on pop songs.
I’ve started a new blog, Sad YouTube, culling comments I find interesting or sad or poignant. Check it out.
