https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5649092004806656/commercial-activism
So I am in the process of researching something and happened across this thread. It’s an interesting question and the discussion throughout the thread is equally interesting.
It brings me back to one of my earliest questions about lloyd. Is he an activist or a Youtuber?
It’s interesting that from that thread 6 years ago a lot of people had no trouble with his commercialism of activism but ALL that commented spoke about the money supporting his activism work and his family.
Lloyd’s described himself as an activist and I think this has influenced how people perceive him. I can’t help but think that he has used this influence to change peoples definitions of what category/type of “work” he falls into.
He now heavily describes his operation as a business. Until 2021 I personally had not heard this descriptor.
I personally don’t know any businesses in the world that rely on volunteers to undertake a majority of key roles within a business.
I also don’t know any YouTubers who have a team of people behind them that are exclusively/majority staffed by volunteers for many years.
I do know of activism movements that are heavily supported by volunteers. Historically, most activism has focused on creating substantive changes in the policy or practice of a government or industry.
In contrast to this:
“A Youtuber is that person who uploads videos to the Youtube platform with a regularity. They usually have a marked theme with which they consolidate their audience. Youtubers usually start creating videos witha hobby although many end up dedicating themselves exclusively to it, so it becomes their profession.”
I feel as though Lloyd has been mis-representing himself for all of these years as an “activist” when in fact he is actually a YouTuber. Would people have been so willing to support him financially and with volunteer work if they had been told upfront that he was running a Youtube business rather than an activism movement?
I would be interested to hear if anyone else had an opinion about this.