A Guide to Children’s Culture for Out-of-Touch Adults: What’s Going on With Dungeons & Dragons?
This week’s guide features three prominent young influencers: one may have thrown a pig, one is accused of being a pig, and a third is MrBeast. In addition, TikTok’s tendency to eat on death row is analyzed, as is the wrath of our countries’ nerds.
Paul’s Troubled Domestic Pig, Pearl
Let’s talk about Logan Paul’s pig, would you like to? Paul, an online superstar and boxer, adopted a pig almost two years ago. Gentle Barn Animal Shelter posted a video to TikTok this week announcing that they rescued that pig. Apparently, he was thrown, almost dead, into the field. Pearl was cured at the shelter and noted that many people are adopting what they think are “tea pigs,” which turn out to be just pigs— huge animals that require a ton of care.
Of course, some people have come to the conclusion that Paul heartlessly abandoned his former pet when he got too big, but the truth seems to be more complicated. According to Paul, he relocated his domestic pig before he moved to Puerto Rico two years ago. From there, Pearl was relocated again, presumably without Paul’s knowledge, and this is how she ended up abandoned. Whoever is to blame, the story has a happy ending: According to Gentle Barn, Pearl has made a full recovery and is enjoying her new life with other pot-bellied people. Also, I had bacon for breakfast, so I don’t really understand what all the fuss is about.
All Gas No Brakes Andrew Callaghan accused of sexual harassment
Gonzo reporter Andrew Callaghan’s career took off. The 25-year-old got his start on YouTube by talking about some of our culture’s more bizarre corners for his All Gas No Brakes channel, including conspiracy hippies at the Conscious Light Expo , conspiracy “scientists” at the Flat Earth Convention , conspiracy UFO lovers at AlienCon and non-conspiratorial furries at Midwest Furfest. Callaghan was recently called to HBO’s Rules of the Place , a rousing documentary about conspiratorial rebels.
But Callaghan’s spaceship seems to fall tastelessly to earth: at least two women accuse him of sexual harassment. These are currently unsubstantiated claims, but Callaghan didn’t quite deny them in a statement made by a TMZ spokesperson. It reads: “Andrew is devastated to be accused of any form of physical or mental coercion against anyone. Talks of pressure and compliance are extremely important and Andrew wants to have those conversations so he can continue to learn and grow,” along with the assumption that the accuser’s real motivation is money.
Is the ‘dinner on death row’ TikTok trend racist?
The latest trend on TikTok is that young people are thinking about what they would eat for the last time on earth. Set to the soundtrack to Lil Yachty’s “Gucci Flip Flops” and tagged #deathrowmeal, these videos feature a dream menu for TikTokers’ latest meals. As you might expect, most of them are rather disgusting, but the problem is not the crude tastes of the youth. Referring to death row inmates is tasteless and racist, according to some , as most of the people involved in this trend are white, while people of color are massively represented on actual death row. Maybe it’s just not something to joke about or use to express your appreciation for the Jolly Ranchers?
Dungeons & Dragons players rebel
In the most notorious corners of the game world, an uprising is taking place. The Dungeons & Dragons community has rebelled against Wizards of the Coast, the parent company of D&D , in such numbers that requests to cancel D&D’s online service have reportedly caused the company’s servers to crash. The problem is that Wizards of the Coast is supposedly updating their third party content policy. The do-it-yourself community has been creating, sharing, and selling material based on Wizards rules and property quite freely for years, presumably with their approval – if you want to create your own module, go ahead – but documents leaked to Gizmodo suggest, that Wizards of the Coast planned to make significant changes to its Open Game license, adding a host of restrictions, including requiring people who make more than $750,000 to pay royalties to the company. In response to the backlash, the Wizards canceled a planned announcement for their OGL . For example, I threw a magic arrow.
Viral Video of the Week: We’re rebuilding a shelter in Africa!
Not all influential young people are alleged abandoned pigs, accused of sexual pests and tabletop role-playing game fanatics. MrBeast, for example, has never turned down a lop-bellied pig (that I know of) and doesn’t even have a “controversy” subheading on his Wikipedia page . He’s also trying to use his 127 million YouTube subscribers to do something good in the world, whether it’s planting trees or cleaning up the ocean.
In this week’s viral video, we’re rebuilding a shelter in Africa! The Beast People travel to South Africa to rebuild an orphanage with an asbestos roof and a general lack of funding. The Beast is, of course, assisted by a corporate sponsor, so no one does anything out of the goodness of their hearts, and it can all seem a bit exploitative if you’re of that mindset – it seems more than altruistic, but still I don’t think it’s all it matters to the orphans who get a new roof.