Excerpt
In conclusion, YouTube definitely is a home for members of a community that has lost its former rights in society. Different kinds of smokers manifest themselves and meet on this platform. Through channels, videos and discussions a sub-community of smoking fetishists and a sub-community of educational smokers is built. This mechanism of online life that is separate from the online society, is also seen in Kaltenbrunner’s article on artistic communities (this issue), but is in contrast with the fluid border crossing between the real and the virtual of the flash mobbers (Schepers, this issue). On the platform, these smokers have found a new expression of their old habit. Fetishists and educational smokers demand, though in different degrees and with a different goal, to be in control of their own destiny and identity. YouTube is the communicative space where they can re-claim their freedom. The rebellious adolescents on the other hand use YouTube only to support and confirm their belonging to a pre-existing group. The case studies demonstrate that YouTube is not merely a mirror of the society from which the smokers are relegated. For certain smokers, YouTube offers the opportunity to proudly present themselves as such, to find company and support, and last but not least, to share a playful approach of smoking. Cigarettes are fun again, pleasure is celebrated, and tobacco is – for a moment – freed of its lethal image.
Wolters, Anna.
Barn-raising in Marlboro Country Community Empowering through YouTube.
Cultures of Arts, Science and Technology 1, no. 1 (May 2008): 35–51.
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