I have cried for Matt Pat four times this week. I feel like I’m losing a friend and it hurts. I know I’m not but it still hurts.
What happened now?
He’s done making videos and handing the channel off to some other people. Never watched his stuff just what Google says.
He really wasn’t
He was a decent youtuber, but I was always irked by his propagation of the “That’s just a theory” phrase. I get that it was just a tagline, but it still inadvertently promotes the downplay of the scientific process.
The word “theory” has definitions outside of the context of the scientific process, and it’s pretty obvious that MatPat was not doing anything scientific in his videos. I don’t understand the concern here
The word “theory,” when used in a scientific context, indicates a well-established idea supported by an immense amount of peer reviewed data. While I understand that many people use the word “theory” to mean “random unsupported thought,” the use of the word in that context is just as egregious as the use of the word “literally” to mean “figuratively.”
And while you’re right that MatPat’s videos were anything but scientific, you’re wrong that it was obvious; I’ve heard plenty of people recommend his videos to me, describing his channel as “taking a scientific approach to video games,” which is another way in which his videos downplayed the stringent work that the scientific process requires to be accurate and valid.
We live in a time where, in spite of abundant access to information, an alarming amount of people legitimately believe that climate change doesn’t exist, that vaccines cause autism, and that the world is flat. We can’t afford to be even tangentially undermining the authority of the scientific process.
So he finally got what’s coming to him. That’s what happens when you expose so many conspiracies. RIP
🫡
