A Complex Case For Empathy

Lindsay Ellis has a well-earned distaste for YouTube, having earned a massive audience over a long period and seeing all the upsides and downsides that come with that. A few years back, she basically quit the platform, emphasizing her writing career instead. She now publishes most of her video content on the paywalled platform Nebula.

But she’s also someone who understands that when you have a megaphone, sometimes you must use it.

Ms Rachel was as good a reason as any to pull out the megaphone. The children’s show host has made a compelling case for herself as the perfect children’s entertainer for the streaming era. But the controversy facing Rachel Accurso for simply advocating for the children of Gaza, put in a difficult situation through no fault of their own, put her in the crosshairs of a cultural storm.

Ellis, alas, knows a thing or two about cancellation—she experienced a 2021 tarring and feathering thanks to a controversial tweet that left her open to accusations of casual racism. The concerns didn’t dissipate when she attempted to explain herself—and eventually it took a major toll on her mental health and led to her exit from Twitter.

Her movie-length autopsy of cancellation inspired by the incident, “Mask Off,” is no longer on the video-sharing juggernaut. (That said, you can find it on Nebula or the Internet Archive. Despite Ellis later expressing regret over the video, it nonetheless has its share of fans.)

Soon enough, she left YouTube entirely, only gradually posting again a few years later. Good thing, because honestly, we needed the Ms Rachel video.

At nearly two and a half hours in length, “The Unforgivable Sin of Ms Rachel” is nearly an hour longer than any of her previous videos. While it has time for jokes—an extended tradwife satire, in which she preps a meal while breaking down the political conflicts around children’s television, stands out—ultimately it’s the genuinely disturbing subject matter that sticks with you.

This is a video that talks about Mr. Rogers and genocide. Equally.

It highlights conservative attempts to counter-program against educational programming; it discusses the cultural roots of the Israel/Palestine conflict. And it ties it all into reasons why someone like Ms Rachel might become a lightning rod in a culture constantly looking for lightning rods.

The intro specifically references the radio broadcasts that led to the 1994 Rwanda massacre, a particularly dark time in human history that does not get discussed enough. It is a parallel to Israel and Gaza that is hard to ignore—and is a significant focus of the back half of Ellis’ video.

But what ultimately stands out more than anything else? Ellis found a way to turn this ugly story, a tale about the awkward space young children fill in complicated, deadly global conflicts, into a successful fundraiser. “Do it for Mr. Rogers,” she wrote near the donation button—which proved a surprisingly effective pitch. As of this writing, Ellis’ video has raised nearly $850,000 for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund.

Ellis’ video has many things in common with the past winners of this award. Like Hbomberguy, she used a long period of silence to drop a literally massive video essay with a specific target in mind. Like Pat Finnerty, she used the format to underline her ambitions. And like Jesse Welles, she did not shy away from the politics of the moment.

Empathy is a surprisingly difficult thing to navigate—and Ellis makes a compelling case that it is something worth reflecting on. Another thing worth reflecting on: In her honor, I’ve renamed this category, which started as “Best YouTube Video,” “Best Online Video.” No reason we have to give a giant social network more press.