Earlier this year, a video on the YouTube channel Arlette Amuli was posted of a group of women vying for one man’s attention. The series is called “Pop the Ballon or Find Love.” If the individual or the group members themselves pop their balloons, it eliminates those specific people from the game. If there is a balloon remaining, then a match is made. This particular episode stirred up some controversy because of the way the man and the women reacted negatively to one another. While there were memes and laughs to go around, this type of content is problematic. Even though it’s been recently deemed as “humiliation content,” this trend of embarrassing and belittling others is not new to the black community.

The History

Humiliation content stems from games such as Truth or Dare (1930s) and F*ck, Marry, Kill (2000s). Smash or Pass is its closest relative, a game emerging around 2010 where people scrutinized images of other people based on their appearances. The “judges” would choose whether they would smash (have sex with) or pass (not have sex with) the other people. It started out on Internet forums and eventually gained traction on YouTube when big creators on the platform started to participate in it. It eventually fell from popularity, but its concept re-emerged in speed dating games such as Pop the Balloon.

Why It’s Problematic

If you look at the most popular speed dating videos, you’ll see that Black people are the main participants. This is detrimental to not only these participants but to the black community as a whole. Both parties are guaranteed to be embarrassed and/or rejected because of the way each chooses to respond. These responses are susceptible to falsification because the videos are shared across social media, essentially rewarding the participants with internet fame if they assume unbelievable personalities or caricatures of themselves. As a result, it perpetuates stereotypes of Black women being shallow, gold diggers and Black men being ignorant and hyper-sexual.

These types of games are also unhealthy for the mental health of the participants. Rejection is a powerful, yet normal phenomenon in life. But recording it for the entire world to see online is not. Instead of the rejection being between the involved parties, it’s immortalized on the internet and prolongs the embarrassment for an indefinite period of time.  

Takeaway

We need to stop participating in and promoting this humiliation content. It is not a good look nor is it morally right. It may be entertaining for some, but it’s harmful to the image and feelings of the rejected parties as well as the image of the Black community.