#WeLoveHaiper sending haiper so much love, being forced to open up about something so personal and private is just incredibly cruel.
it's so upsetting to see someone getting threatened and attacked like this over changing their beliefs and growing as a person. hope he's safe❤️🩹
Just learned about what happened with an Arabic creator on QSMP and I've seen people respond to this as if it's representative of Arabic creators in general. It isn't, and I want to say that as someone who has operated in both communities for years and *is* affected by the slurs and comments made by him;
What he did was wrong. There's no justification for it and there's no version of it where it would be okay, I'm not here to soften that, it's pretty straightforward.
There is a discussion to be had about two framings I've seen all over my timeline when I logged on though;
The first is that "This is just how Arabic creators behave in English spaces". It isn't. I've spent years around Arabic creators at every level of the creator space, big and small, and the ones who've put in the time to be in English spaces know exactly where the line is.
He crossed a line that most of his peers wouldn't ever cross, and treating him as the rule rather than the exception is unfair to every Arabic creator who put in a lot of work and effort to understand and respect the English spaces better and there are Arabic creators on QSMP right now doing exactly that! (some of whom I've known personally for years, and I can't express enough how respectful and understanding they are when it comes to this)
The second is the opposite framing, and that is "What he said reflects 'Arabic culture' and there's nothing to be done about it". I don't accept that either.
I was raised religious, and I still am although privately. I was also taught attitudes about other groups that I later had to unlearn and unlearning them was a choice *I* made by actually talking to the people I'd been raised to look down on, and while I've felt the weight of that decision in very public ways, it only ended up reinforcing to me why we have to keep pushing for dignity over division.
This isn't exclusive to me; If other Arabic creators could do it, so can he. An explanation is not justification. Our religion teaches us to treat others with dignity, and not look down on people... Anyone raised in an Arabic/Muslim household heard those lessons more than once..
Differences in beliefs doesn't absolve us of our obligation to treat people with dignity. I've been saying it for years to my Arabic and English communities and I will continue to say it for everyone to hear: We should treat people with respect regardless of their religion, sexual orientation, or beliefs, even when we don't share them.
I'm very disappointed in anyone who uses culture or religion as an excuse for stuff like this. I'm not interested in hating on him nor am I interested in defending him. I'm interested in the part people keep skipping; he is capable of being better, and he could've been. The path of being better is one many others including myself have already walked.
QSMP, from my understanding, exists to put everyone from around the world in the same room who otherwise wouldn't be, that only works if we're willing to hold everyone around us to the standard we're asking others to meet and I believe he should've educated himself before seeking support from people he inevitably would've wronged whether intentional or not.
Hold people accountable, educate where possible, and leave room for growth when you know it's genuine. Whether you're a creator speaking to your community or a community speaking to a creator, we can all make the space better!
One last thing I wanna say about this before moving on;
*Some* Arabic YouTubers are attacking Haiper now and this isn't the first time something like this happens in the Arabic creator space.
I see people are already sharing stories/statements by other Arabic YouTubers about Haiper and I wanna touch on them real quick
I don't want to make this about myself so please direct any support you'd wanna give me to Haiper, he needs it the most right now and I've long dealt with this situation and don't want to get back into it nor do I want any petty for it, I appreciate you all but I truly just want to give you guys the full picture as someone who experienced this first hand,
If you knew me for a while you know I've openly supported everyone, no matter your background, no matter your religion or whatever it may be, both on my English and Arabic channels, and believe it or not, that actually upset some people,
It upset them so much that they made a SERIES of videos 'exposing' me for supporting certain groups and communities, they amassed over a million views total, I received an atrocious amount of hate, so much hate that I was contacted by my government about it for my protection, the hate was so bad it made me potentially eligible for certain protections while in the USA because of the harm that could be done to me if I ever went back to Egypt. All of that just for *associating with* people who are different than where I came from and it only served to open my eyes more and more and take a stronger stance against this hatred that is literally discouraged and frowned upon in our religion.
Needless to say I took legal action, most of those videos were taken down, some of the cases are still ongoing along with the hate which is why I'm being a bit vague about some details, might share more later when I'm able to, but the reason I'm telling you all this is not to focus on me, it's because Haiper needs you more than ever right now, I don't know if you realize it or not but he stopped associating with a bunch of those people that he used to be friends with after growing and learning, now they're being bigots towards him because he publicly and openly stated his opinions, he knew this was gonna happen, but he still did it to be open with you guys and I know the feeling all too well, he did what I couldn't do but wanted to.
He cares about you more than you could ever know. And I'm here saying this not only because he's my friend, not only because I'm proud as fuck of him, not only because I feel bad about how he does not deserve any of this, but also because he was the ONLY Arabic creator that reached out and stood by me when this happened and I'll never forget that.
Most were scared to even associate with me because of how it could damage their reputation, but Haiper? He could care less about that. He still reached out, we still did content together, we still grew together and we stayed friends and it only strengthened our relationship further, he is one of the most genuine people out there that aren't scared to put their heart out and speak their mind. Haiper has taken a step that can't be undone, I have so much respect for him on levels I cannot put into words, please be kind to him and support him during this time, thank you for being wonderful as always💙
So I don't know what this message is. But since it seems like he was able to dig up dirt from years before i even knew him and is threatening to "expose" me.. I want to get ahead of this.
2 years might not seem like a long time, but here is what happened since then:
•I left the religion and community I grew up in, and moved out alone basically starting a new life
•I cut off my entire old social circle because i didnt agree with the way they talk anymore
•i met new people from different cultures which helped me develop new beliefs and ways of thinking
•as a result, i now talk to none of the people i used to talk to back then, and i disagree with everything i stood for back then. I also did cut off a LOT of people from my life because of their use of slurs
This person knows this, and he knows my current beliefs and standards are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, yet he is digging up old stuff maliciously.
Like I said idk what the message could be about, i dont recall myself being the type of person who would say a racial slur like that. But if it ended up being a slip-up i made 2 years ago that he nitpicked specifically for defamation, i would like to apologize sincerely.
I was in a bad friend group back then, and I did have some messed up beliefs so I really don't know what i could've said and in what context.
I will make an effort to be more public about my current beliefs and views from now on