OnlyIcedCoffee actually was the first tipper of the night and was on the leaderboard already when that John Mcclane person tipped, so he did tip before his follow-up tip about Jasper:
Ah, I missed that one... damn.
You've got to make that next video...
But that being said, we have to consider it from the opposing side - we're
not in the cult. Think about all the cults in history and they've all been pretty obviously whacked out. I like to think of that Simpsons episode, but I guess the easier point of reference is something like Scientology. The world openly rejects it as insane, 5 minutes of research will turn up information about incidents that anyone would find suspect and deplorable, the monetary aspects are very obviously a money pit, and their basic practices are meme levels of textbook cult tactics. Despite this, they have no problem attracting plenty of idiots, including people who were wealthy, successful, and didn't have any need for their 'help'. They're in so deep that even when they're being flatly abused, they still need to be deprogrammed to prevent them from running back. It's hard to grasp how someone can get that lost.
"Normal" people can't understand how anyone could fall for or believe any of this, but there are always people who do. As Phil has declined, got weirder and his lies got sloppier, he has had to purge tons of regulars who started to ask questions - consider how many used to watch him the last time he was on YT. We really are left with the Jonestown diehards now. They might all be sticking with Phil for their own reasons - they genuinely believe him, they just hate the detractors, sunk cost, they fear losing the community... but they're the mentally broken ones. They absolutely see we're right - Phil is banning basic math in the fucking chat and they all know not to speak of it. Basic numbers now prove Phil is running a scam. They just willfully
choose not to care.
That Madara stream was some underrated insight. He couldn't rebuke the idea that Phil was lying about money and scamming, he just said he didn't give him money and he 'didn't care'. He genuinely couldn't accept the idea that people would have a problem with this, and he couldn't provide a clear reason why he was still there. Then the other day, Phil scolded the chat for giving mods a hard time. Until he realized the person giving Madara a hard time was Dovic, and he got pissed they banned Dovic and told the mods they needed to take criticism - the same kind you aren't allowed to levy at Phil. Madara backed down and said he banned Dovic 'by accident'. It was not by accident, he clearly did it because Dovic called him a shit mod. So he chooses to stick around to work under a known scammer who will immediately throw him under the bus for someone who gives him money.
And then there is Timbo. He gets into the inner circle just after a previous member was unpersoned and he doesn't see any issues. Then OiC appears to directly and personally threaten him, and Timbo leaves and announces that he has issues with the ethics of his new position. Phil
mods the person who threatened him... and Timbo then returns. Who does that? It's not like the situation improved, it actually got worse and the person he was afraid of was granted power. Even if he felt the modship would placate OiC so he didn't dox people, you're still sitting next to someone who acted like a lunatic until they got what they wanted. Then Timbo enforces bans for anyone who expresses the same concerns he did while he gives Phil money. And these are Phil's closest, hand-picked 'allies'.
There's no reasoning here - it's braindead following. We can look at how a cult attracts and retains followers, but we'll never be able to completely understand the followers' thought process because they have clearly suppressed it.
