Yesterday was bit surreal for me.
Although I knew Phil has always been a scammer, for me, hours upon hours of listening to detractor videos where you keep hearing Phil begging for money so he can pay his taxes and not lose his house has a definitive psychological impact. Although I've never believed his whole shtick with the taxes, after hearing the same story over and over again, you start to believe it a little bit. You start giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Then, the whole "I got married snort" saga was unveiled. And I felt like I got gaslighted. I felt... cheated almost because as much as the guy repulses me (and amuses me at the same time), I felt that he really bullshitted me. I felt he really played us all for fools and demonstrated, once again, that he can never be trusted. He showed his true colors here that Phil will never be honest. He will never act in good faith. And there is only one person that matters to him: himself. Nobody else.
The most annoying part? That there will be no consequences. At the end of the day (and I don't like to admit this), Phil still has an audience and is able to make a living off it. But if I was a true and genuine fan, I wouldn't be happy. I'd feel that 1) I was not important enough for him to be truthful with someone who's supporting him financially, 2) that, ultimately, my opinion means shit, and 3) that I'm simply a means to an end.
But then I remind myself of people like superblindman, planetjeff, JonCTheCuck, da_whopper, and MissSwagginz... these people all suffer from the battered wife syndrome and would never dare complain that they felt cheated and gaslighted.
This is a reminder that the world is unfair and that awful, terrible human beings do prosper and have good things happen to them.