By now, almost everyone has heard about the scandal surrounding the video that YouTuber Logan Paul filmed in Aokigahara, oftentimes described as Japan's "suicide forest." In case the name doesn't give it away, Aokigahara is known for the high number of attempted or completed suicides that occur within its parameters each year. And it was Logan Paul's intention to film a video supposedly about the haunted aspect of the forest—certainly, he did not go out looking for a dead body. But his reaction to finding one was unacceptable.

I did not watch the video myself; I did not get the chance to do so before it was taken down, nor would I have wanted to, but I have read the transcript of the video. During the video, Logan Paul and his friends came across a man who had evidently hung himself. His hands were purple, which led Paul to the conclusion that he had committed suicide fairly recently, maybe even this morning. In the video he appeared shocked upon finding the body. But instead of treating it with the respect it deserves—instead of treating the subject matter with the respect it deserves—he laughed and made jokes. He teased one of his friends by mockingly asking if he'd ever stood next to a dead body before. He then made the exceptionally poor decision to post his video on his YouTube channel, which has well over 15 million subscribers currently. Many of his subscribers are young, in the range of middle school and early high school, an age group that is at high risk for emotional disturbance, especially depression.

Essentially, in making and posting the video, Paul told all of those young viewers that mental illness is a joke. That suicide is funny. That feeling depressed to the point of wanting to kill oneself is laughable. Not only did he dehumanize the specific suicide victim he stood next to, he isolated and dehumanized anyone who might also be feeling that way, by dismissing it with comedy. "What, you've never stood next to a dead guy?" he quips, after one of his friends acknowledges that he doesn't feel good.

However, it only gets worse from there—after receiving justified backlash for the video, Logan Paul posted an "apology" on Twitter. However, within his so-called apology, he not only brags about how he "get[s] views," he attempts to justify his actions by saying that he did it to "raise awareness for suicide and suicide prevention." He continues by describing how he has made videos every day for over a year. He then writes how it's understandable "that it's easy to get caught up in the moment without fully weighing the possible ramifications." He finishes off the entire apology by tagging it with his promotional hashtag, #Logang4Life.

At least for me, the entire apology seemed fake. It reminded me of those apologies people give in the heat of the moment that attempt to put the blame on the victim—apologies like "I'm sorry you misinterpreted my actions." His actions did not raise positive suicide awareness in any sense of the word. He laughed at a suicide victim. He also appealed to the emotions of his viewers, asking that they "understand" the apparent stress he's under from constantly making videos. While having a high-stress job can definitely increase the likelihood for poor decision making, it does not excuse his actions in any sense of the word, and his appeal came off as prideful and dismissive of his actions as opposed to looking for understanding of why he made this horrible decision.

Afterward, he posted a second video apology on YouTube, maybe as a result of the second round of backlash against his Twitter apology. At least in my opinion, the video appeared far more heartfelt than the Tweet. He did not attempt to justify his actions; instead, he wholeheartedly acknowledged where he had failed and even called on his subscribers to stop defending him. Afterward, he posted on Twitter that he was taking a break from making vlogs.

While Logan Paul seems to have grasped the full atrocity of his actions, the damage is done: Millions saw the video, many of them most likely his young viewers, and his apology video's comments are full of middle-schoolers attempting to defend his action and offer forgiveness, proving that they have not grasped the severity of the situation. The suicide victim was still mocked and shamed, and millions of people watched a YouTube star laugh in the face of mental illness. Suicide awareness is incredibly important, and Logan Paul's idea of raising "awareness" was pathetic and counterproductive. I only hope that all those who watched the video, all those who have heard about, all those who have experienced mental illness whether in their own lives or in the lives of their loved ones, can realize that mental illness is not a joke. Suicide is not a joke, no matter what Logan Paul's reaction might suggest.