Mailbag: Your Website Is Ruining My Friend’s Life

Dillon Cheverere8 years ago

Because of the nature of how I earn a living, “what do you love most about your job?” is a question I’m asked frequently. Most would assume it’s the A-list fame or the vast fortune, or a combo of the two. I do enjoy the fan run-ins and photo requests, truly, but what I love most about this gig is touching the lives of America’s youth. I’ll be walking down the aisle of my neighborhood grocery store and see a gaggle of high schoolers in tube socks and New Balances, stuffing six-packs of Natty tallboys into their JanSports, and I can’t help but say to myself, “I influenced this.” Like a new father holding his son for the first time, it brings me great pride.

Take young Dimitri here, for example, the subject of the below email. Before Dimitri was introduced to TotalFratMove.com, he was probably just another misguided youth with a grim future ahead — no friends, no aspirations, no role models. Just miserably coasting through life on his longboard, hoping to “accidentally” veer off a cliff and end it all.

Dimitri’s friend, whose first name I will omit because it’s unique and could reveal his identity, reached out to our staff, seeking help. In an email with the subject line “You guys are going to be the death of my roommate,” Dimitri’s buddy explains to us that this website has affected Dimitri greatly, and for the worse. He basically claims we are ruining his life.

That email, the subject of this week’s Mailbag, is below.

You guys are going to be the death of my roommate

Hey guys at TFM,

I get you guys are trying to run a cool blog and all but while some people can look at the articles on your website and say something like “oh thats interesting, Im going to go do something else now,” certain other people will not think this, these people will be heavily influenced by your content and it will lead them to make irrational decisions.

An example of this type of person is my roommate, Dimitri. He sees stuff on your site all of a sudden his life revolves around what is “Frat” and what is not. This mentality that he has developed is absolutely detrimental to his character, it has negatively affected his grades to the point where he can’t join greek life however he proceeds to live his life according to whats “frat” and what isn’t. This includes but isn’t limited to: blind support for donald trump, trying to become an alcoholic, vandalizing things, not missing a tailgate, not giving a single fuck about getting schoolwork done (usually just ends up copying off someone else), and intense passion for the confederate flag along with some mild racism and allot of intolerance.

Im not here to criticize your site but its pretty apparent that it has not done well for my friend and in 4 years i don’t think he’s going to be in a very good place if he continues on this path. I have no idea what to do about him as I’m leaving school in the spring but he is my friend despite the dumb shit he does.

Anyways I was wondering if you guys could like shoot him an email or something his email is: [email address redacted], I figure if anyone can get him to understand he’s living a lie it would be a site like yours which influences him so heavily. Thank you for your understanding and just to reiterate: I don’t think bad things about your site i just think its bad for my roommate.

Best,

[name redacted]

I emailed Dimitri.

Remove the poison from your life, D..