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Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

theguardian.com

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Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#91

Post by cwillu »

gowld wrote: post #76
cwillu wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Filming porn isn't prostitution nor a sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense. Hope this helps.

The area seems greyer when, as happens in some operations, one person A is getting paid to have sex, and the other person B having the sex is paying person A, even if B is filming the sex and selling the video.

If they wanted to make that point, then they should have made that point instead of quoting a snippet of legislation of dubious relevance to an article that devoted more lines to chess influencers, fashion influencers, and musicians, than porn stars.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#92

Post by gowld »

jjmarr wrote: post #19
areoform wrote: post #9

Such articles are interesting because they're tacit disapproval, but I would argue that this use of the O-1 is the most American way to use it. There's a reason why Hollywood became the Earth's center of cultural gravity post-WW2, https://goldenglobes.com/articles/exiles-and-emigres-hollywo... You may argue that these people aren't of such import, but I would beg to differ. This is the future of culture. These people…

If one of America's main exports is culture, why would you ban factor inputs? They're also not fungible and extremely mobile. People get attached to specific OF stars and the medium inherently requires remote work. So it's an inherently global labour force that protectionism won't help. American OF models won't magically make more money if you ban immigration unless you also ban cultural imports. The government isn't…

This seems more like importing culture. These content creators aren't coming to work or American creators, they are coming to America to create their content for American audiences or using American resources.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#93

Post by jama211 »

shagie wrote: post #38
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

It's the difference in difficulty for the criteria. https://www.pathlawgroup.com/o1b-visa-requirements/ For all other candidates, at least three of the following criteria must be met in order to qualify for the O1B visa: Having been or will be performing a lead or starring role in productions or events which have a distinguished national or international reputation (as evidenced by critical reviews, advertisements, p…

A lot of youtube influencers are damn good at entertainment though, and a lot of “traditional media” entertainers are truely horrid. Ever seen a reality tv show? lol

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#94

Post by lo_zamoyski »

drdaeman wrote: post #66
password54321 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...I get this is HN but come on. It is just modern day JasminCam for lonely men that are being exploited through parasocial relationships. It is the opposite of productive. You just have society feeding on itself.

> exploited Isn’t that a derogatory stereotype? Aren’t those men (and women and other folks) as “exploited” as a reader of a book or a player of a game, who understands they’re about to be a part of a fantasy but willingly suspend the disbelief for a short while? It’s only exploitation if this suspension of disbelief is artificially prolonged in nefarious way, with a self-reinforcing fantasy so the person loses touch…

It should be stigmatized.

Consent does not bless immoral acts or neutralize damage. A person who takes a drug voluntarily is still being harmed by it. It causes changes in the consumer whether he likes it or not. Causality does not care about your consent.

(And to address your analogy to books, the content of a work of fiction also matters. Reading bad books isn't good for your mind either. But literary fiction at least has the potential to be good. The genre isn't categorically bad.)

And porn is addictive. Porn addiction is extremely widespread and afflicts mostly young men. Porn's ubiquity and the easy with which it can be accessed has created a situation that did not exist before, and from a young age. And not only is it addictive, but it does real psychological damage to these consumers, creating what some call "porn brain". It is an excellent method for producing sexually-crippled creeps and incels unable - and even uninterested, given the nature of their "fantasy" - to have healthy relationships with real human beings, and the stats corroborate this.

It is an incredibly twisted and deranging vice. It destroys individuals and has a destructive impact on society as a whole.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#95

Post by ixtli »

darth_avocado wrote: post #13
areoform wrote: post #9

Such articles are interesting because they're tacit disapproval, but I would argue that this use of the O-1 is the most American way to use it. There's a reason why Hollywood became the Earth's center of cultural gravity post-WW2, https://goldenglobes.com/articles/exiles-and-emigres-hollywo... You may argue that these people aren't of such import, but I would beg to differ. This is the future of culture. These people…

I have no judgement on these models. Everyone can make money through legal means as they deem fit. But at the same time, the immigration system historically penalized anyone who engages in prostitution and actively denied entry to people found to be engaged in it. There is an explicit question about this in all immigration forms. Which is why it’s surprising that O-1 visas are being awarded to OnlyFans models. Maybe…

Idk if you mean it literally but conflating the sort of prostitution they ask about on immigration forms with taking naked pictures of yourself seems very wrong.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#96

Post by randycupertino »

shagie wrote: post #38
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

It's the difference in difficulty for the criteria. https://www.pathlawgroup.com/o1b-visa-requirements/ For all other candidates, at least three of the following criteria must be met in order to qualify for the O1B visa: Having been or will be performing a lead or starring role in productions or events which have a distinguished national or international reputation (as evidenced by critical reviews, advertisements, p…

There's a boy band, Boy Throb who specifically leveraged visa application in their recent content, and their immigration attorney advised the visa would be approved when they got 1,000,000 followers. They filmed themselves singing and dancing outside the US Immigration office to help one of their members applications.

Their visa application content is rather silly/absurd:

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7572273147743980831

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7567806911580622110

https://www.tiktok.com/@boy.throb/video/7584876341267270943

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#97

Post by aforwardslash »

areoform wrote: post #9

Such articles are interesting because they're tacit disapproval, but I would argue that this use of the O-1 is the most American way to use it. There's a reason why Hollywood became the Earth's center of cultural gravity post-WW2, https://goldenglobes.com/articles/exiles-and-emigres-hollywo... You may argue that these people aren't of such import, but I would beg to differ. This is the future of culture. These people…

> why Hollywood became the Earth's center of cultural gravity post-WW2

The reason why Hollywood even exists is because it was a way of escaping the enforcement of patents and royalties. And it is easy being the cultural center of the western world when everything other cultural-relevant city in the western hemisphere is somewhat in ruins. Other than that, the lettering is a racist monument of a bygone era.

> You may argue that these people aren't of such import, but I would beg to differ

I'm not a US citizen, but lets face it - there is some irony in seeing some scientists fleeing for abroad offers, some probably deported, and having influencers or glorified strippers benefiting from some ill-thought program.

> These people shape the culture that the young people around you consume.

Do you have kids? I do. People don't give 2 f** about Hollywood or their "stars". Maybe in america. We have our own clowns here, and 15 minutes of fame doesn't require being predated on by some director (thankfully). My daughter couldn't name a single actor even if she wanted to - because movies are (mostly) dead, and series are a commodity. And I'm not saying this as some weirdo who doesn't own a TV or something - we have Disney, SkyShowTime, HBO, Amazon, etc. Its just "kids dont care about that anymore".

> They create the memes of six-seven-ification So, do you know what that means exactly? Are you a Skrilla’s fan? Just asking, because from the tone of your response, you seem to have no idea of the meaning - just like kids saying "theez nuts" or whatever.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#98

Post by tartoran »

gowld wrote: post #88
ericmcer wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Influencers as the future of culture is not great. Hollywood had a ton of issues but it at least had some... class? If you watch an interview with Mr. Beast or other famous influencers they are concerningly ignorant, have little self-awareness and a child-like approach to reality. It makes total sense given these are teenagers who were lauded with fame for entertaining other teenagers on social media. I watched the M…

> Hollywood had a ton of issues but it at least had some... class? Hollywood took a bribe from the tobacco industry to make smoking "cool" and infect our nation with cigarettes. > have little self-awareness https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mpUxn7NybY : "A big opportunity for us is that there are no gatekeepers. There's no one I have to convince to let me do things." :-)

> Hollywood took a bribe from the tobacco industry to make smoking "cool" and infect our nation with cigarettes.

I think the whole world took up smoking because of Hollywood.

Re: Influencers and OnlyFans models are dominating U.S. O-1 visa requests

#99

Post by inanutshellus »

volkk wrote: post #53
superfrank wrote: post #10

It's funny, early on it says > The O-1 category includes the O-1A, which is designated for individuals with extraordinary ability in the sciences, education, business or athletics and the O-1B, reserved for those with “extraordinary ability or achievement”. Then later it says > The O-1B visa, once reserved for Hollywood titans and superstar musicians, has evolved over the years. I understand those two aren't necessar…

At what point do we ever ask ourselves -- "what kind of culture do we want to create for the future of our country?" I don't think a pro soccer player is comparable to an onlyfans contributor. I would much prefer my future kids to be inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo than someone baring themselves on camera.

The other replies to this show a form of argumentation that's always fascinated me.

You say "We should encourage X over Y" and the retorts are

    * "Y will still exist" 
    * "Y can still be encouraged separately"
    * "You should tell me the difference between X and Y"
    * "Hey, I found an X that sometimes acts vaguely similar to Y!"
None directly disagree with the original point, but they do imply fault in the original reasoning without providing any proof or requiring any effort.

The third one is a classic, the straw man. A concise implication of error in which a good-faith response would be long-winded and boring comparatively.

To what end?

What are they hoping to get out of disagreeing with someone trying to encouraging our future culture to be one of relative wholesomeness?

... Why take the time out of one's day to say "well... encouraging X is great and all but you know what's better? passive-aggressively working against anyone that suggests it."?

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