There is so much going on behind the facade of the world we see around ourselves. You have already got yourself in massive trouble if you genuinely believe our TV screens, and if you think those news channels reveal all the truth out there – things here, in our world, don’t work like that. Thanks to trailblazers like Jake Tran, who use platforms like YouTube and TikTok to highlight and uncover what’s concealed from our eyes.
Jake Tran was born in 1998 in the historic city of Ho Chi Minh, now named Saigon. Due to a lack of opportunities and financial struggles, Jake’s family, in search of a better life, migrated to the United States where they settled in Orange County, California before subsequently moving to Arizona. Jake was two years old at the time.
Jake’s interaction with the internet came early, at around the age of 10, and it was not a typical interaction; he wasn’t used to playing games but surprisingly, he would simply go on eBay to sell a toy of his own and exchange it for either another toy or cash.
Growing up, his interest in the internet grew to the level that he explored every corner of it and eventually, stuck on YouTube Channel. Impressed with the space the platform provided for creativity and especially influenced by the content creation of Linus Tech Tips and Marques Brownlee, Jake started his own Taekwondo-centered channel, Iron Wood Productions, in 2015. However, he didn’t get a large audience.
But going down the road, he studied the tactics of other famous YouTubers and learned some strategies by himself. He then came back to YouTube with a self-named channel, and never looked back.
Today, he uses his YouTube channel to share interesting content surrounding the dark side of the business, politics, and other various topics. His video essays have got millions of views and his channel has now almost 1.3M subscribers.
Many of his creatively-made videos focus on the notorious side of the education sector as well; consider one of his videos titled College: The Profitable Business of Enslaving Students. In this video, he talks about how colleges are merely money-minting enterprises and not a home to gain intellectual knowledge. His videos on the topic of war and armament are quite informative and terrifying simultaneously.
The truth is, we all, at some point, get frustrated sticking our eyes on TV screens only to consume lies after lies from the authority figures, all the while truth is barred behind the bars. But only a few of us dare to speak up about matters that powers-that-be don’t want us to. Jake Tran is one of them, and that’s why he is a trailblazing figure and a hope for many around the world.