Hasan Piker: A swashbuckling Bromance
Added 2024-03-11 07:53:18 +0000 UTCAvast Ye Harties!
Yar! This week be the inaugural episode of a New Streamer/Academic Guru season. Join us as we kick things off with a bang and set out for adventure with the famous and controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. Formerly of the Young Turks, Hasan is a popular left-wing commentator and is argued to represent a new wave of political communicators who leverage social media and live streaming to reach audiences, particularly disengaged younger viewers.
But how does he fare in these Decoding Waters?
We take a look at his recent interview with Rashed Al-Haddad, a dashing Yemeni teenager (nicknamed Tim Houthi Chalamet) who recently happened to find himself on an international transport ship hijacked by Houthi militants. But don't worry! Hasan addresses this sensitive topic and the complex geopolitical issues involved with due diligence and care. Not to mention that Rashed helpfully reports that all of the kidnapped crew are having a grand old time in Yemen! They are just vibing, chewing khat, and have fully converted to the honourable Houthi perspective.
The Houthi official slogan, "God is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A Curse Upon the Jews, Victory to Islam", or the reports of severe human rights abuses in their territory, might still give you some pause... but as Hasan explains -drawing on his deep political and psychological insight- the Houthis are just like the heroic Straw Hat pirates in the popular anime One Piece!
So with all that settled, we can focus on the more important questions like; what videogames Rashed likes, has he ever heard of Mr. Beast, whether he has eaten 'Western' food, what cartoons he watched when growing up, and whether there are KFCs in Yemen? Truly this is a conversation for the ages and Hasan is just the man for the job.
So join us for this week's episode where we consider whether combining influencer culture with political analysis is a good move and if there are any possible contradictions or ideological skews in Hasan's content.
Links
- Hasan Interviews Viral 'Hot Yemeni TikTok Pirate' | Hasanabi Reacts
- Atlantic article about the Houthis and the situation in Yemen
- AP article on the crew of the hijacked 'Galaxy Leader' ship and their ability to contact their families
- Amnesty article on Houthi sentencing of stoning and crucifixion for crimes of homosexuality
- Human Rights Watch article on Houthi recruitment of child soldiers
- Willy Mac 'drama' YouTuber collated episodes on Hasan (part 1 and part 2)
Comments
This was the first time I've had to mute the guru during the excerpts. What young woman would have anything to do with someone consuming this sh**.
JustMe
2024-04-29 19:48:31 +0000 UTCThere was a young Canadian I followed on Discord during the 'trucker' occupation of Ottawa. He was some species of marxist and, I thought, pretty good. I can't remember his name now.
Sonje Finnestad
2024-03-19 03:19:17 +0000 UTCHe's as vapid as the red scale girls, with less to say honestly.
Anonymous ethicist, not a serial killer at all, just asking questions.
2024-03-18 18:38:14 +0000 UTCThis was the dumbest content you've covered.
Daniel
2024-03-17 04:58:09 +0000 UTCYeah that’s all fair. I just am hesitant to give streamers a pass for being obnoxious given that many seem to be extremely successful without engaging in manipulative behaviour and throwing tantrums.
Christopher Kavanagh
2024-03-15 07:17:53 +0000 UTCAbsolutely, there are popular streamers that don't behave like Hasan, and they attract audiences that like them for that reason. My point was that Hasan is far from the only streamer to yell a lot, and that's a feature not a bug for much of his audience. As to how much of it is his personality, and how much is a skill/character he's cultivated? I'm sure it's a combination of the two.
Ben Godek
2024-03-14 17:04:48 +0000 UTCEnjoyed myself, but- as far as I know there’s no evidence the kid was involved in the hijacking right? He could have just taken a boat out to see the ship after the fact? Feel like that’s probably what happened
Ryan Nesselrodt
2024-03-14 14:52:53 +0000 UTCThis is... wow. Couldn't but laugh in abject horror. Not so sure whether this is a pathology of "leftism" so much as American exceptionalism and vapid celebrity culture. It's still interesting that this male model influencer brand of anti-imperialism reproduces a caricature of the colonial mindset it supposedly opposes. And consumerism... don't get me started! Not that different from the previous supplementary material's bit on performative irony in advertising: a safe performance of rebellion is fully included and contained in the production of what is being rebelled against. Along these lines, there's something to be said for how Amazon's service, of all places, wouldn't main stage thoughtful political opposition over a clown. The media form itself guarantees an industrial production of ignorant producers and consumers. The revolution comes in a six-month subscription. That's something like a leftist response to Hasan: he's not even a believable forgery of a real person.
Exai
2024-03-14 14:52:16 +0000 UTCYeah, you’re probably right! My perhaps narrow impression has been the show and its audience bends slightly left while rooting itself in the center.
Sean Doody
2024-03-13 22:59:10 +0000 UTCI'm sure there are a few of us here on the 'far left'.
Sonje Finnestad
2024-03-13 22:44:32 +0000 UTCI made it to the end. If this effing guy should effing decide to exercise his effing right to reply, I'm gonna effing skip the effing episode you'll effing have to do with him to live up to your own effing standards! It's sad to think that he's not playing a role. He really trained his brain into being that person he appears to be.
Roland Weber
2024-03-13 18:19:51 +0000 UTCThis episode made me pretty sad because the pirate kid seemed very naive and clueless about the real danger he is in. Hasan trivialized the situation with his inane questions all the while boosting his own ego and giving him the opportunity to play soldier from the safety of his mansion. I know the kid is technically an adult, but his actions could very well get him killed. Hasan could have counseled him as an older male to consider what he is doing. I realize the kid wouldn’t change and probably can’t do anything at this point, but it would have been more responsible of Hasan than exploiting him for his own fame.
Linda Sears
2024-03-13 14:32:50 +0000 UTCTwitch is used by musicians for live or prerecorded sets.
Shifty Comfort
2024-03-13 14:12:30 +0000 UTCYes! I’d love to see you guys cover Ben Burgis!
Sean Doody
2024-03-13 13:00:14 +0000 UTCLeftists deserve and I believe have much better representatives!
Christopher Kavanagh
2024-03-13 12:58:41 +0000 UTCAs perhaps your farthest left listener, I really appreciated this episode. Please continue to explore the tankie sphere in the “Breadtube” space and beyond. It really is a dehydrated worldview that can hardly do more than vilify the West. I was aware of Hasan, but not an avid listener. The invectives and abuse he spews at dissenting opinions in his chat is unreal and extremely reactionary.
Sean Doody
2024-03-13 12:57:45 +0000 UTCI’m cancelling Matt for that. Unforgivable comment lol!
SHOUNAK SARKAR
2024-03-13 11:18:21 +0000 UTCLove you guys but gosh 30 minutes in and I can’t take it anymore lol 😂! What a cocky, profane, vulgar, despicable, low IQ tankie nitwit. He really is like a Rush Limbaugh of the far-left! I will even take the Red Scare Hosts’ stoned way of speaking over this shouty, annoying little prick haha!! Forget his politics, his vocal delivery and presentation alone is like nails on a chalkboard. Btw as another poster said above, this guy is an indictment on the streaming world rather than leftist politics at large. So many thoughtful and intelligent leftists out there like the late Michael Brooks, Richard Wolf, Amartya Sen & Ben Burgiss etc, even though I may disagree with their policy prescriptions.
SHOUNAK SARKAR
2024-03-13 09:17:01 +0000 UTCTBF it is not a part of the more reasonable streamers content. Imagine someone like CDawgVA behaving like Hasan... they both stream for long periods, both are young guys, play frustrating games, have big personalities, so why are there no comparable compilations of someone like Connor freaking out?
Christopher Kavanagh
2024-03-13 02:49:34 +0000 UTCI've watched some other Twitch streamers, and aggressive engagement with chat is a pretty common part of that culture. It's very common for video game streamers to yell if someone criticizes how they're playing for example. I'd assume it's sort of "character" that people put on when streaming to at least fill time and keep energy up when they're streaming for hours on end.
Ben Godek
2024-03-13 02:40:47 +0000 UTCLike many here… bailing (first time ever) after 49 minutes. Love the podcast and hosts. But my god - I why am I giving space to Hassan WhateverHisName in my mind.
James Huth
2024-03-13 00:43:35 +0000 UTCGod! This gave me such a whiplash after the Sean Carrol episode. I find it amusing how Piker keeps failing at framing this kid through the lens of his terminally online American influencer politics. It's so irresponsible. I think his followers want to reimagine all the complex and vastly different geopolitical conflicts as a variation of their Twitch subscription-themed "struggle" without noticing how everything is getting distorted through that myopic narrow lens. Imagine sitting in front of a screen all day, looking at Houthi rebels, and thinking "They're just like me FR"
Said Polat
2024-03-12 23:20:28 +0000 UTCI know it's the wrong podcast, but you don't have to give it to the Yemeni pirates...
Ben Childs
2024-03-12 20:20:38 +0000 UTCThat is depressing.
Linda Sears
2024-03-12 19:30:45 +0000 UTCI'm at 35 minutes and wishing for the Red Scare...
Roland Weber
2024-03-12 17:49:06 +0000 UTCSomehow Matt has the worst take out of all that fucking crazy talk. That was a rough listen but loved it. Mr. Bean not very good. Boo this man😂!!!
Floatgoat.
2024-03-12 17:01:31 +0000 UTCWhat I'm saying is hopefully not everyone on the 'left' is as mental as Hasan and his fanboys
Matt
2024-03-12 15:30:30 +0000 UTCTo be clear, I said that flippantly, but it looks like somehow 30% of his audience is over 30 (based on a story from Business Insider). So that’s a bit depressing.
Ben Godek
2024-03-12 15:30:20 +0000 UTCAre you familiar with Shaun? He's not really in the streamer crowd, cause he's not a complete sycophant, and tends to separate his game streaming from his more oblique political essays on youtube. I actually like Shaun, and think (think?) he might be a good pundit on the whole. But, he's definitely leftist, could be described as a guru in relation to his fanbase, and has been banned from twitter (for Queen-death related posts). Not dissimilar to Contrapoints really, so maybe you've covered that base already.
Matt
2024-03-12 15:29:51 +0000 UTCYes, it’s politics for 14 year olds
Ben Godek
2024-03-12 15:16:56 +0000 UTCDo you think it's reflective of younger leftists though? I have no idea what the relative influence of streamers is for people under 30.
Trees
2024-03-12 13:37:49 +0000 UTCI sure hope so. I’m a leftist, and I want nothing to do with his ideas.
Linda Sears
2024-03-12 13:03:48 +0000 UTCSpot on Paul!
Christopher Kavanagh
2024-03-12 12:48:49 +0000 UTCGod that was horrific. Just when I thought my opinion of Americans couldn't get any lower... (I'm talking about the size of Hasan's audience) His utter ignorance for anyone or anything outside of his narcissistic, ignorant bubble is breath-taking. I really don't know if anyone this ignorant or incurious could be said to have any real politics. Like, as an anarchist I have no love for tankies. But I see a difference between the ones I come across in trade union and community organising who, despite their shit politics on international affairs and reality-defying historical revisionism, still have to interact with ordinary workers and tenants, and have some interpersonal skills and ability to understand other life-experiences and outlooks. But these online tankies, like Hasan, only take on the performative anti-Americanism as a contrarian stance, with zero knowledge or empathy for the ordinary people who live in the same city as them, never mind halfway across the planet. Hasan got mad at a guy in the comments suggesting he needed to make more effort to understand the perspective of people "overseas" (iirc?), at which he responded with a "FU, I am from overseas" (or something). No Hasan. No you're not. I've probably spent more time in Turkey than you, and certainly with poorer people than your family there. Understanding the kind of tribal-patriarchal culture the Zaidis/Houthis come from (and many Kurds, Arabs and Turkomen, etc in the region) requires leaving your very specific cultural bubble and being able to interact with, and learn from, people from a very different lifeworld. Something Piker will never do, AFAICS
Paul Bowman
2024-03-12 12:39:57 +0000 UTCThat would be 'pikey', a slur against Irish travellers, but also used against Roma.
Matt
2024-03-12 10:42:57 +0000 UTCKeffals was a tankie... and seems like someone prone to feuds and drama. The streaming platforms don't seem like good places for political insight.
Christopher Kavanagh
2024-03-12 10:07:26 +0000 UTCWow, he's gone more down hill than I thought. I guess less quality makes more money.
Lys
2024-03-12 04:38:26 +0000 UTCOh my 😬🫣😑! I am only 12 or 15 mins into this episode and I’m trying to listen attentively, learn, not cringe or make “omg Alex jones is too loud” faces….shheeesssshhhhh
Dee the Lobsterdancing Bananaland Dinosaur Monster
2024-03-12 03:28:48 +0000 UTCI want an AI that just cuts him out of the episode.
Marcin Junczys-Dowmunt
2024-03-12 03:18:17 +0000 UTCTo be fair, I think Hasan being the most popular leftist streamer is more of an indictment of streaming than actual leftism.
Ben Godek
2024-03-12 02:04:13 +0000 UTCEducational but awful. Makes me miss the lolcows like Peterson.
Trees
2024-03-12 01:52:12 +0000 UTCWill still be better than the theoretical Destiny episode. Since that fanbase has more overlap, and you know he’s going to want to come on the show.
TheSoilWillSaveUs
2024-03-12 01:44:55 +0000 UTCI think the translator said it best; “I think this is just not interesting.” Short of being vulgar and downright nasty, words fail when it comes to describing Hasan. Amoral perhaps? Don’t know how you do it guys?!?
elcid
2024-03-12 00:15:49 +0000 UTCThis guy is definately difficult to listen to!
Amy S
2024-03-12 00:13:31 +0000 UTCKeffals is reasonable and not a tankie, however she doesn’t stream that much as others. Her yt videos are clickbaits tho, I prefer full streams
aneladgam_varelse
2024-03-11 23:43:10 +0000 UTCWhat I like about Hasan, despite being a hater: hogwatch. These are comedic segments in which Hasan watches right-wing tiktoks/youtubes and mimics Alex Jones voice and pattern of speech to make fun of them. Hasan dumbness makes this work.
aneladgam_varelse
2024-03-11 23:34:40 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this decoding, however for my taste it’s missing summary/synthesis at the end of ep. Pointing out cultishness or abusiveness of parasocial relationship with Hasan was good tho, it needs to be said. I find it interesting that you chose to decode this piece of content, not his solo segment of stream or more serious talk with Ethan Klein. It encompasses what’s wrong with Hassan’s politics and insights, but on the other hand Hasan has different - not more mature imo, rather more sinister and gaslighting - way of interacting with big players.
aneladgam_varelse
2024-03-11 23:18:37 +0000 UTCOh shit! Yep. You guys started with the Ukraine / Russia clips! Those are some good ones. Ugh. Why can't there be reasonable lefty streamers that dont fuck horses or are Tankies?
Josh Stuart
2024-03-11 22:36:30 +0000 UTCSecond episode I had to stop listening to. First one was the obnoxious guru who replied, but this is worse. Man, Pearl is like a nice person in comparison.
Marcin Junczys-Dowmunt
2024-03-11 22:31:56 +0000 UTCMr. Beast,Been,Bean etc. I don’t know,I’m so confused. Plus isn’t a “piker” some kind of British slur?
Rod Hodges
2024-03-11 22:20:22 +0000 UTCLooking forward to this Ep! I came across Hasan a couple years back and enjoyed hearing him shit on Elon and Rogan. I must admit I've never watched a whole stream, but did like the little youtube clips. But I stopped watching anything of his after hearing his takes on the Russian invasion; you can't claim to be a leftist and also obfuscate actual imperialism. And by the looks of things, he has completely jumped the shark since Oct 7th.
Josh Stuart
2024-03-11 22:08:57 +0000 UTCI had to give up. I just can't listen to that dude. The nature of the Twitch stream (I've never listened or seen it before....) not quite asynchronous, like a terrible combo of a monologue with live youtube comments section. He doesn't ever need to research anything he wants to talk about because he can rely on something coming in the comments that he can get angry about. The Red Scare duo at least had a childish idea of irony and maybe some tiny self awareness of how little they knew (it's not cool to research). I can even listen to Alex Jones occasionally as there's comedy in his bonkers stories. But this is just nihilistic anger with no coherence - and heaven help us there seems to be a huge audience for it!
Kit McLean
2024-03-11 20:02:16 +0000 UTCIt's so crazy to me how reflexively he just screams profane insults as soon as he sees or hears something he disagrees with. Is that a skill he's cultivated for some specific reason or is he actually just that unpleasant a person? Fascinating.
Hayden Setlik
2024-03-11 18:29:54 +0000 UTCThis guy.. quite something
Minotaurus Rex
2024-03-11 18:21:51 +0000 UTCOof
Minotaurus Rex
2024-03-11 17:22:52 +0000 UTCWhen this goes public, the flames of the Reddit thread will be seen from distant galaxies.
john statham
2024-03-11 16:50:15 +0000 UTCPirates, they’re just like us!
Jennifer Nelson
2024-03-11 15:54:18 +0000 UTCI was surprised he never said “but enough about me what do you think about me??” I felt so sad when Matt said “I wonder if he wants to go home” about the captain. It’s dark. Like if Idiocracy were a horror.
Heather Elaine
2024-03-11 15:18:50 +0000 UTCI am rubber, you are glue!
Donkey kong
2024-03-11 14:36:26 +0000 UTCWhy didn't he ask the hard hitting questions about the pirate adventures of Guybrush Threepwood? This clown should be shot into the sun.
Mike Nelson
2024-03-11 14:25:30 +0000 UTCI just keep thinking incel
Adam Sher
2024-03-11 13:38:46 +0000 UTCI'm only 15 minutes into the episode, but this guy is already more obnoxious than Scott Adams and the Red Scare duo combined.
Andreas Haukenes
2024-03-11 13:38:04 +0000 UTCHoly name calling. Tough to listen to. Is this a typical Piker interview?
Tim Tripp
2024-03-11 13:28:44 +0000 UTCIt’s almost like some of these streamers see the world as a video game they play, where people can die and come back to life no problem. This guy is a nightmare.
Linda Sears
2024-03-11 13:28:04 +0000 UTC“Does he know who Mr. Beast is?” I want to die.
Christy Kilgore
2024-03-11 13:07:59 +0000 UTCIt’s so embarrassing I got goosebumps!
Christy Kilgore
2024-03-11 13:07:28 +0000 UTCThe poor volcano! How about a Houthi militia run prison where he can hang with his buddies and watch SpongeBob and Mr beast...or Bean...or whatever.
Chomagerider
2024-03-11 12:10:15 +0000 UTCWow... I think I'd take weinsteinian pseudo profound BS over this absolute drivel any day of the week. Is all his content this stupid? I hope this interview landed him on some Houthi hitlist. No, I don't wish him harm but come ON...this really was unbearable!
Chomagerider
2024-03-11 12:07:27 +0000 UTCGoddess, the cringe is phenomenal. The all interview have a “do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Yemen” vibes.
Donkey kong
2024-03-11 11:28:12 +0000 UTCChris the first day AP reported that the hospital attack was carried out by IDF (they quoted Palestinian officials) and a lot of other major news organisations went with it.
lun
2024-03-11 11:17:43 +0000 UTCWell, circumlocution is the 8th leading cause of death.
Ymirsdreams
2024-03-11 10:50:56 +0000 UTCI'm only at the 15 min mark, but I already want to throw that Hasan guy into a volcano. He sounds just as vile as the far right guys DTG has analysed.
Jasza Dobrzanski
2024-03-11 10:08:02 +0000 UTCJust having listened to the very beginning… Matt naturally and spontaneously shortening his well-worn intro a single syllable (“what they TALK about”) as he ran out of of oxygen, and having picked up “Weinstein thought generation patterns” through osmosis from just following you guys at all, got me thinking: might I propose a galaxy-brained Weinstein-ian evolutionary take and thoroughly HYPOTHESIZE that “slang” and natural word shortening (eg. contractions in English, etc.) evolved so that we could harness more oxygen to something something out of the savanna something something however many millions of years ago 🤔 The fact that I could even pose the question is stunning, quite frankly.
Empty_Cognizance
2024-03-11 08:26:22 +0000 UTC
