Some call him teflon hasan because no internet bullshit ever sticks to him. We have seen generations of breadtubers come and go during his career (which is only a few years to be fair) but absolutely NUTHING can stop this man. Hasan is the kind of guy who could shoot a person on 5th avenue and get away with it. Hasan could have been caught red handed on Epstein island and walked away with more twitch subscribers than he had the day before. He is the face of the modern left. He could call for red brigades to descend on the streets of New York or Washington, but he doesn’t. Because hasan is also a bonafide leftist theorist, for you see hasan has made a incomprehensible calculation in his head that buying Ferraris and Hollywood mansions for himself is more important to the leftist cause than calling for any direct action. Genius really, we already see the fruits of his labor as his brash spending habits have caused a complete collapse of the Israeli Zionist terrorists, Palestine is winning because of hasan, the left is winning, you are winning, that is unless you don’t donate your entire life savings to hasan in his twitch streams as an epic act of praxis. He might even say your name, probably not, but self sacrifice is the greatest virtue you can ever have unless your name is HASANABI FUCKING PIKER! DO YOU KNOW WHO HIS UNCLE IS?! DO YOU CHUD!?
People: give money to Hasan
Hasan: spends the money
People:
Ultimately, Hasan's money comes from you, the viewer. If you want your money to go to charities instead of to Ferrari, donate to charities instead of to Hasan.
Idc what he spends his money on tbh as long as it's not actively harming people (aside from the inevitable 'passive harm' so to speak from "no ethical consumption under capitalism"); I care if he pulls people to the left in a space that lacks actual leftist voices. And that he seems to do quite well.
Does the 'passive harm' from his consumption practices outweigh the benefit of how much he pulls people to the left? Idk and I don't think anyone should care enough to do empirical research on that and find out.
On the other hand, fine
On the critical side of things, this doesn't sound too far from bourgeois justification of their own wealth...
Whenever you donate to Hasan, you show that you prefer Hasan saying your name out loud over saving the lives of children, and I think that says a whole lot more about you than about Hasan.
As an aside, Hasan's money comes from voluntary and optional viewer donations, not from the exploitation of labor. Nobody is being forced to give their money to Hasan. Withholding your money from Hasan does not mean that you will starve. Hasan's stream is free to watch and always has been free.
Nobody donates to Hasan with the expectation that the money will go to charities unless it is a charity stream. The normal expectation is that Hasan will spend the money on his own lifestyle, which includes buying a nice house and luxury cars, because he has a high income from having a large audience.
Stop complaining about Hasan not living in a barrel and giving away all his money to charities. Saying that suffering is necessary to live a morally good life reeks of Christian morality.
Hasan is clearly not in it for the money. In recent months, he has sacrificed half his viewerbase by continuing to report on Israel's genocide in Gaza when this is an unpopular thing to do. He has taken a direct hit to his income (and thus his lifestyle) in order to do what is right. Have you done the same? If not, on what legs do you stand on to criticize him?
I agree that his supporters are useless
This is a strawman. But it also misunderstands that combating imperialism will require a willingness to make sacrifices. If the millionaires among us can't show that, then would does that tell us about our movements? Let me repeat, if the fucking millionaries that get rich off of an addictive corporate platform that targets youths can't live up to this, then what does it say about "socialists" in the core? We always get wrecked by sheepdogs and populists because we don't ask these questions. We just justify everything.
Did you even read my entire comment?
To repeat for your benefit:
Hasan is clearly not in it for the money. In recent months, he has sacrificed half his viewerbase by continuing to report on Israel's genocide in Gaza when this is an unpopular thing to do. He has taken a direct hit to his income (and thus his lifestyle) in order to do what is right. Have you done the same? If not, on what legs do you stand on to criticize him?
By losing half his viewers, Hasan loses half his income. Have you sacrificed half your income to support Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing genocide?
This is not a sacrifice for Palestine. It is civil religious self harm. Hasan, along with the entire left, is doing nothing to stop genocide in Palestine. Speaking out on Twitch is not activism. This isnt anti imperialism, it is identity profile building in the context of an addictive corporate platform.
If reporting on Israel's genocide in Gaza isn't activism, then what is? Do you have to fly over to Gaza and fight for Hamas?
Hasanabi Piker has done more for Palestine than you ever have.
I think you mean Hasan has benifited more from the conflict in Palestine than I have. His actions are liberal antics that his followers endorse. So what? He is not leading us towards anti imperialism, he is solidifying left wing coalitions that will largely only be able to benifit the global north. Saying Israel is bad isn't revolutionary, it's fucking obvious. But that's what he is about, low hanging fruit and the spectacle around it.
Hasan has not benefited from Israel's genocide in Gaza. Hasan lost half his viewerbase because he refused to stop reporting on the genocide. Losing half his viewerbase means losing half his income. I do not understand how you can think that Hasan has benefited from this.
He fundraised over a million dollars for Palestine in the wake of October 7th, including donating at least $75,000 himself.
His ethical value is tied to his wealth and power? What happened to building movements instead of discursive posturing and purchasing morality? This is not revolutionary, it is liberalism.
I'm sorry, that was an off-handed remark of mine... (I don't mean to come off as necessarily Christian moralist)
For me, what I thought you said before was just like the argument of individualist liberal consumerist argument "the bourgeoisie are only making these products because of you" but obviously it seems the circumstances are vastly different
I don't give him money, I don't even watch him. The point stands: can't he spend the money in better ways?
Whatever. I don't really think about him that much and I prefer to keep it that way.
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From each according to their abilities to each according to their needs.
The charge against Hasan has always been that he's not contributing enough according to his own abilities. I would argue that most major streamers, podcasters, and Youtubers aren't really doing enough either. Obviously, you can't compare how much they contribute versus how much average workers with 9-5 jobs contribute because workers with 9-5 jobs are too busy working and having their income eaten by rent and other expenses. But for a millionaire like Hasan, he needs to do more than stream. But every time someone makes this simple observation, he always has his fanboys and stans malding in the comments.
Imagine simping for a millionaire lmao
tbh he's a twitch streamer. i think people overestimate his actual power. down here we call internet celebrities 'sub-celebrities' for a reason. the guy can signal boost some unionization effort here and there, but he can't even compare to a Trump or an Arnold and get elected, much less call the red brigades.
This is related to what I mean by not contributing enough. They pull 6-figure salaries to be sub-celebrities as you say. Does someone need to be paid $120k/yr to signal boost a unionization drive? Union stewards, the people who are actually in charge of organizing workers, aren't paid that much. For $120k/yr, you can get a Twitch stream e-celebrity or two union stewards. I think there's still a place for streamers and podcasters, but for how much money they pull, they aren't that effective.
It's like how electorialism is a dead end. It's not so much the act of voting itself or even time spend canvasing, but the entire political consultant class that feeds off of campaign donations while contributing fuck all. So much money that was donated by naive people during Sanders' campaign went into the pockets of some useless political consultant. Like, they were better off spending that money on a pack of smokes and giving it to the first homeless person they see.
Now if the major streamer donates a substantial part of their income to an org, then that $120k/yr would go towards subsidizing the streamer plus another organizer, so you would be comparing streamer + organizer vs two organizers, which is a harder to make a judgment call on which is more effective compared with one streamer vs two organizers. And of course, if the streamer is part of an org like how The Red Nation the podcast is part of The Red Nation the org, then the equation completely changes.
I think that the quality shared between the Red Nation podcast and Union stewardship is that neither is founded on a react youtuber's popularity.
Unions are organizations centered around organized labor, and that's where union stewards draw a stipend. The Red Nation podcast seems to be an actual political movement. Hasan the twitch streamer is a guy entertaining people online. He draws an exceptional amount of money from it, but he's just another influencer online. Those types tend to wither in the real world.
Hasan happens to entertain people in a way that makes them amenable or at least aware of left of center discourse. That creates a hope or an expectation for more. But an entertainer is likely what he'll always be. Hasan could take half of his earnings and pay people to be a political movement called the Hasan Unionizers but that would just be pretense and a boost for his own brand as an influencer. Nothing more.
The way I see it he does the good his position in society enables him to. That is to say that while boosting leftist voices, discourse, and donating money to unionizers and orgs won't bring about social change, its a part of it. Entertainers like him are a force multiplier. Rather than expecting Hasan to successfully leverage his twitch streamer react career into a political career, one should likely seek local orgs and help boost the people he's given his voice to. You know, support the actual politicians and labor leaders.
Look at the right. Their grifters don't all get elected or seek office. Instead of trying to get every Crowder out there to head a TERF org or to enter senate, the right wing audiences will boost those voices that do seek power. Media people have their role to play, and that's no more than Hasan will likely ever be.
I want him to give me a small army's equivalent of equipment in arms, ammunition, explosives and vehicles to arm an insurgency.
This is exactly how casino owners think.
Do you give money to Hasan, hoping that he does not spend the money?
Are you seriously arguing that giving money to Hasan so that he can say your name out loud is the same thing as a casino?