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Cake day: June 21st, 2023

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  • Exactly how I feel. It is certainly favoritism that undermines our justice system, but I think very few people would choose not to intervene to save a child they loved from great suffering, even if they knew their child had earned the punishment. It may be wrong, but it’s very understandable that in this case he prioritizes being a good father over being a good president.


  • These aren’t normal questions from strangers. Unless you have a strong reason to, you don’t assume details about people’s lives when getting to know more about them. Even the questions on the left are presumptuous and can represent a faux pas, but they’re mild enough that the recipient would likely correct any wrong premise without making it an incident. But trying to guess details reflects poorly on you if you are wrong. Mostly you would express interest in what you can see about someone as an invitation for them to share more if they care to.



  • Yes, technically Mandela was considered a terrorist because he was a member of the ANC, which was labeled as a terrorist group during the cold war after its infrastructure attacks against an apartheid government accidentally killed civilians. I agree this was a mistake and should have been corrected sooner. But this was also a lingering bureaucratic snafu, and doesn’t have anything to do with the Houthis. And for the record, Mandela was welcomed into the white house by Bush and considered a respected ally decades before being delisted.

    The Houthis meanwhile have fired on, captured, and killed crew members of merchant ships belonging to various countries uninvolved with the conflict. They’ve haphazardly fired cruise missiles at Israel that instead land in civilian areas in Egypt. Their slogan translates to “God Is the Greatest, Death to America, Death to Israel, A curse upon the Jews, Victory to Islam”. Whatever justifications they may give for their actions, they are terrorists.

    I did some more research and I’ll admit the guy may not have been a member of the Houthis. I’m sorry for saying that when it was unconfirmed, but I still wish he would’ve been pressed to give a real yes or no. I didn’t find an explanation for why else he would call himself a Red Sea pirate. But if not, then at least he does support them with content like this and was welcomed onto a ship patrolled by armed guards they had captured for a tour or for content.

    Also, you are misremembering the tone of the interview. Hasan’s fourth question was if the guy had heard of One Piece, followed by Hasan saying that the Houthis were “doing what Luffy would do”. When the guy was talking about their motivation for capturing the ships, Hasan said “Yeah yeah yeah yeah, exactly, no, I’m saying it’s a good thing. I understand.” Hasan asked if he was a Houthi member later, after bringing up anime.


  • The kid described himself as a “Red Sea Pirate” and when asked more about his role, his translator gave us “His answer is, he is a Yemeni who stands with Palestine”. Hasan said he was media-trained, so I would say that’s a rather meaningful evasion. Also worth noting that the Houthis were (and I think still are?) designated as a terrorist group by the US, so I would expect he wouldn’t want to claim membership outright. If nothing else, it could risk a ToS violation for Hasan.

    I’m not saying that he should be demonized. In case I wasn’t clear, I personally think an interview could be valuable if done carefully, but interviews can also be disguised advertisements, and I don’t think Hasan was trying to be neutral in it. It would have been cool to know more about the kid’s personal motivations and goals considering he would probably share them with many others. But I guess part of my critique is that we didn’t get much exploration of that and it seems like a squandered opportunity. Instead it was mostly stuff with little substance that distracts from the possibility of a moral judgement, and it seemed intentional to me.



  • First of all, it’s your vote and it’s up to you to cast it (or not) as you see fit. Anyone saying you have an obligation to use it a certain way is violating fundamental democratic values. But other people likewise have the right to judge your decision.

    I would say not voting for one of the main parties would show them that the distinction between them doesn’t matter, and so their leadership does not need to be more or less radical to cater to you. And not voting for even a third party shows that effectively no one can meet your standards, so policymakers can entirely ignore whatever it is you care about.

    Protesting with your vote, like all protests, only works when your actions actually motivate the intended recipients to act as you want them to. Otherwise, it’s just performative self-indulgence.






  • KombatWombat@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.blahaj.zoneFirst rule be gentle.
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    22 days ago

    Wow! Hosting terrorists on your stream is so perfect! So is blasting propaganda music with flags saying “death to the jews” on them!

    The “hosting terrorists” part would be referring to the Houthi soldier Yemeni he interviewed on stream. I personally don’t have a problem with having controversial people on for stuff like interviews but the problem was more that Hasan was trying to make him seem more appealing and only giving him soft-balls.

    • The Houthi guy was talking about guarding captured foreign merchant ship crews and making them dance and Hasan was talking about how much fun that must have been.
    • Hasan later cut him off and redirected when he started talking about how the knife on the shelf behind him can’t be sheathed until tasting blood.
    • Hasan ran out of prepared questions pretty quickly so he started asking him about what his favorite anime was and what fast food they had available there. He was just generally trying to make him seem relatable.
    • Someone in chat wanted Hasan to ask about if they would release the hostages if peace or a ceasefire was negotiated and Hasan something like “I’m not asking him that, of course he would”.
    • He later described it as “like talking to Anne Frank”.

    The “blasting propaganda music” refers to him showing a Yemeni propaganda music video on stream to a guest and viewers. The lyrics were mainly about all the weapons and war supplies they wanted, and what they would use them for. It honestly was just bizarre and left everyone confused since there wasn’t really context for showing it.

    I love how people (rightfully) called out Pewdiepie for jokingly paying guys to put “death to jews” on a sign, but when hasan does it unironically its okay

    Not sure if the “Death to Jews” thing is referring to something specific or just that Hamas is very vocally anti-Israel.



  • KombatWombat@lemmy.worldto196@lemmy.blahaj.zoneepic ratio rule
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    1 month ago

    I really suggest people don’t block it. Lemmy needs active users and communities engaging with each other and while it is going to have some crazies just from how many people are on it, it should also be the least vulnerable to group think. When I hear of another instance defederating I always suspect it of being a fringe echo chamber.

    Honestly though I would defend the man too. Take from that what you will, but I’ll just say it’s usually good to be exposed to people who disagree with you.






  • I don’t see why you would think that. Someone like Bernie was too radical for the American left to win a primary, no way he would be considered more appealing to America at large in the general.

    It’s frustrating because Biden/Harris are too moderate to capture far left voters and too radical to wrestle the center from a populist like Trump. And it seems many disenfranchised voters are content to stay at home because better isn’t good enough. I’m not trying to absolve them of responsibility, but I genuinely think Democrats could make great strides if the left was as good at banding with each other as the right. Instead, the Democrats lost the popular vote for the first time in twenty years.