He's a mildly-popular Twitch streamer who's more open about his politics than most and he tends to be leftist. That's pretty much it. People can (and have) get into arguments over him and his views but you can say that about anything online these days. I think the reporter was just surprised that a supposedly popular leftist was unknown by another supposedly leftist political candidate, as if they previously thought we all shared the same hive mind or something

AnarchistArtificer@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2d (1 reply)

He's also been more prominent in mainstream politics in recent months, including doing interviews with journalists, using his platform to endorse candidates, (potentially) interviewing candidates on his stream, and generally being more visible

(I don't know much about him — I only know this because I have a friend who is a scholar of the politics of fashion who was telling me that he's a super interesting case study in her field because he's apparently started wearing suits recently, and this has coincided with his edging into the mainstream)

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

Huh, I too was unaware of this. Thanks!

adespoton@lemmy.ca · 28 pts · 3d

That’s fine; I don’t know who any of them are.

Return_of_Chippy@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 3d

Floored by the fact Florida woman didn't know about a loud cringy nepo baby from California.

artyom@piefed.social · 13 pts · 3d (13 replies)

Who is that?

DrSleepless@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2d

Gayle King - Oprah’s girlfriend

Malyca@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 2d (11 replies)

Some dude that said we deserved 911 and everyone has been freaking out since.

artyom@piefed.social · 13 pts · 2d (1 reply)

I don't know that "we" deserved it but certainly our leadership did. Shoulda flown into The White House.

Malyca@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 2d

We deserved it in the sense that we're responsible for creating the terrorists responsible with CIA interference in the middle east. That's what he meant but that's now how the right wingers hear it.

Jax@sh.itjust.works · -17 pts · 2d (8 replies)

He's said a lot more than just that we deserve 9/11, he regularly handwaves mass murderers... oh we have those here in .mlers and hexbear... hmm.

Malyca@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 2d (7 replies)

Ah I see, thanks for clarifying

KatakiY@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 2d (6 replies)

This dudes full of shit. Hasan says dumb shit all the time but he isn't supporting mass murder and he said America deserved 9/11 in the sense that the blow back was earned due to our foreign policy. He's apologized, he's clarified etc etc etc. It's bullshit talking point from ten plus years ago and people still cry about it even though it's factually correct

America's involvement in Afghanistan and the middle east in general created the conditions that caused 9/11. We reaped what we sowed.

Next they will say that he doesn't care that Jewish people were raped on October 7th while ignoring the context that he doesn't care what Hamas did on October 7th because it doesn't justify a genocide.

It's all so fucking tired and annoying. I dislike stream bro rhetoric but I'm so sick of every other conversation I see online about dsa or leftists devolving into some shit hasan said thats removed from context.

Malyca@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 2d

Of course he's right, but it's meat for the anger zombies of the right. No one would seriously consider him anti American imo, just words with no meaning.

Jax@sh.itjust.works · -8 pts · 2d (4 replies)

He bought a suit strictly because it looked like Chairman Mao's and sweeps for him regularly. This is recent you can look this up. Not at all removed from context.

Edit: but the tankie squad is out in full force it seems

webadict@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2d (3 replies)

He bought a suit strictly because it looked like Chairman Mao's and sweeps for him regularly.

Okay. Let me pretend that's the reason... Who actually gives a shit?

Jax@sh.itjust.works · -4 pts · 2d

Goalposts bend with the wind

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 2d (6 replies)

I know who he is, but don't think about him very often, because I regard him as a lightweight who's overly prone to histrionics.

I'm more comfortable with the DSA than with other Democrats, but it wouldn't make any difference to me if Hasan Piker was included in that group or not. The right is trying to demonize him, but it's like a predator going after the slowest, weakest member of a herd.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 2d (5 replies)

To be fair, that is what predators tend to do (especially the human ones now that I think about it...).

Also, while I mostly agree with your assessment of Hasan and don't really pay any attention to him myself, he IS at least mildly popular (or at least well-known) on the internet in the sphere of political streamers and I think the reporter was just surprised that what their data suggested (roughly 1% of the American population follow him on some platform or another) didn't add up to what reality is actually like (this serious political candidate who probably doesn't go on Twitch that often, or at all, has never even heard of him)

Overall, yeah I'm kinda surprised they even turned this into an article. Seems pretty inconsequential no matter what way you look at it

MJKee9@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d (1 reply)

The liberals are trying to make an example out of Piker... To intimidate influencers, who typically rely on ads and support from the establishment to survive, from attacking the status quo. Piker doesn't do ads, relying on his subscriber base to fund his career. So they can't control his messaging with money, and are trying to do it by making him radioactive to the candidates he would support. The ultimate goal is to take away support provided by Piker for grassroots campaigns, so those candidates will have to toe the DNC line, or risk losing support from the establishment.

So regardless how you feel about Piker personally, or his views, it is clear he is trying to elevate progressive candidates so they don't have to compromise themselves for liberal support. We should all be supporting those efforts if we truly want to amplify a progressive political wave.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d

Point taken, I'll try to be more sympathetic to him and his efforts

phutatorius@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 2d (2 replies)

Nice to read thoughtful comments instead of the usual reactive crap too many people post.

My interpretation is that the reporter was trying to set up a guilt-by-association gotcha, and it got deflected by the denial. That denial may or not have been entirely truthful. I mean, I know who Piker is, and I'm a septuagenarian code pig with a passing interest in politics.

TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

Nice to read thoughtful comments instead of the usual reactive crap too many people post

Omg tell me about it; I was called an AI the other day just because I used paragraph breaks and proper grammar

benjirenji@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1d

Nixon won because she successfully organized local, black communities in Florida. Her popularity didn't come from association with national figures or politician but local ground work and Florida's disenfranchisement campaign of its black citizens.

So for once Piker with his "young men" demographic just didn't matter.

He's a fan of hers as she's anti-Israel and a DSA member, but that's about it. CBS was completely off base on this one.

leadore@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2d

What I found irritating was that the interviewer started off by falsely claiming that Nixon had campaigned with Piker, and Nixon had to point out that she hadn't, before saying she's heard of him but doesn't know much about him personally.

So get ready folks. Piker is the new Pelosi--the poster child that the magats and magat-supported media will do everything they can to portray as a boogeyman villain, and tie all Democratic candidates to, regardless of where they are on the spectrum of Dem political views.

IMO this is where all the cries of "Socialist! communist! Left-wing extremist!" that repubs have hurled at Dems over so many years is backfiring on them. No one believes them any more. So now even actual socialists can run and repubs screaming that stuff doesn't have much effect.

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d

Angie Nixon? Gale King? Hasan Piker? Who?

Oh, this is in Florida.

Furbag@pawb.social · 3 pts · 2d

Personally I can't vote for any politician who hasn't heard the cerebral political opinions of Glup Shitto.

arotrios@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d