I appreciate the empathetic tack you take, acknowledging the potential structural complications that could drive someone to these patterned choices - it was a helpful reminder, as it was very much not my first reflex. I've enjoyed what I've seen of Minhaj's work, but I don't have the same connection and familiarity that you do, so it was much easier for me to arrive at a reaction of disdain.
The rationalizations he offers for lying ring cavernously hollow. If the calculation is to use fabricated stories to persuade his audience of a larger message, anyone with even basic media savvy - let alone someone chronically hooked up to social media - should know that the revelations of these kinds of falsehoods will instead damage the credibility of that message. Him treating these things as fact in places other than his performances, as you pointed out, says to us that he knows this.
This also ties into thoughts recently around the way we have been and will be interacting with the concepts of truth and trust in our digital world. How do we engage with serious injustice topics when any engagement on it draws in opportunists farming clout?
I appreciate the empathetic tack you take, acknowledging the potential structural complications that could drive someone to these patterned choices - it was a helpful reminder, as it was very much not my first reflex. I've enjoyed what I've seen of Minhaj's work, but I don't have the same connection and familiarity that you do, so it was much easier for me to arrive at a reaction of disdain.
The rationalizations he offers for lying ring cavernously hollow. If the calculation is to use fabricated stories to persuade his audience of a larger message, anyone with even basic media savvy - let alone someone chronically hooked up to social media - should know that the revelations of these kinds of falsehoods will instead damage the credibility of that message. Him treating these things as fact in places other than his performances, as you pointed out, says to us that he knows this.
This also ties into thoughts recently around the way we have been and will be interacting with the concepts of truth and trust in our digital world. How do we engage with serious injustice topics when any engagement on it draws in opportunists farming clout?
Absolutely hits the nail on the head.
Hasan's response, and he brought receipts. You absolutely missed the mark here, though I'm not sure you have the humility to admit that.
https://youtu.be/ABiHlt69M-4?si=UWE3vPqXLEabz5SH
A somewhat ironic comment coming from somebody talking down while hiding behind a throwaway.
https://painbaby.substack.com/p/why-we-need-to-keep-talking-about
Good critique! The comparison to true crime content is really interesting, not all of all our "emotional truths" are necessarily healthy ones