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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The US designated Nelson Mandela a terrorist up until 2008. I don't give a fuck what the US labels as a terrorist organization. It's a label meant to terminate thought and allow them justification for all inhumane actions against them.

He isn't a houthi, that was discovered in the interview which changed the tone of the interview. Please stop regurgitating bad faith talking points istg.

[–] KombatWombat 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 weeks ago

So, the Houthis are instituting a blockade. Sometimes a blockade needs to be enforced. Is doing that a terrorist act? If so, America is a larger terrorist in this regard (see Cuba for a single example), and Israel blockades the entire Gaza strip. Unless your entire world view is "we can do anything to them, and they can't do anything back", you'll have a hard time with hand wringing about one over the other.

The Houthis blockade is for a just cause in my opinion, so frankly they have a higher moral standing.

And you brought up the flag again... Here. Norm Finklestien says it better than I ever could. https://www.reddit.com/r/Hasan_Piker/comments/1g5jv2u/norman_finkelsteins_response_on_the_houthis_slogan/