Hey everyone - a clarification and some notes on react etiquette (as I see it). First, the clarification: I’m perfectly aware that some of the streamers/creators I’ve discussed here do more than simply react to content - that this can sometimes be one segment among many, etc. For the purposes of this video, though, that’s neither here nor there. I’m talking about these people solely in their role as reacters. Next - one note on etiquette to creators, and one to viewers. The ‘ideal world’ I set out in the video is a long way away, and I’m aware that the content ecosystem of today isn’t going to change overnight. I’m also aware that there is some grey area here - that even ‘curation’ streamers do _sometimes_ react transformatively. So for now - partly because it isn’t possible, practically, to police all content reuse, and partly because I’m sure some out there _could_ reuse my content in fair and interesting ways - if it’s going to happen anyway, I’d rather it happen on my terms. Here’s how I’d prefer any streamer or creator to engage with my stuff, in the content ecosystem of today: If you want to use a snippet of my stuff as one might cite an article, if you think I’ve made a good point about something, or even a bad one, that you’d like to briefly refer to? Go nuts. Quick shoutout and play that bad boy. You’ll be using a small portion of my work in a new context for, presumably, a larger and unique whole. Legally and ethically, that’s great. If you want to react (transformatively) to any of my videos start to finish, I’d appreciate you running it by me, but as long as you _actually add something_ and as long as you clearly credit me, I’m not going to have a problem with it. But please don’t cut it off before the end - letting your viewers hear how they can connect with or support me, and letting my Patreon backers get thanked for the work they’ve supported, is, I think, a very reasonable ask on my part. But if you simply want to re-broadcast my work _without_ adding anything, to keep an audience happy? Please just don’t. To viewers of reacters / curators, just a PSA: If you find a cool video or a cool creator via a reaction, the best way to show support isn’t to jump over to the original and drop a comment. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice gesture, and creators definitely appreciate the sentiment - but, algorithmically, it’s a mixed bag. KZfaq sees you clicking onto a video, staying for a few seconds, leaving a comment, and heading out. The reason you’re not staying is that you’ve seen the video before (being reacted to) but the algorithm doesn’t know that. It just sees the low viewtime and the clicking off. The data for that interaction looks identical to, say, a viewer clicking onto the video having expected something else, leaving a comment saying something about clickbait, and subsequently dipping. So for moral support? It’s great. But the best way to actually help the channel is really just to check out more of their stuff, keep an eye out for any new releases, and watch them on that native platform first _before_ you see them reacted to. Also - here's a Patreon Endnote to the video: www.patreon.com/posts/87683531

It's weird how back in 2016 it was widely agreed what Jinx did was wrong, yet now it's a question

Also museums are criticised when pieces they have were not donated or bought but stolen. The reactors are doing the same they "found the video" put it on display and now want donations. Whereas good museums pay for their items or have people give them items and then they display those items.

The kind of react content I have seen is mostly for movies or show were I think "this scene is really impactful, wonder how others experience was with it" and I care more about the people reaction and not the content. So reactions about just random content isn't for me.

Not all "reactor" content is created equal. Cinema Therapy is reactor content, but its more like the cinema is a vehicle for analyzing psychology and educating people. Brittany Reacts is actually some really good, fair minded media review. Doctor Mike's react videos are full of actual medical information, as he debunks a lot of medical tropes and again, educates. Even some music reactors go into the history of songs, or talk about personal life stories. Its all about what you use it for. Some people out there are just making lazy videos, unfortunately. But not everyone. There is real analysis and conversation to be had if the content creator does their job.

My man spitting fire YET AGAIN. Big fan, glad to be here for a while. I'm certain you're going to blow up SO hard and I see the mil sooner than later. Keep up the great work!

Live Hasan's Chair Reaction - 🪑

I subscribed because of your take on the anti-woke grifters and Marvel stuff, but I've been really enjoying all your content, Pillar. Thoughtful, insightful, and fair, with a spot-on historical and political perspective.

I noticed you bought up Natalie Gold as a positive example of react content and I can't help but laugh at the fact that creators like her and James vs Cinema that react to film and television content and even the more comedy centered channels like Razzle, Aaron and Jo, Microwave Society, and Pretty Much It have to contend with the constant threat of Content ID despite having to do an arduous amount of editing to try and appease the bots while making their own commentary and personality the focal point of all their videos. Meanwhile these streamers are untransformatively making bank off other peoples' content in a manner that Viacom claimed that KZfaq was doing in their lawsuit that resulted in this Skynet-adjacent copyright machine that rules over the site with an iron fist.

The thing is: Reactors are not curating anything. They just watch the popular/viral videos that the algorithm gave them or people in Discord/chat. Calling them curators is giving them to much credit.

I think the "react" popularity has grown because of the internet's requirements of always knowing pop culture and having an opinion on everything. It wouldn't surprise me that lots of react creators would like to be critics and reviewers, but are scared of their followers opposing opinions or their own lack of knowledge in that field.

Really well made video!! Another reason why I think this topic is as highly debated as it currently is, is because how differently it affects viewers vs content creators. Despite having a large influence in shaping how popular videos can get, viewers who make no content whatsoever are more likely to not really care about how react content affects other creators and the KZfaq platform. They’re just casual observers

Really good analysis man, keep it up ❤

You're the second creator in my sub box who called them curators today :D I don't watch reactions to yt videos, but to some of my favorite series, after I've watched that series on the streaming service a couple of times to see someone experience it for the first time, to remember my first time watching.

Another banger Pillar

Another well thought out and expressed video. Kudos.

Great video! Whenever I see reaction vids in my youtube home page, I check their channel, and if it's all reaction vids, I just use the dropdown to say "Don't recommend channel". The reaction vids I do like are the ones that do some amount of analysis during or after, but at that point, it's not really a reaction vid anymore.

I love your content and been subscribed for a while now. this is a interesting take

The world is lonely, people see reactors because they can pretend to have friends watching a favourite video or a favourite movie. That's how I see it.

Excellent video, good work!

One thing I love about Pillar of Garbage is how he doesn't JUST talk about finer details within the media itself, but also looks for greater academic themes and how to ACCURATELY apply them! Another example I can think of outside of this video is this: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/orN3m9OazayZfZc.html

Excited to see you take on this! This whole debate is crazy & after watching the Ethan vs XQC video I'm down for more intelligent takes regarding this.

Love the video, also like the Natalie Gold shout out, she is one of the channels (along with Cinebenge and Vkunia) that do really solid work that adds to the content

I wish we had some stats on how many views streams prevent. Like how many people in Hasan or xqc's chats would watch the videos from stream on KZfaq if not through the Twitch streamer? Like are there numbers on how many views are cannibalized because of Twitch? Now, the reuploads on KZfaq would do that, but from what I've seen most KZfaq uploads from official channels (not the clip farmers) seem to do a good amount of transformative work. Edits, removal of parts of the clip, more discussion. And I think the streaming vs posting makes a big difference.

Calling them Curators sounds about right.

Haven’t been on one of your videos for a while but congrats on hitting 80k

Very interesting video. Like you, I don't really have any experience with "react streamers", but this is still an interesting thing to discuss, as this isn't exactly something that has a right or wrong answer, and it discusses something that effects a large section of KZfaq. Also, massive W for the DarkViperAU shoutout. That dude is cool.

I watch a KZfaqr called OneTopic, who also streams on Twitch. He will do react videos to Kitchen Nightmares and Hotel hell. But he doesn't just sit there and watch. A 40-minute episode can result in a 2-hour stream because he pauses the video a lot and comments about the people, and the situation and so much about the episode. he is very thoughtful and insightful. He makes you feel like you're a group of friends who are sitting down to watch something and dissecting it.

I find the "clout gain" defense hilarious considering that it just naturally assumes that a significant enough number of a react streamer's audience would go the extra step to seek out the content creator that said streamer reacted to, subscribe to them and consume their content on a regular basis, which is quite a stretch considering that these personalities are essentially glorified DJs that go through maybe dozens of videos per day most of which are recommended to them by their own community either through fan Discords or even stream chat. It's clear these folks prefer consuming this sort of content through osmosis via their favorite streamer in the company of hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of others interacting with each other. The react streamer/content creator relationship is parasitic, not symbiotic.

An original thought on yt.. kudo’s, keep going, and thank you!

It is so self centred the way they think they are entitled to others work.

Curation of the “classic type” is what DV would have called “shouting out.” The wealthy landowners, after all, still had to purchase all the paintings and books and etcetc. They searched out the artist and commissioned directly. And maybe the curator would get a cut, sure. The problem is that the abusers don’t even TRY. Like, they don’t put on music playlists during their breaks, they steal others’ content. They don’t take any effort to push their audience to the creators, because they want to keep the eyeballs on them. They consider dropping a link in chat which zooms by at the speed of a thousand poop emoji to be “due diligence.” It’s possible to craft a good react and respond system, but they’re not even slightly interested.

Looking forward to the react video for this video.

YES! SHOUTING OUT DARK VIPER AND JAY XCI IS SO GOOD! THEIR VIDEOS ARE GREAT!!!!! No one freakin talks about dark viper and even though his content is not for me, his deep dive on react is SO fucking good.

I think you are the first youtuber Ive seen who has bothered to include Hassan and Jay in addressing this round of react discussions. Its been so frustrating watching so many people cover this and then just neglecting to mention Hassan whilst saying what xqc does is bad, even though Hassan still acts salty about being called out.

I sometimes watch a Hasan reaction if I've watched the video and I do actually want to hear his input and yes, reactions (I don't have friends who would give a fuck to watch a really good video on YT, so it's me para-socially getting that experience of like showing a friend a movie I've already watched). I'm aware I am just one corner of this audience though as plenty of people will complain to a streamer to "unpause the fucking video *streamer*", showing they are there for curation and not the streamer. I genuinely skip the chair shit (tho apparently it doesn't happen much anymore) because that's not why I tuned in. h3h3 decided to call what xqc and others do as "watch parties" and not react videos in order to differentiate between content like Legal Eagle responding to lawyer scenes in movies compared to what they do. I think it's very simple what streamers need to do for watch parties: ask for permission ahead of time, and if no permission is given, unironically "react harder" to make it transformative. It's that simple. Hasan, xqc, and others should be expected to do this.

Thought-provoking!

Hmm, very interesting analysis

I actually love reaction content, but I am very specific and selective in terms of quality because I want to waste the little precious time I have well. I only watch "first time" movie/TV show reactions, it's just fun to see other people like or dislike media that I like or dislike. But I only follow people who actually add to the stuff they watch, i.e. provide genuine emotions, good commentary, and even analysis. And I found that often the best reactors are small time single creators who are just that little bit more genuine and eager to offer something special than big channels. The other group are reactor couples, and they really shine when their chemistry is great and when you can see that both partners enjoy what they are doing.

I like movie and TV reaction channels like Blind Wave, Bridgeco, Holden Hardman, Mary Cherry, Late To the Party, Cinebinge, Alanda Parker, and Heroes Reforged. I can't stand the terrible, garbage ones like CartierFamily, Tyrone Magnus, Doc Rich or Sniperwolf

I love your thoughts on this. While on one hand, we are all reactionaries to a certain extent. Be it on social media or here or when calling or texting someone. We are always reacting. But this lazy content creation (curation) is a bit much. I think there is definitely an audience for it, albeit probably the same audience that watched Jerry Springer 🤦🏻‍♂️ However I don't think it warrants being part of the YPP. Many of us work hard at what we do and spend as many hours editing as Hassan does eating and talking. I love channels like yours because you inspire me. And whenever I make a video the very first thing I do is search Google and KZfaq to see if anyone has made a similar video. If they have and if I don't have anything new or different to add to the conversation, then I don't make that video. I know how hard we all work and there is enough of the pie for everyone, so why steal? If twitch wants to pay these people fine. And KZfaq should continue to allow them to upload here. But don't pay them here on KZfaq. Between the reaction channels and the first amendment frauditors and the "we are listening to this song for the very first time!" But they know all the lyrics??? Channels are what I would say are not "creative". Love your videos and your thoughts. Hope you feel better soon. 👍🏼

Damn. I think this might have been one of your best videos ever.

The funny thing about Hasan is that usually, he spends most of the time in the reaction process pausing the video and commenting on points being made. He even brings up evidence and sources to either strengthen the points made in the content or challenge it. That is why he is called "Pausanabi" by the community. Dude sometimes stretches the length of the video to oblivion with his comments. But, his ridiculous habit of leaving the video playing on a bathroom break just needs to stop. It is complete nonsense and goes against the whole point. Like, I don't think anyone is that impatient to wait a couple of minutes. He misses sometimes important chunks of the content with this nonsense too.

If a reactor thinks its ok, they should do the same thing to a show or movie and see how long it takes until they get a strike

This is why Münecat stream highlights are the only ones I watch. Also, Yugopniks beautiful face appeared in this video.

dude some streamers gonna react to this vid soon

I have gotten a lot of videos used without my permission, getting thousands to millions of views while not benefiting me since they removed my intro and anything that indicates they can see more at.

I've been having a blast watching zoomers and younger react to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. My favorite is a lady who just finished her masters in psychology and will often use that in talking about the show. Never watch Twitch since it's mostly live and you can't watch live stuff at 2x speed. I do watch some streamers, like Cohhcarnage, occasionally but on KZfaq. Maybe I'm going by a different definition of 'reactor'. This video seems to be more about peeps like Twitch, OneTopic, Hassan, not show/video game reactors. Still this seems like an argument game --makers-- publishers often make against streaming games. From the game maker's point of view their hard work is being used to fill up someone else's piggybank. Maybe that's a bit true, but that's not the whole truth. Without reactors playing Minecraft, KSP, Factorio, and oh so many other games I'd have never learned of them and eventually bought them. After an initial try before you buy period, yo ho haul together... All games should have comprehensive demos. I digress. Even a 0 commentary playthrough of a game at least acts as an ad that that game exists, shows it off, and will likely lead to sales. Even a nonstop commentary 100% playthrough of a game will also lead to sales as doing is very different from watching even of a video game. This seems to hold true for non-gaming react content. If someone found your video and showed it to their audience that's gonna lead to at least a few views on your channel to check out your other stuff.

There should be imdicators that show a video is open fot reactions (maybe to boost view count for a while) and the owner of said video should be able to enable or disable that for a given period. Reactors should always reach out to creators that chose not to include said indicator before reacting to their videos

This is directly on point, and it speaks to the lack of recourse creators have to fight this kind of abuse, even when it's clearly in violation of fair use. Litigation is prohibitively expensive, especially when the problem is this out of control.

I'll admit, I do watch a decent amount of react content. I really only enjoy two types of reactions, though. People reacting to things I've already seen and really enjoyed in which case I usually dont mind much *who* is reacting, just wanting to see others' reaction to something I enjoyed, and those who have *substantial* additions to make to the content. Usually the latter involves people who have some form of credentials/education that I don't, and use said credentials to add layers to the media I may not have noticed. I can't remember the last time I've watched someone just react to a video that I haven't seen.

Now lets see if we can get Hasan to react to this content and create a universal paradox

I guess I learned today that I watch reaction channels wrong. Not only watch reaction videos here on KZfaq and not in endless streams o Twitch, but I watch them for films and TV shows I actually watched and because I want to see other people actually reacting to them (the briefly shown Natalie Gold is one such channel I enjoy). Their emotional responses are what make me feel less lonely even though I am fully aware that this only a parasocial relationship I have there. But I think the channel Carefree Wandering here on KZfaq also has an interesting philosophical point about the phenomenon that people watch other people watching thigs, that it is like little children form identity, by looking how others react people learn how they should act themselves. Thus I guess most of the endless livestreams are used to inform identity by second order consumption of said content.

Reaction content has become much like Tik Tok dances, there are far too many, most do it poorly, most are not trying to do anything but collect likes and views with a veneer of positivity and social consciousness. Then there is the reason why anyone should care what some rando thinks about some rando video. Good insight is always a good reason, but see above statement about doing things poorly.

I heard someone calling the app Ex-twitter. I like that.🤣🤣🤣

Surely, a box in the corner, whether it's someone eating noodles or an empty chair, should be transformative enough 😂

Let's gooooooooo!

The reel Rejects is good

This "10-hours-of-content"-guy's laugh makes me want him to kiss. With a chair. In the face. Am i a bad person?

Are we back to this again? About 5 years ago i feel like this was a controversy with that guy Jinx, now we've come full circle again?

Copyright lawyer here. I am forever interested in the private system that is platform-based content creation. We have yet to see a meaningful shift of the "us v. them" head space from industry v. consumer-creators to consumer-creators v. consumer-creators. I have ideas for why that is, but with videos like this, it is clear that people are beginning to think of copyright more as an "ours" right than a "theirs" right. At least it's clear to me that you are, and that is heartening. Relatedly, and without passing judgment on either argument, it is worth pointing out that the cannibalization of views because a "reacts" streamer infringes your copyright, and the clout-boost clap back, both adopt the same logic and language of the RIAA and consumers during the Napster Era. Another natural response from "reacts" streamers may be: not every stream view is a lost view on your channel. All of which is to say, it's your copyright and you absolutely should enforce it. Hope you feel better soon!

Josh Strife Hayes wants to address this in a smart way, I suggest contacting him!

I must admit it's kinda fun and satisfying to watch younger generations' minds get blown when they first get the lyrics to a Rage Against The Machine song. I mean it sucks it's still relevant, but still. The way they get into the music after that just makes me happy. The kids are alright.

Reactors as an alternative to algorithms is an idea I got from this video. Perhaps the “official” medium of reaction could be a website where creators voluntarily upload their content, giving consent for it to be reacted to. They could then get a cut of the revenue of the website based on how many people saw them via reactions. Some reaction channels could be pure human algorithm, acting as a nexus for cool things like animation that youtube hates promoting. The service being paid via subscription or a sign up fee could allow the platform to be adless. This would be a similar arrangement to the old idea of paid music, where a sliver of a penny from your monthly music service subscription goes directly to the artist. Unfortunately as the death of paid forums shows people prefer a free service with ads to a paid service. With only streaming being able to maintain this model due to the cost of its content. I hate beaurocracy but that might be the only way to fix this issue. Sigh.

I always felt like channels like cut and similar stuff must have some kind of agreements with these reactors.

When I watch a good video my first reaction is to share it with my favorite streamers to get their and chat's reaction. I'm kinda questioning that instinct. TBF, the particular streamer I watch most is much more involved than the content you seem to be describing and it's a meme that they'll take at least twice the length of a video to finish it because they pause to talk about the content so much. That seems firmly outside what you seem to be describing as the worst examples of react content, though I don't presume to think you're ok with it. They do occasionally put on a video while they're afk though. I can understand that as just keeping people engaged on the channel though, at least from a practical standpoint if not an ethical one. Like, just starring at a brb screen is going to make some people extremely bored regardless of how much they enjoy the streamer.

The only reactors I watch are tv/movie reaction and commentary creators, generally far more transformative that reactors to online content

I'm a long fan of react content, but it pays to be selective. Preferring to check out things I've already seen, preferring people who actually care about what they watch and commentate and have genuine reactions. Staring at the screen, no. Obviously fake reacting (particularly thinking about this after seeing a reaction to an Epic Rap style video where the reactor acted like the very first line of the song was the hardest bar he'd ever heard because he understood the reference it was making), no. I've got a desire to share the things I hyperfixate over with people, I get joy from seeing people enjoy things I like. But with a not so huge social circle to show people stuff and the general awkwardness that comes with trying to get someone to check out something you like and then watching for their reaction, reaction content is basically the best way to get that feeling, lol. Still, it's a field that should require at least some amount of effort and personality.

You're great. Very. Interesting. Down with classism.

Id be curious to hear your thoughts on people streaming videogames - surely your arguement of creator vs curator would apply to people "freebooting" the art from videogames without crediting financially the artists that made them

based

Sir you are handsome

I just call it eX-Twitter.

Just found you via Xanderhal. Really enjoyed this video.

I'm pretty sure I found your channel because someone reacted to it. Or was it recommended by someone I watch stream and react to things? (Among their other content). Either way their reactions are definitely not the same as SSSniprewolf's. When you do actively follow these KZfaqrs, at least for me, it's clear who is providing additional value and who is, well... I don't even know what their doing, or why so many people are watching it. It's valuable to someone I guess, but it definitely feels wrong and maybe they should stop.

Ironically, I was actually sent to your channel by Xanderthal! Really liking your stuff so far, keep it up

Honestly I just get annoyed when they try so hard to be “energetic and funny” in what they react to.

Holy crap, pause the video at 15:10 and marvel at the absurd amount of visual vomit clogging your screen.

I know this is discussing and explaining the ethics behind react content but I have yet to see anyone explain to me why it's so popular, like xqc and hasan are some of the largest streamers. Like I also find their stuff complete brainrot but it attracts a lot of people and exploring the reasons behind that is an overlooked topic.

can you do some voice coaching...? The varying level of audio is really hard, beginning of the sentence you say very loud but then you trail off lower and lower.... For the listener it's either get hurt by louder parts and be able to understand lower, or protect their hearing and miss part of your commentary. I do like your videos so please don't take it as hate, I just think it would help to even it out a bit.

I find it difficult to consider reactors to be "curators" because most of the time they are playing heavily on their ignorance of the content. Most of the content reactors feed on requires a boost from elsewhere before it gets their attention or the attention of the people they crowd source from.

As someone who watches reactionary content, I prefer to watch content with a third person commentary. I rarely would watch the original content because I wouldn't be consuming the material without the involvement of the reactor

Xanderhal sends his regards, the Xangaurd love your work, keep it up.

I like some reaction contend especially when someone brings more to the subject, but i cant stand the hassan tactic, where streamer goes to piss misses point 2 and 3, comes back to point 4 and responds to point 4 with things that were addressed in point 2 and 3.

Preach. This shit is honestly infuriating to see, and the abundance of braindead takes from people rationalizing content theft to themselves and their sheepish communities has been making my blood boil plenty in the past. Thing is, no matter what we say, these people will just continue, because it's crazy profitable for next to zero effort on their own part. I think your suggestion at the end of "watch it beforehand to see whether it's something you can even add to", and then imo also preferrably skip through the video to get to those points where you could contribute, so you aren't freebooting the entirety of someone's work, even if you're making frequent interruptions, would be the right course of action. Similarly to an edited response video. But of course, that's too much to ask. I just wanna sit there with my macaroni and pogface at some 2d animation I am playing in full, that a person poured months of blood, sweat and tears into. Thanks for the 10 giftsubs FootFiend3000 The comical disregard people like Hasan and XQC show at the mere proposition of actually putting effort into their "content" btw pisses me off beyond belief. Like what gives them the right to not try, but expect others to do all the hard work for them.. though oh well.. I guess that's exactly what you were trying to get behind with this video. Rationalizing from the minds of parasytes. Ugh.. I'm angry again now lmao. Time to bring this rambly comment to an end, nice vid

I'm glad to see people like you and jacksfilms have started making videos about this stuff. I have always hated reaction channels since I saw my first one. It always feel crazy that people were allowed to take this content that somebody spent hours days or maybe even weeks working on and just prop it up on the screen and say, oh wow that sure is neat, and reap the benefits, and even steal the benefits from that creator.

hey, fan of your channel. Great vid, tho I’m curious why you chose Hasan as the main example? he definitely has some bad chair moments, but he absolutely has his own voice and one of a kind commentary a lot of the time, certainly with politics which is the type of thing that will immediately stand apart and isolate certain viewers. Seems a lot of the other chair reactors contribute/transform way less than him

Hasan does have some pros along with the cons-- the opposite of the chair meme is the pause meme where he doubles the length of any video by pausing for frequent discussion, and he only uploads highly-edited content that's mostly his commentary. But also, he should just pause the damn video when he isn't totally engaged with it instead of piping it to his audience. That's indefensible. He could put B-roll footage of his dog up and people would be at least as entertained

Hey, you deadnamed X! 😠

Wait, people... Stream reactions? When I watch reaction content, I just watch a few KZfaq channels who make edited videos reacting to things I care about. Why would you wanna see all the awkward and quiet bits of the reaction in between the good parts? I don't see the appeal.

I'm a bit confused why you keep showing hasan when you say "no shoutout is given". I only watch his youtube stuff, but I see him shouting out the person every time. Does he not do that on his streams? There seems to be a focus on hasan, and even though I agree he shouldn't be left out of the discussion. I don't believe he is one of the worst ones. If anything, he's willing to listen and change. (if he actually follows through on what he says)

So this is crazy but I do not know this is a thing. This is super gross! It's just stealing at some point!

i will never understand the appeal of streamers

To me, the biggest issue is scale: if it's a 1k channel making reactions to fun, I don't have an issue on it. The problem arises when it becomes a job. Considering that the biggest problem children of this are Xqc or Hassan, who stream many hours per day, proves it more to me. Also, not even sure about the argument on curating - most videos are found by viewers suggesting it, they themselves are watching the video for the first time. In addition, considering your political leanings, I was afraid of clicking this video since I thought you would defend Hassan phew

Just wanna watch some rando have an honest laugh watching a Mel Brooks or Leslie Nielsen movie, tbh. Never bothered giving the (mostly) Twitch-based random clip reactor crowd the time of day for two reasons: 1) They mostly seem utterly devoid of any meaningful charisma/personality/original thought/just anything I could see anyone with even a little bit of life/joy outside the internet (and I say this as someone with barely any offline life & only very recent hints of joy) would find endearing enough to want to watch in the very few clips the KZfaq algorithm has put in front of me that made me curious enough to watch. 2) Whenever I come across them on Twitter (the name jokes stopped being funny like a week before it even officially changed over, ftr. It's pure Blue MAGA pander cringe territory at this point.) or wherever it's because they said or did some dumb shit and are by that time tripling down on it & spending days on end making life toxic & miserable for everyone in their actual orbit and turning their fans into an unhinged hate mob. My barely existent day-to-day existence is already too exhausting as it is to give any of my very little spare bandwidth to Twitch's bratty large adult children (and I do strongly feel Twitch itself deserves significant blame in cultivating these culty-leechy-grifty goons).

Ive always fiund it odd that Hasan is included in the conversation atound react content. His "reactions" are almost always in depth political commentary, not just "wow look at that."

Came to this one expecting to be mad at yet more theft apologia. Pleasantly surprised.

As someone who used to watch Hasan, most of the reaction videos of his that I watched were of creators that I were already subscribed to or were creators that I then subscribed to. A lot of times I would watch a video by let's say Wisecrack and then later see Hasan's take on the video. Sometimes I would watch Hasan's take and then decide I would rather just watch the original. And whilst I think having a break where it cuts to him in a prerecorded video doing something like gaming is probably preferable; he's usually away for like 5 mins of a 15 min video and when he gets back, he then says his commentary. A lot of times he will even rewind it back to before he left (to react properly). Plus, this has probably been said before but most of the time the content creators are okay or even really happy that Hasan reacted because he always shouts out the creator and recommends them. I've seen dozens of content creators supporting him after they share their videos and maybe it's just confirmation bias but I don't think I've seen it the other way round.

I just can't watch content where the creator is lazily trying to _be_ the content. "React" stuff is a prime example. I mean, it can be interesting but the truth is that most people just aren't that funny, _especially_ on the spot and unrehearsed live. But that doesn't stop people from trying.

Great video mate. Unfortunately you recommended Jay Exci so if Hasan ever sees this he's going to immediately dismiss it because Jay rightfully called him out for the exact react content you critiqued here