An emerging genre of video collapses the boundaries between celebrities and their audiences.
Credit...Erik Carter
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By Joseph Bernstein
In an austere warehouse, a very-online political pundit sits at a small desk. Sometimes it’s a conservative — Candace Owens, say — and sometimes it’s a progressive, like Mehdi Hasan. No matter who it is, the format is the same: The star is surrounded by a mob of 20 people who rush the desk, vying for the chance to argue against the professional rhetoricians over inflammatory proposals like “the sexual revolution has devalued women and made them infinitely less happy” or “Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza is ethnic cleansing.” Over the course of about 90 minutes, everyone in the circle gets a go.
