Hot takes are ruining civilization
Summary
Hot takes are ruining civilization," a straphanger declares to Kareem, kicking off a spiraling conversation about social media discourse and why nobody can have real conversations anymore. The rider tears into recycled internet phrases like "period" and "in case anybody needed to hear this," arguing that anything under 240 characters isn't worth saying. They lament lost eye contact and human connection. Then the take flips: maybe hot takes are actually good because they make people think? The self-proclaimed ex-lawyer likes things defined and concrete. Kareem counters that hot takes are essential for growing his global media empire. The conversation careens from intellectual overthinking to "snogging" (British slang for making out), which apparently means exchanging fluids. It's a chaotic riff on online culture eating itself.
Full Transcript
So, what's your take? Hot takes are ruining civilization. 100% agree. It's true. It is.
You said it. No offense, obviously, but I think we're losing the ability to talk to each other and to actually have valuable conversations cuz everything has to be quick and snappy. There's no nuance. Also, like people need to shut—sorry. Too many people are talking about the same thing all the time and it's doing my head in. I was thinking that it's the over intellectual, the over intellectualization of everything. People are like, "So, what's your take on what's happening in the world?"
But also people use the same phrases when they're having these hot takes. So, it's like— Such as "100% agree." Such as "in case anybody needed to hear this" and blah, and then they'll go into something that we've heard a million times before like—
Oh, period.
"Having a boyfriend is embarrassing. Period."
Period. When people write period. T. Yes.
I mean to annunciate their point. Anything that can be summed up in less than 240 characters or whatever it is on X is not—is not a valuable conversation.
You know, I'm—have to change my mind. I actually, I like takes. I think takes are good for society because people, I guess people thinking a little bit.
But does it though? Because how do you then go from point A to like— Being a lawyer. I'm speaking to an ex-lawyer here. So, like I like things to be defined.
You want to go to point—you want to go from point A to point B. I want to stay at point A.
Technically, we're on our way to point B right now. I also think that it's because of all these hot takes that we're sort of um, we've lost the art of looking into each other's eyes and saying nice things to each other. The art of conversation.
Yes, because we're all on the internet like typing away, like filming our faces, and nobody looks at themselves, looks at each other in the eye anymore. Yeah. How long can you hold eye contact?
I—it's—I'm going to try. Pretty good at it. No, I'm not actually.
[laughter] I'm feeling really uncomfortable. I think that hot takes are necessary for me to continue to grow my global media empire.
Look, as I said, no offense to the king of the hot take. Snogging. I think we need to bring back snogging.
What the hell is snogging? You know, you kissing someone.
What? Exchanging fluids? Wait, what?
I make my case.