The 'one voice against 20 extremists' format is designed to monetise hate

Sarah Manavis

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Few ideas are looking quite so tattered as the notion that the best way to change minds and elevate discourse is through debate.

Head-to-head showdowns between opposing political arguments have, in the past decade, degenerated to a point beyond respect or reason, doing little other than apparently burrowing opponents deeper into their preexisting views. The internet has only exacerbated this polarised reality. None of this is new.

Which is why many were confused when the progressive British-American commentator Mehdi Hasan agreed to a two-hour battle royale against 20 hard-right individuals on subjects such as race, immigration and crime - hosted on YouTube by the digital media company, Jubilee. The title, 1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives, was ultimately a euphemism for what awaited after you clicked: a series of dead-end shouting matches where Hasan encountered people who described themselves, literally, as fascists, knowingly cited Nazi theorists and who applauded one another for statements such as “whites are Native American”. In two days, it has been viewed on YouTube alone more than 5m times, which doesn’t account for the countless clipped versions still going viral across social media.