If you can see past that, his actual cooking is good and is motivating a lot of other people. If you can't see past that, the great thing about media, is you can choose to ignore it.

> If you can't see past that, the great thing about media, is you can choose to ignore it.

If only the world were so simple. In a democratic system, what is highlighted by the media affects everyone. Politics, culture, daily life. Certain political figures would not be political figures if the media didn’t cover their vulgar and obnoxious behavior constantly.

I admire your intent, but you've picked the wrong target for this kind of critique.

Nat seems to be achieving the opposite of what you say you're concerned about.

The point of these videos is to educate people how easy and affordable it is to eat fresh, nutritious and tasty food at home.

He's attracted millions of views before any mainstream media outlets have given him any attention, and he's done it by being quirkily entertaining, as well good natured and encouraging to his viewers (exemplified by lines like “Just have a go, you’re more talented than you realise”).

The only thing he's swearily abusive towards is lowest-common-denominator, anti-nutritious, big-corporate-commoditized food.

Earlier videos that have attracted a lot of views involve highlighting the absurdity of conspicuous largesse (luxury boat shows) and masculine hooliganism (e.g., burnouts in cars).

These seem like the very things that would be most associated with the style of politics you're most concerned about.

Yep he has tattoos and swears, but from what I can see he's only trying to raise society's standards, not lower them.

Sometimes it takes a trojan horse to get the payload to its target.

Fair enough. I watched a few of his videos and was immediately put off by the constant unnecessary ‘fucks’ every few sentences. It doesn’t seem like he is dramatically more popular than a whole host of other cooking channels which manage to be both insightful, entertaining and not vulgar. So, I don’t see why The Guardian needs to pick this channel when plenty of others exist.

I also don’t really appreciate the ‘pearl-clutching’ bit. Not wanting to hear swear words constantly doesn’t make me some ancient conservative who wants kids off my lawn.

> So, I don’t see why The Guardian needs to pick this channel when plenty of others exist.

It's because he's reaching an audience that normally wouldn't seek content about healthy home cooking. He also has an interesting personal backstory.

I've edited my comment to take out the personal jibe, but I would encourage you to think about the impression your comments give if you don't want to be seen that way.

Content doesn't always have to be pleasing to us personally for us to be able to peel back a layer and understand its place in the world.

It's a cooking show on youtube. I think we'll be ok.

Behaviors and attitudes deemed acceptable or mainstream don’t need to come from a grand source. Small things add up. This guy swears about 5 times in the first 60 seconds of his videos. It’s unnecessary and yet it’s being covered in a mainstream newspaper.

No, it's a fucking cooking show on the internet. It's not going to add up to shit.

When I was a kid people like you were complaining about all the cussing in hip hop. "They swear 5 times in the first 60 seconds". When my grandparents were young, people like you were complaining about the vulgar new "jazz" music that was going to corrupt the kids and make white women smoke dope.

btw, necessary is a completely bullshit criteria by which to judge any art or entertainment.

You know, when you call someone who disagrees with you not intelligent, you come off a bit of an asshole.

Yeah, even when it's true.

I said intelligent conversation. Nowhere did I say this person is unintelligent.

I’m also struggling to find a coherent argument or disagreement in the comment I replied to, so no, I don’t have an issue with people disagreeing with me.

Let me help. You disparaged a guy's speech because he uses too many f-words for punctuation and emphasis than what you find acceptable, declared his work idiotic, ascribed completely made-up motivations to him ("gain attention by swearing"), and bemoaned the fact that mainstream media won't just ignore him. All in the space of two sentences.

My argument is that you're behaving like a tendentious grump. Every form of expression -- silly or serious -- is subject to being declared vulgar and unnecessary by self-important grumps. Random examples given, others are easy to find. Eventually you might find yourself arguing with another grump over some art or expression that you enjoy. Unless, of course, you just don't really enjoy anything.

Nat's pretty smart - it's just buried in a lot of swearing and performing. I'd much rather a sharp and sweary guy with a good underlying sense of humor and a unique p.o.v. than yet another middle-brow "Ted talk dipshit" saying inane things while using $50,000 words they learned while coasting through grad school.

I don't care about the swearing either way. I don't think it's offensive, and I don't think it's hilarious. It's just - swearing.

But as an introvert this style of full-on campy hyper-edited perma-abrasiveness is incredibly tiring to watch.

My takeaway is that - unlike a good stand-up - he doesn't look relaxed or like he's having fun. It feels very forced, and that makes me uncomfortable.

I think you'll find he's just behaving like a typical Australian.

I'm slightly surprised as well and I'm wondering where is the innovation. There is a multitude of channels like this one, some even with slightly more sharp jokes. Maybe this could be sensation for someone who watches something on YouTube once in a month? Someone here mentioned that his videos are extremely popular on FB and this might be explanation - fb mainstream audience can be a bit of uninitiated and this style could be novelty for some.

All the people I see sharing these videos (in Australia) are educated people in their 30s and above, who really care about well-made, nutritious food, and love the fact that someone is presenting it in a quirky entertaining way that can reach a wider audience.