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United States

country · in 419 videos (2007–2026)

John often contrasts its wealth with its health outcomes, and in 2026 criticized deaths at the hands of US immigration officials.

Videos by year: 2007: 25 · 2008: 11 · 2009: 23 · 2010: 13 · 2011: 16 · 2012: 19 · 2013: 19 · 2014: 27 · 2015: 18 · 2016: 28 · 2017: 34 · 2018: 24 · 2019: 20 · 2020: 22 · 2021: 15 · 2022: 16 · 2023: 20 · 2024: 24 · 2025: 30 · 2026: 15

Also known as: America, USA, the US

Threads

Also named in the threads: Paper Towns: writing, revision and publication (2007) · Daniel Biss runs for Illinois state representative (2007) · John asks viewers to donate to Daniel Biss's Illinois state-representative campaign via ActBlue (2007) · John asks Nerdfighters to find 'Tiffany with no last name' (2007) · John: give a handsome reward to whoever finds Tiffany (2007) · John's giraffe-love bit ('people love giraffes who love giraffes') · John asks Nerdfighters to make candle-of-hope videos for Rwanda (2009) · John's 'giant squid of anger' (2009) · Tour de Hank: Hank's tour of shows and Nerdfighter gatherings (2009) · Hank asks Nerdfighters to join the Search, Discover, and Confirm balloon team (2009) · Open letters to our 15-year-old brothers: a vlogbrothers theme week (September 2010) · John asks Nerdfighters to buy the pizza shirt, back in stock at DFTBA.com/pizza (November 2010) · The Fault in Our Stars: writing, title and publication (2011) · John asks Nerdfighters to read The Great Gatsby with him for the Blurbing Book Club (summer 2011) · Blurbing Book Club 2011: group reading of The Great Gatsby · John: sign every copy of The Fault in Our Stars (2011) · John: the dollar's trusted status as world default currency will not go away soon (2011) · Crash Course: launch of the brothers' educational channel (2011) · The Fault in Our Stars film adaptation (2012) · John at BookExpo America in New York City (2012) · John is denied entry to Canada for insufficient funds (1995) and has been flagged at every entry since 2001 · Hank asks viewers over 18 to vote for somebody in the 2012 US election (2012) · Hank and John's trip to the UK, starting in London (February 2013) · John: the Fault in Our Stars film is actually going to happen (2013) · John asks viewers to mark the TFIOS film's June 6 release on their calendars (2013) · John asks viewers to check out Healthcare Triage, Aaron Carroll's health care show (2013) · John's World Cup fundraiser for the Foundation to Decrease World Suck (2013) · TFIOS film promotional tour: John with Nat Wolff, Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort, stops chosen by Tumblr vote (2014) · Hank asks viewers to comment to the FCC asking it to classify broadband internet as a common carrier service (2014) · Hank asks viewers to attend The Night Before Our Stars screening and livestream (2014)

Often together

What comes up in the same parts of the videos; the number is how many parts.

Canada (50) · United Kingdom (41) · Donald Trump (46) · China (29) · climate change (39) · United States Congress (34) · Europe (29) · United States presidential election (28) · Australia (25) · Republican Party (23)

What the videos say

The most important statements of each year; all statements.

2007

Also named in: Brotherhood 2.0: January 2nd, June 21: Gotta Get Outside!

2008

  • 2008-02-27 · People Who Love Giraffes Who Love Giraffes (The Song) — Hank: The refrain asks where the Vlogbrothers, and America, would be without people who love giraffes who love giraffes. (playful) — 00:01:00
  • 2008-04-28 · Ranting and Giving Stuff Away — John says the US is the richest country in the world yet has a higher infant mortality rate than Slovenia. — 00:02:16
    • John says the US is behind Puerto Rico (on infant mortality, by context), which has almost the same political system; the difference is that all Puerto Ricans have access to health care while millions of Americans don't. — 00:02:45
    • Against 'just work for a big corporation', John says the Wright brothers had no corporate benefits, and America's entrepreneurial spirit is being killed by the health-care crisis. — 00:03:14
  • 2008-05-30 · The Dread Pirate Fireball Roberts! (And Housekeeping) — announcement: John announces the 2008 Tour de Nerdfighting across America and hopefully a few places in Canada, telling Nerdfighters to mark their calendars for November. (hedged) — 00:00:48
  • 2008-07-04 · America Stands for Awesome — Hank spends the Fourth of July watching a baseball game in Missoula, Montana, which he says he does 'for America'. (playful) — 00:00:00
    • Hank says Americans celebrate with simulated battles of fireworks, baseball and hot dogs, things bad for bodies and the environment, but sometimes life is just about having fun. (playful) — 00:01:10
  • 2008-08-12 · PEANUT BUTTER FACE (while discussing the Georgia-Russia War) — John predicts Georgia will have to give the regions up, because neither Western Europe nor America will come to its military aid, which is Medvedev's point. — 00:02:57
  • 2008-11-03 · Hank and John from the Road — announcement: Hank: The Great American Tour de Nerdfighting 2008 begins, featuring Hank, John, Katherine and a minivan. — 00:00:00
  • 2008-11-05 · On Loving One Another or Dying — John says people who disagree with you are not evil, do not want to destroy America, and are neither terrorists nor fascists, but complicated people who contain multitudes. — 00:02:24
  • 2008-12-17 · Project for Awesome: DonorsChoose.org — Hank says John doesn't understand science not because he isn't smart but because science education in the US is bad. — 00:00:58
    • Hank says only about 17% of American adults are scientifically literate. — 00:00:58
  • …and 6 statements more in 2008 — all statements of 2008

2009

  • 2009-01-11 · SOMALI PIRATES! France Penetrates Chad! — John: The wars can't be explained as age-old tribalism: there is tribalism in Chad, but also in America, as any Alabama-Auburn football game shows. — 00:00:32
  • 2009-01-18 · PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA Inaugurated: Some Historical Background — John argues early American history shows the people involved had no idea their actions would later become so important. — 00:01:23
  • 2009-03-03 · Eating Man Meat — Hank tells John meat is bad: 80% of America's agricultural land is used to feed animals raised for food. — 00:01:50
  • 2009-03-15 · Lighting a candle for Rwanda — John says that 15 years ago the US, the UN and Europe got almost all of 'our people' out of Rwanda unharmed, leaving the hundreds of thousands killed to conclude they were 'a them'. — 00:00:54
  • 2009-05-17 · Burma! Myanmar? BURMA! — John says American John Yettaw flew to Burma and swam to Suu Kyi's lakefront house, where she let him recover; he was caught leaving. Her house arrest bars foreign visitors. — 00:02:46
  • 2009-05-26 · A Message to the Class of 2009 — Hank compares graduates to the first generation born in America: they are the first generation born on the internet. — 00:00:57
  • 2009-08-16 · Health Care Overhaul Summarized Via MASSIVE PIG — John likens the boar to America's healthcare system: impressively or distressingly huge; the debate boils down to killing him, putting him on a diet, or feeding him. (playful) — 00:00:18 · also in: Health Care Reform Thought Bubble
  • 2009-09-20 (said on 2009-09-21, implied) · Health Care Reform: The Hank Factor — John calls this the real conservative economic argument for a public health-insurance option across America. — 00:02:33
  • 2009-11-08 · H1N1 Vaccine Fears — John cites a study finding only 40% of parents of American schoolchildren plan to vaccinate their kids, the top reason being fear of side effects. — 00:00:47
  • 2009-11-25 · Things I'm Not Thankful For — Hank says he does not want to belittle Americans' bravery and sacrifice defending those ideals over 200 years, but every country defends its ideals; what he loves is that America has good ideals. — 00:00:29
  • 2009-12-03 (said on 2009-12-04, implied) · $40,000 of Red Balloons — Hank says DARPA, the U.S. military's research arm, which created the internet, is putting up 10 eight-foot weather balloons across the US; the first to locate all 10 wins $40,000. — 00:00:00
  • 2009-12-29 · Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill — John says about 30 million Americans who are currently uninsured or underinsured would be covered under the bill. — 00:00:29
  • …and 30 statements more in 2009 — all statements of 2009

2010

  • 2010-01-29 · An Extremely Brief History of Superbowl Commercials — Hank says the first Super Bowl aired in 1967 and that it has since become America's most watched yearly event. — 00:00:00
  • 2010-04-30 · The Greek Debt Crisis Explained in Four Minutes — John says sovereign debt is not a particularly political problem: a chart of US gross federal debt as a share of GDP by president shows no link to party, as in other developed countries. — 00:00:13
    • John says that in 1945 US debt was over 100% of GDP and the deficit over 20% of GDP, yet this immediately preceded the largest economic expansion in US history. — 00:00:59
    • Against those blaming wasteful spending, John says the US isn't close to a balanced budget: it would have to eliminate both its two biggest expenses, Social Security and defense, to come close. — 00:02:36
  • 2010-05-26 · How to Be Green Without Being a Prick — Hank argues the solution is understanding: without it you can only change yourself, and since China emits faster than the US, changing ourselves will not solve the problem. — 00:01:56
  • 2010-06-23 (said on 2010-06-24, implied) · GOOOOOOOL!!!! — Hank reports that the United States is moving on to the next round of the World Cup. — 00:00:35
  • 2010-09-06 · I HATE PENNIES!!!! (Also Nickels.) — John says it costs the US Mint 1.7 cents to make a penny, so every year $70 million of federal tax money subsidizes the penny. (doubtful: 1.7 cents) — 00:00:45
  • 2010-09-20 · Life Is Like Pizza — John says we all want to be on the inside of our communities (Ireland, the US, a clique, Nerdfighteria), and whether insiders need outsiders is a hard question Ulysses explores. — 00:01:39
    • John says asking what we really mean by such identifiers is a better start for conversations about who is American or a Nerdfighter than shouting at each other. — 00:01:54
  • 2010-11-05 · God and Grain: The French Revolution, Part I — John says the US had just won its Revolutionary War, which would have been impossible without France's support. — 00:00:38
    • To show the scale of France's debt, John says the US spent 5% of its federal budget servicing its debt in 2009, while France in 1789 spent 50%. — 00:00:51
  • 2010-12-29 · Baby on the Road: Thoughts from Places — John: Driving north, John reflects that his old road trips all went west, partly because that is where America's open space is and partly because of a line in All the King's Men. — 00:01:16
  • …and 17 statements more in 2010 — all statements of 2010

2011

  • 2011-01-17 · Cheating Cheaters of Cheatery: The Amazing Story of Brazil's Cotton War with the U.S. — John grants that American cotton subsidies create jobs but argues the same $3 billion could create more, through more efficient direct government stimulus or by leaving the capital to private industry, one reason economists generally hate industry-specific subsidies. — video description
  • 2011-01-26 · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! — John: The real reason the US needs universal health insurance with good drug coverage is economic: a healthier workforce spending on innovation rather than Asacol will benefit the American economy. — 00:03:13
  • 2011-03-07 · Why is Haiti Poor? — Hank says Haiti shed colonialism much sooner than most of the world, but its 20th century was really bad government: coups, civil war, war with the DR, US occupation, dictators, military rule. — 00:02:21
  • 2011-05-25 · Thoughts from a Battlefield — Hank says the treaty homeland had good cattle range and later gold; partly fearing the Nez Perce would keep it, the US forced them into another treaty, 'not a good deal', which many tribes refused. — 00:01:57
  • 2011-06-01 · The Evil Baby Orphanage Returns...for George Washington? — John questions the nearly universal assumption that the American Revolution was a good thing, asking how removing baby Washington would change history. (hedged) — 00:00:49
  • 2011-06-10 · Then I Took Off My Bra — announcement: John says he and Hank will go on tour in the United States when his new, as-yet-untitled but soon-to-be-titled book comes out. — 00:02:15
  • 2011-07-18 · Gatsby's American Dream: Reading The Great Gatsby Critically, Chapter 1 — John defines the American Dream as the idea that everyone, regardless of standing, has an equal opportunity to become successful, which in the US generally means rich. — 00:00:00
  • 2011-07-22 · Your Yard Is EVIL — John argues the American front lawn is the best possible example of how status quo bias can lead to complete insanity. — 00:00:33
  • 2011-07-27 · 150,000 Autographs — announcement: John announces that all pre-orders of The Fault in Our Stars, wherever buyers live (the US, the UK, Canada, Malaysia), will be signed, and promises to get it done. — 00:02:45
  • 2011-08-10 · Understanding America's Debt Problem — John says the US debt-to-GDP ratio is therefore about 100%, which could be worse but is not good. — 00:00:51
  • 2011-10-12 · Coming Out and Sperm Spikes — Hank's message for National Coming Out Day (today in the UK, yesterday in the US): be honest with yourself and the people you love, even if unsure who you are, as most of us are; try to be who you are. — 00:03:28
  • 2011-12-30 · How to Tip Properly — Hank calls tipping a peculiar American practice, illogical, economically troubling and psychologically dubious: he gives money unasked and not required by law, without knowing why he feels he should. (playful) — 00:00:00
  • …and 55 statements more in 2011 — all statements of 2011

2012

  • 2012-01-06 · Kill your TV — Hank says the average American apparently watches five hours of television a day, so will spend 4.5 years of their life watching advertisements, by his own math. (hedged) — 00:02:27
  • 2012-05-05 · It's HANKO DE MAYO!!!!! — John: In his letter to Congressman Carson, John asks for more federal support for NASA and science: government-backed science has improved every life and is a gift to future people, and the United States should lead in increasing awesome. — video description
  • 2012-08-31 · Why The Rich Pay Lower Taxes — Hank opens a special edition on the basics of US tax policy and why Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. — 00:00:00
  • 2012-09-21 · You. Must. Vote. — Hank says the richest, most powerful man in America gets one vote, the same as you, so voting, if nothing else, is fair. — 00:00:35
    • Hank thinks voting in America is not a privilege but a responsibility to the country, ourselves, fellow Americans, the world and the future, because US laws affect everything. (hedged) — 00:03:20
  • 2012-10-09 · Attacked by Squirrels and Neoclassicism: Thoughts from Places, Washington D.C. — John notes everything they did that day was free to all, and argues that inside the neoclassical 'temple-fortresses' the American ideas of equal opportunity and equal access still live. — 00:03:12
  • 2012-10-23 · Understanding the National Debt and Budget Deficit — John: Contrary to the guess 'China', John says the plurality of that debt is owned by American individuals and institutions; China owns about 8%, Japan 7% and the UK 1%. — 00:01:05
  • 2012-10-26 · Apples! CGP Grey Style — Hank says almost every apple anyone has eaten descends from wild apple trees in Kazakhstan, so apples are immigrants rather than 'American as apple pie'. (hedged) — 00:00:35
  • 2012-11-02 · Disney Buys Star Wars and DFTVA! — announcement: Hank announces that the Harry Potter Alliance and the Vlogbrothers are teaming up on DFTVA, 'Don't Forget to Vote, America', for anyone who cares about the election. — 00:01:41
  • 2012-11-07 · The 51st State — Hank says Puerto Rico is not part of America but a territory, 'a colony, basically': self-governing, yet the US sets its foreign policy, trade and wars; it pays many US taxes but has no vote or representation. — 00:00:41
    • The bigger barrier may be that Americans dislike change: the 50 states feel numerologically fixed though the number has often changed, and politics follows what feels true. (hedged) — 00:02:54
  • 2012-12-17 · THE PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2012 IS HERE! Save the Children. — John explains that the $1.25-a-day line uses purchasing power parity, not exchange rates: it means living on what $1.25 buys in the US, so it does not stretch further in Zambia. — 00:00:52
  • …and 39 statements more in 2012 — all statements of 2012

2013

  • 2013-01-29 · Across Three Continents: A Tale of Tumblr, Copyright, and Excellent Posters — John sums up: his book written in the US inspired a painting by a reader in the Philippines, which inspired a poster by a reader in Norway, and international copyright law isn't ready for that. — 00:02:18
  • 2013-02-01 · Football For Nerds — Hank says football's ability to hold attention, and its many breaks for advertising ('America's second favorite pastime, being advertised to'), have made it an economic powerhouse. (playful) — 00:01:59
  • 2013-03-12 · Understand the Sequester (Spoiler: It's Bananas.) — John says the US has a long-term debt problem but not a short-term one: it can borrow extremely cheaply because it is a strong economy that has never defaulted. — 00:01:36
  • 2013-04-05 · North Korea: Explained — Hank says military dictatorships need an enemy; rattling sabres at the US lets the regime pretend to its isolated citizens that it is a global power. — 00:02:48
  • 2013-04-09 · Inside North Korea — John says Shin is a hero because he developed an ethical center after escaping, in China, South Korea and the US: in Shin's words, evolving into a human being. — 00:02:41
  • 2013-05-10 · Some Mind-Bending Earth GIFs — Hank says America's appetite for cheap coal to power its lifestyles has led to mountaintop removal mining in much of Appalachia, which he finds astounding and terrifying to watch. — 00:00:49
  • 2013-05-31 · Optimism is Not Insane — Hank: Showing a graph of health and wealth of every country from 1900 to 2011, Hank says every country is better off, and some African countries now do better than the US did in 1900. — 00:01:51
  • 2013-08-20 · Why Are American Health Care Costs So High? — John says that, although free health care elsewhere is said to be paid for by higher taxes, the US spends more tax money per capita on health care than Germany, Australia, the UK or Canada. — 00:00:08
  • 2013-08-23 · Thoughts from Bath: The Legacy of Wealth — Hank says most of what we see of cultural history is an artifact of concentrated wealth, and our age's greatest objects - the Burj Khalifa, iPhone, Harry Potter films, Hubble - likely will be too, much of that wealth American. (hedged) — 00:02:32
  • 2013-09-03 · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform — John returns to the subject of America's inefficient health care system to make a capitalist argument for reform, starting with a brief defense of capitalism. — 00:00:00
  • 2013-09-20 · 42 Amazing Maps — Hank says Africa is very big: bigger than the United States, France, Germany, Spain, the UK, all of Eastern Europe, China and India. — 00:02:46
  • 2013-12-31 · GOOD NEWS: 14 Reasons 2014 May Be the Best Year Ever — John says US road deaths per 100 million miles fell from 3.5 in 1980 to 1.1 in 2011; against a 1980 baseline, safer cars and drivers saved 60,000 American lives in 2013. — 00:02:28
  • …and 45 statements more in 2013 — all statements of 2013

2014

  • 2014-02-04 · Should We Raise the Minimum Wage? — John says the United States is a rich country and that growing evidence suggests the US does not benefit from having poor workers. (hedged) — 00:03:31
  • 2014-03-18 · Is the American Dream Real? — John says American national self-understanding of the American Dream rests on anecdotes like the mover's and Andrew Carnegie's, but the actual data are less dreamy. — 00:00:44
  • 2014-04-08 · I Don't Even Know — John reports a 2013 US Sentencing Commission study finding African Americans on average receive sentences 20% longer than white people for similar crimes. — 00:00:55
  • 2014-05-30 · Nerdfighteria Census 2014 Results! — announcement: Hank announces The Night Before Our Stars: US-only screenings (not everywhere, not Missoula) on June 5, the day before release, then a livestream with John, Nat Wolff, Ansel Elgort, Shailene Woodley and Josh Boone. (hedged) — 00:02:58
  • 2014-06-17 · Old. — John is auctioning his World Cup support for sarcoma research; as of Tuesday he is no longer for the United States but all in for Mexico. — 00:00:03
  • 2014-07-15 · Exciting Announcements and Mosquito-Borne Illnesses — John says the US has excellent health facilities, information and infrastructure (clinic power rarely fails), which help it handle mosquito-borne and other communicable diseases relatively effectively. — 00:02:07
  • 2014-08-26 · Food Is Weird: Understanding Agriculture in the Developing World — John: Most of Ethiopia's food aid traditionally came from the US; now almost half comes from within Ethiopia, which is cheaper, more efficient and raises yields. — 00:04:17
  • 2014-09-22 · Bill Gates and John Green Discuss Agriculture — John says agriculture is a weird market: capitalist, yet the US gives what amounts to direct assistance through crop insurance; like health, it is kind of a market and kind of not. — 00:00:56
  • 2014-09-29 · Bill Gates and John Green Discuss Progress — Bill Gates: Gates says rich countries like the US assume reliable refrigerators, 24-hour electricity and easy access to doctors, so matching good ideas with big needs is a pretty imperfect process. — 00:00:59
  • 2014-10-03 · Hong Kong Protests Explained — Hank says that in America mocking a politician on TV can make them seem stronger, but in tightly controlled China such criticism makes a politician look extremely weak; its culture accepts no derision. (hedged) — 00:02:10
  • 2014-10-24 · #Octothorpe - A Symbolistic Journey — Hank: The symbol was nearly out of use until the end of the 19th century, when the Teletype Corporation was inventing binary codes; the US gave the UK pound-sign code 10111 to the obsolete # instead of £. — 00:00:50
  • 2014-12-30 · Racism in the United States: By the Numbers — John says recent surveys show about 75% of white Americans see no racial bias in criminal justice, and a slight majority don't see racism as a significant problem. — 00:00:12
  • …and 62 statements more in 2014 — all statements of 2014

2015

  • 2015-03-06 · WE WON! Net Neutrality and Re-Thinking Cynicism — Hank reports that the internet in the US has been reclassified as a public utility, giving the government the power to keep it neutral, and new FCC rules guarantee it will. — 00:02:03
  • 2015-03-24 · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later — John says the US spent more than 17% of GDP on health care, while Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlands spend under 10% with similar or better outcomes. — 00:01:38
  • 2015-05-26 · Sixteen Parts — announcement: John: The Paper Towns film comes out in about 56 days in the US, at different times elsewhere; John will travel to support the release, at least to Brazil and the UK and probably other places. (hedged) — 00:02:58
  • 2015-06-08 · Monday Bonus Video! — announcement: John, Nat and Cara will tour the US in July, visiting the states with the most votes at papertownsmovie.com/tour, where one Tumblr like or reblog counts as one vote, until June 15. — 00:01:10
  • 2015-06-12 · Why is College So Expensive? — Hank says US college costs have more than tripled since 1980, rising faster even than the cost of medical care. — 00:00:01
  • 2015-07-07 · Understanding the Financial Crisis in Greece — John: Despite signs of recovery, Greek unemployment is over 25 percent, 30 percent live in poverty, almost one in five cannot afford adequate food, and the depression matches the US Great Depression. — 00:04:41
  • 2015-09-04 · Addicted to Outrage — Hank calls the fear that the 50% of Americans around us are thoughtless, terrible and foolish America's most common irrational fear, as irrational as guacamole tarantulas. (hedged) — 00:00:21
  • 2015-09-08 · Understanding the Refugee Crisis in Europe, Syria, and around the World — John says the common claim that immigrants disproportionately commit crimes is untrue: a huge body of data shows US refugees and first-generation immigrants commit crimes far less than other Americans. — 00:06:11
  • 2015-09-18 · Muslims Aren't Dangerous — Hank writes that the vast majority of people are good, that the debate rests wholly on the idea that this is not true of Muslims, and that many in America have come to believe it, which terrifies him because it rests only on fear and prejudice. — video description
  • 2015-11-24 · Crime and Outrage — John says the US violent crime rate has fallen dramatically since 1990: there are about half as many violent crimes per 1,000 Americans as 25 years ago. — 00:00:01
  • 2015-11-27 (said on 2015-11-26, implied) · Never Satisfied: The Story of Humans ¦-/ — Hank argues we need to focus less on who our opponents are and more on what we are actually trying to achieve; increasingly in America he sees the discourse as 'the problem is those people in our way' rather than 'the problem is the problem'. (hedged) — video description
  • 2015-12-01 · John's Book Giving Guide for the Holidays! — recommendation: John's favorite book of the year is Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me, a short, relentless and brilliant meditation on race and history in the United States. — 00:00:18
  • …and 42 statements more in 2015 — all statements of 2015

2016

Also named in: Understanding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's Tax Plans

2017

Also named in: The Life Changing Magic of Thumbs Up

2018

2019

  • 2019-03-01 · I Get a Robocall While Making a Video About Robocalls — Hank says the FTC predicts that sometime in 2019 more US mobile phone calls will attempt to defraud people than not: more robocalls than calls. — 00:00:00
  • 2019-03-29 · The Largest Theft of All Time — Hank says wage theft, an employer not paying legally required wages and benefits, is the largest property crime: $20-60 billion of US workers' labor a year, more than Madoff and all other property crime. — 00:02:36
  • 2019-05-31 · Uncomfortable Nuance: Natural Gas Edition — Hank says that in the last ten years coal has become an economically unviable way to make power, at least in America: huge, very good news, brought largely though not entirely by fracking. — 00:03:06
  • 2019-06-11 · Why I Haven't Written a New Book — announcement: John: The Turtles All the Way Down paperback is published today in the US: cheaper than the hardcover, softer cover, a Q&A at the back and a couple of typos fixed. — 00:00:16
  • 2019-06-25 · Seemed Like a Good Idea: Eugene Schieffelin and the European Starlings — John: The American starling population has grown from 60 birds to around 200 million; there are now more European starlings in the Americas than in Europe. — 00:00:58
  • 2019-07-30 · The Mexican Repatriation — John: During the Great Depression the US deported at least 400,000 and possibly as many as 2 million Mexican-Americans, most of them US citizens. (hedged) — 00:00:00
  • 2019-08-16 · ...Not My Proudest Moment — Hank thinks much of America is stuck on the idea that racism is a secret disease only monsters have. — 00:02:11
  • 2019-08-23 · The Amazon isn't "Burning" - It's Being Burned — Hank says fire is not a natural part of the Amazon ecosystem, so many rainforest trees cannot survive what in the US would be a trivial burn. — 00:00:58
  • 2019-09-27 · Crisis — Hank says the United States is now below its 1995 level of carbon dioxide, which he calls wild. — 00:02:45
  • 2019-10-01 · Why Are Poor Countries Poor? — John: A community can't spend what it doesn't have: at the UK's share of GDP, Sierra Leone would have about $45 per person yearly for health care; the US spends over $10,000 per person on health and over $12,000 per child on education. — 00:01:56
  • 2019-12-03 · We Are Cats Now, I Guess? — John: In the US many types of childhood leukemia have cure rates over 80%, while in poor communities the same cancers are virtual death sentences. — 00:02:28
  • 2019-12-27 · Why I'm Worried about 2020 — Hank says that in many ways the world, even just America, got better over the last ten years. — 00:00:25
  • …and 47 statements more in 2019 — all statements of 2019

2020

  • 2020-04-10 · Things I'm Finding Encouraging — Hank says if America will ever recognize that getting health care through one's employer is arbitrary, cruel and ludicrous, this is the moment. — 00:00:24
  • 2020-06-02 · --- — John says the root cause of the US crisis is the ongoing violence and discrimination Black Americans have experienced for over 400 years. — 00:00:29
  • 2020-07-10 · What a Concept!! — Hank: Where ideas come from matters to Hank, as a weekly video maker and as a person, because almost everything is an idea: justice, America, money, borders, political parties, businesses. — 00:00:29
  • 2020-07-14 · The ice we skate is getting pretty thin. — John: The US is experiencing an explosion of new COVID-19 cases even as many other countries make serious progress against the pandemic. — 00:00:58
  • 2020-08-18 · what's wrong with taking the back streets? — In a comment John explains the number: at least 170,000 Americans had died of COVID-19 as of the day before. — creator comment
  • 2020-09-01 · get the show on — announcement: John: As he did with The Fault in Our Stars, John says he will sign the entire first printing of the American and Canadian edition. — 00:01:27
  • 2020-10-09 · The Rax Guy — ask: John asks viewers eligible to vote in the US to vote and make a voting plan, recommending an accountability buddy to make sure they carry it out. — 00:01:50
  • 2020-10-23 · 10 Reasons to Vote RIGHT NOW — ask: Hank: Ten days before the US general election, Hank encourages everyone to vote right now, or, where they must wait, to make a plan now for when and how to vote on November 3rd. — 00:00:00
  • 2020-11-06 (said on 2020-11-05, implied) · Just Some Election Thoughts… — Hank says the result is close enough that Trump can falsely claim the election was stolen from him, and many of his supporters will completely lose faith in the American system. — 00:00:58
  • 2020-11-10 · On Immunity, Inoculation, and Individuals — John says African communities had effective inoculation strategies too: Cotton Mather, often credited in America with inventing smallpox inoculation, learned it from an enslaved African named Onesimus. — 00:01:56
  • 2020-11-24 · personal risk · societal risk — John: In the US a 75-year-old with COVID-19 has well over a 90% chance of surviving; at John's age, even with some pre-existing conditions, over 98%. — 00:00:00
  • 2020-12-15 · America's Capital of Dead Vice Presidents — John says no Indiana vice president went on to become president: 18% of US vice presidents who never became president are from Indiana, which has just 2% of the US population. — 00:01:27
  • …and 35 statements more in 2020 — all statements of 2020

Also named in: Your Brain Gets Smart, but Your Head Gets Dumb

2021

  • 2021-02-02 · I Predicted the Pandemic (over and over and over again) — John: From the Great Dying in the Americas to the Black Death in Eurasia, infectious disease has long been a central force in human history, and not only ancient history. — 00:00:29
    • Since the first US AIDS-related death, when John was four, tens of millions have died of AIDS-related illnesses, mostly in impoverished communities denied antiretroviral therapy for decades. — 00:00:29
  • 2021-03-26 · Why I'm Worried about 2021 — Hank says that sometime in the next month 25% of people in the US will be fully vaccinated, many of them the most at-risk. — 00:00:29
    • A society has an acceptable disease burden: in the US something like 30,000 people die of flu each year, some of them infants and children, yet beyond vaccines and hygiene advice life went on as before. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • 2021-04-06 · How Do You Do, Fellow Kids? — John: The COVID vaccines approved in the US and much of the world are safe and effective; over 100 million people have received them, and they dramatically reduce personal and societal risk. — 00:01:27
  • 2021-04-23 · Young People and the COVID Vaccine — Hank: In the US everyone over 16 can now get a COVID vaccine; over 200 million doses have been given and around 40% of people have had at least one dose. — 00:00:00
  • 2021-05-21 · The 19 Best Facts — Hank: The second-largest purchaser of explosives in the US is the happiest place on Earth. — 00:02:04
  • 2021-08-13 · How We Fix the Climate — Hank: Frustratingly, all carbon pricing looks less and less likely in the US, partly because leaving it to the market gives little control: costs may fall on marginalized communities and benefits go to the well connected. — 00:11:12
    • In the US the right will not vote for any of this, so without every Democrat's vote there will be no carbon tax. — 00:12:10
  • 2021-08-27 · Is it Better Not to Know? — Hank: Ocean plastic is about 50% fishing equipment, and almost all the rest comes from places without robust waste management systems like those in the US. — 00:02:48
  • 2021-09-28 · 11 Great Books You Probably Haven't Read — announcement: In a comment John says he read a viewer-recommended book, Dear America, on another Nerdfighter's recommendation, should have included it, and will add it to the Bookshop list. — creator comment
  • 2021-11-12 · Everything a Normal Person Needs to Know About Helium — Hank says the US had a gigantic strategic helium reserve, and Congress ordered it to sell all its helium by a set date at any price, tanking helium prices so gas producers had no incentive to refine helium. — 00:01:56
  • …and 11 statements more in 2021 — all statements of 2021

Also named in: A Lie I Heard this Week

2022

2023

  • 2023-01-24 · Behind the Scenes of my TUMBLR MEME LORD ERA — John says the Awesome Coffee Club supplies coffee, now including decaf, to over 10,000 subscribers in the US and Canada and donates 100% of its profits to charity. — 00:02:58
  • 2023-03-14 · The Seduction of Despair — John says destruction is fast, loud and dramatic, reparative work slow and quiet; that's where his hope is, in big projects (a maternal hospital in Sierra Leone, US voting rights) and quiet human moments. — 00:03:10
  • 2023-04-21 · On TikTok Bans — Hank: Not claiming to understand US-China relations, Hank says what the Chinese government would do with its influence over TikTok in 10 years may differ greatly from today. (hedged) — 00:01:33
  • 2023-06-20 · Reflections from a Terrible CEO — John says they are working, in small and insufficient ways, on the injustices of high US college costs and high global maternal mortality. — 00:04:08
  • 2023-06-27 · Alone on the Cancer Boat: A Vlogbrothers Reunion — John says a big thing both learned about cancer is how unequal access to treatment is, in the US and rich countries and especially between rich and poorer countries. — 00:05:44
  • 2023-07-18 · Tuberculosis Fighters Have a Posse — John says new HIV treatments still did not reach impoverished communities until activists in the US, Europe and the Global South worked together to build that constituency. — 00:01:56
  • 2023-08-04 · The Biggest Science Story of the Week — Hank predicts that within 10 or 20 years it will be hot enough to cause many marine extinctions and many human deaths, including heat deaths in the US. — 00:04:40
  • 2023-08-15 · Henry — John says a better, less toxic treatment protocol built on bedaquiline had been available for years in the United States and other rich countries. — 00:00:58
  • 2023-09-14 · Talking Tuberculosis, GeneXpert, J&J, and more with MY HEROES — Animesh Sinha: Dr. Sinha says TB has classically gone with poverty: incidence rises after wars and in poor places and falls as living conditions, nutrition and immunity improve, as in the US. — 00:21:03
    • John says much of that funding came from the NIH and American taxpayers, and some from taxpayers outside the US. — 00:41:20
  • 2023-11-24 · It Wasn't Supposed to be Thanksgiving Yesterday — Hank says FDR was a little bit right: in years with more days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, US employment numbers significantly increase. — 00:03:04
  • 2023-12-08 · Did Natural Cancer Treatments Save My Life? — Hank says some people on Earth today live the reality of the US 80 years ago, and we don't have to live in a world like that. — 00:05:59
  • …and 18 statements more in 2023 — all statements of 2023

2024

  • 2024-02-27 · I Was Wrong about the Average American — John says imagining Jessica is interesting, but few if any people are much like her because the US is extraordinarily diverse. — 00:03:24
  • 2024-03-08 · I Believed These Four Lies — Hank says NOAA and Scientific American did not misrepresent the data: Twitter users did, and others then attributed that misrepresentation to the two institutions. — 00:06:56
  • 2024-03-12 · How We End TB — John says TB is still a problem in the United States, but its death rate there has fallen by over 99%. — 00:00:29
  • 2024-03-19 · Our $80,000,000 Bet — announcement: John reports that at a Thursday briefing USAID announced a program funding comprehensive TB care in regions of Ethiopia and the Philippines, meant as a blueprint and beacon for ending TB worldwide. — 00:01:27
    • John says that in the Philippines USAID will give $10 million a year, his family $1 million a year, and the Philippine government $11 million a year, matching both. — 00:01:27
  • 2024-04-05 · Two Reasons Why This Eclipse is So Dangerous — Hank says that around the 2017 eclipse, US car-crash deaths rose from a background rate of about 7.9 per hour to over 10 per hour. — 00:01:33
  • 2024-04-09 · Hank and John Reunited WITH RAX — announcement: John: Answering viewers, John says the Turtles All the Way Down film will stream on Max in the UK, the Netherlands and other listed places, out May 2 in most places including the US. — 00:04:57
  • 2024-05-03 · Everything Wrong with Turtles All the Way Down — announcement: Hank says the film is on Max; in the US Max can be had through the Play Store, the App Store, Amazon Prime or Max.com. — 00:02:39
  • 2024-07-05 · Should I Run for President?? — Hank concludes that people without experience of how government works should get some before leading the United States, so he should not run for president. — 00:03:28
  • 2024-08-02 · My Letter to the Future — Hank predicts today's agricultural land use will be seen as outrageous, much of the American interior will be wild, and America will have more than 10 million bison. — 00:01:28
  • 2024-08-16 · I Have Uncovered an Olympics Mystery… — Hank notes Europe's 160 bronze medals: 0.21 bronze medals per million people, far more than the US's 0.12. — 00:04:39
  • 2024-11-08 · These Maps are Lying (if you let them) — Hank says the popular vote-swing maps show something important but specific: the 2020-to-2024 percentage change in the Republican–Democrat spread in each county. — 00:03:04
  • …and 69 statements more in 2024 — all statements of 2024

2025

  • 2025-01-28 · This Is Not Normal — John says that in the US and globally none of this happened naturally: it is not natural for the world to become less hungry or less sick. — 00:01:27
  • 2025-02-11 · What's at Stake — John says it is devastating to watch the US haphazardly and chaotically freeze, in effect, all TB funding. — 00:02:55
  • 2025-02-28 · We Will Eradicate Measles — Hank's script says USAID helps America by increasing its influence, making other countries more stable and making it less likely disease outbreaks reach the US. — 00:07:56
  • 2025-03-07 · How Social Security Fraud Actually Works — Hank says a more frequent audit shows only about 90,000 people over 99 (he also says over 100) are collecting benefits in the US, which is what matters, not the database count. — 00:04:35
  • 2025-04-11 (said on 2025-04-10, implied) · How Actually Crazy is This Mess? — Hank says this destroys trust between the US and the world, isolating it, opening the way for more trustworthy partners, destabilising the global economy and weakening US strength: S tier. — 00:13:05
  • 2025-06-10 · 90,000,000 Lives for $20 — John says graphs of child mortality, TB and HIV deaths since 2000 all bring good news, but this progress will stop and reverse because of the US-led global pullback in health funding. — 00:00:00
  • 2025-07-04 · This Graph Changed My Life — Hank says that seeing such comments, most people think all Fox News viewers, all Republicans and half of Americans think this way: imagining a group, we assume all its members believe the same things. — 00:01:28
  • 2025-08-19 · The Problem with My Brother's Hit New App — John says that as of recording Hank's app Focus Friend is the most popular app in the United States, ahead of ChatGPT, TikTok, Gmail and all others. — 00:00:03
  • 2025-09-23 · Why Can't I Take My Meds? — John says so-called patient non-compliance contributes to over 125,000 deaths a year in the United States alone, about as many as die from murder and diabetes combined. — 00:00:29
  • 2025-10-17 · We Never Know What Anything Means — Hank: Once the telegraph spread across the eastern US, people sent word of where the birds were and hunted them en masse; with canning and rail reaching distant markets, this did the passenger pigeon in. — 00:01:41
  • 2025-11-04 · The Real Question — John says that, before antibiotics, the US and many other countries reduced TB rates by over 80% just by improving nutrition and housing. — 00:00:58
  • 2025-11-24 · Good Store Holiday Gift Guide LIVE with Hank and John — announcement: John: Answering 65 viewers, John says US customers must order by December 8 for delivery by Christmas. — 00:21:54
  • …and 77 statements more in 2025 — all statements of 2025

Also named in: The Web is Going to Die

2026

  • 2026-02-03 · Does the truth still matter? — John says many people have died in the custody or at the hands of US immigration officials, and official accounts are hard to trust because officials clearly lied in the two videotaped cases. — 00:00:00
    • John says what is new, in his view, is that the executive branch claims, and is allowed to claim, widespread powers to detain people in the US without much interference from the other branches. — 00:01:56
    • John says polling indicates real changes among the US voting public, which has shifted by over 20% on the subject of ICE in the last few months. — 00:04:23
  • 2026-02-13 · Why Isn't Everybody a Nonprofit?! — Hank explains that in the US, organizations meeting all requirements of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code pay no federal income tax on the profit they generate. — 00:02:05
  • 2026-03-31 · I've Been Keeping a Secret… — ask: John asks viewers to pre-order the signed edition at hollywoodendingbook.com soon; signed copies are available in the US and Canada. — 00:03:24
  • 2026-04-24 · The AI Question that No AI Person Asks — Hank calls the lack of housing people want where they want it one of the big problems underlying many others in America, worse where he lives than elsewhere. — 00:00:36
  • 2026-05-01 · Despair is Not Wisdom — Hank: On the US aid cuts, Hank says we cannot be numb to the brutality of the richest man in the world taking aid from the poorest people; he will never forgive it and finds it monstrous. — 00:01:27
  • 2026-05-08 · My Deathday — Hank says about 95% of people diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in the US are alive five years later, and about 89% worldwide. — 00:03:24
  • 2026-08-14 · Pain in the _____ — Hank says in British books 'pain in the arse' led 'pain in the ass' for a while, but America appears to have won. (hedged) — 00:05:50
  • 2026-08-26 · Jad Abumrad on Dolly Parton: 'The Unicorn of Unicorns' — Hank says Dolly Parton's America is a series about America, power and the partisan divide, and about how Dolly occupies a space where it is okay to just be American. — 00:03:05
  • 2026-08-28 · Why the Deadliest Virus Was the Easiest to Kill — Hank says tuberculosis has a huge latent human reservoir: even in the US, where TB is rare, something like 13 million people carry TB bacteria without symptoms. (hedged) — 00:01:56
  • 2026-10-20 · Correcting a Mistake in Everything Is Tuberculosis · 50 x 50 Science — John says the United States dramatically reduced its tuberculosis rate between 1890 and 1940 by making homes and factories less crowded and improving air circulation, which reduced airborne transmission. — 00:02:26
  • …and 25 statements more in 2026 — all statements of 2026