Skip to content

Essential videos of 2007

8 of the 258 videos uploaded in 2007 were judged high on "words matter": the ideas are the point of the video, so reading or watching for the argument pays off — a reading guide, not a best-of list. Each entry gives the thesis (with a link to where the argument starts) and one line on why it was judged idea-dense. Back to the overview.

Main speaker: John: 6 · Hank: 2

  • 2007-03-05 · John · Brotherhood 2.0: March 5, 2007: Hank's Punishment · Nerdfighteria, challenge
    • John rejects the 'Free Hank' campaign and sets Hank's punishment for textual communication: eat as many of 100 Peeps as he can in six minutes and pay a dollar per uneaten Peep into a new Brotherhood 2.0 fund for decreasing suck levels worldwide. (00:00:39)
    • Why it is here: Sets the rules of Hank's Peeps punishment and announces the fund whose wording ('decrease the overall level of the world's suck') is the earliest form of the channel's mission phrase.
  • 2007-03-06 · Hank · Brotherhood 2.0: Peeps and Genocide · World affairs, challenge
    • Hank performs his Peeps punishment while discussing the first Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club book, arguing that the Rwandan genocide shows how ordinary people can be driven to genocide by a recognisable mix of conditions that governments and citizens can learn to stop; he ends by making the four-minute limit a rule. (00:01:12)
    • Why it is here: Hank's argument about how genocide happens and how it can be prevented, and the founding wording of the four-minute rule, are both citable.
  • 2007-05-02 · John · Brotherhood 2.0: May 2: Book Banning · Books & writing, letter vlog
    • John argues against an Oklahoma high school's ban of Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle, whose only 'offense' is gay characters, says bans also keep books out of libraries, and asks viewers to email the school committee. (00:00:47)
    • Why it is here: John states a clear position on book banning (the chilling effect on library acquisitions, standing with librarians, gay characters as no reason for removal) and mobilises viewers.
  • 2007-06-28 · John · June 28: How to Be a Microfinancier · Global development, explainer
    • John recounts the brothers' visit to poor neighborhoods in the Dominican Republic, explains how lack of credit traps people in poverty and how a microfinance organization's borrowers repay and grow, and proposes that he and Hank (and maybe Nerdfighters) lend through Kiva.org. (00:02:36)
    • Why it is here: A sustained argument about the poverty cycle and microfinance, with several numeric claims, and the origin of the brothers' Kiva lending.
  • 2007-06-29 · Hank · How to be a Microfinancier Part 2 · Global development, letter vlog
    • Following John's video, Hank reflects that meeting the women in the Dominican Republic showed him that poor people are 'just people', not the downtrodden figures of TV commercials, calls microfinance a powerful way for them to improve their own lives, and lends $200 on Kiva.org on camera. (00:01:26)
    • Why it is here: A personal argument against seeing poor people as too downtrodden to relate to, plus a case for microfinance and a live Kiva loan.
    • Replies to: 2007-06-28 June 28: How to Be a Microfinancier
  • 2007-09-18 · John · September 18: In Defense of Chris Crocker · US politics & society, letter vlog
    • John argues that it is fine to laugh at Chris Crocker for caring so much about Britney Spears but not for failing gender expectations, which culture builds early and dichotomously, as 'in your pants' Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles playfully show. (00:00:37)
    • Why it is here: John makes an argued case about gender expectations and ridicule of gender-nonconforming people, with factual claims about intersex and transsexual people.
  • 2007-11-07 · John · November 7: Discussing the Political Situation in Pakistan · World affairs, explainer
    • Answering Hank's request, John recounts Pakistan's politics from 1988 to Musharraf's 2007 crackdown while eating 24 Peeps pumpkins, arguing Musharraf fuelled Pakistan's radicalization and cheering the protesting lawyers. (00:00:33)
    • Why it is here: A compact history of Pakistani politics with dates and figures and an argued claim about Musharraf and radicalization.
  • 2007-12-28 · John · Dec. 28th: John's Last Brotherhood 2.0 Video · Nerdfighteria, letter vlog
    • In his last Brotherhood 2.0 video John says the project let him know Hank as an adult, a rare pleasure between grown siblings, and that it was finished only because people watched; he argues that Nerdfighters are not about the brothers but a centerless community doing things that don't suck with people who don't suck. (00:00:22)
    • Why it is here: A closing statement of what the project meant (knowing a sibling as an adult) and what Nerdfighters are for, later echoed as a community self-definition.

2008 →