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Essential videos of 2011

32 of the 155 videos uploaded in 2011 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: 18 · Hank: 14

  • 2011-01-17 · John · Cheating Cheaters of Cheatery: The Amazing Story of Brazil's Cotton War with the U.S. · Economics, explainer
    • John retells a Planet Money story: the US illegally subsidizes its cotton farmers, Brazil won a WTO case against it, and rather than comply the US agreed in 2010 to pay Brazilian cotton farmers $147 million a year. (00:00:16)
    • Why it is here: A compact account of a trade dispute with dates and dollar figures ($3 billion subsidy, 2002/2004/2008 rulings, $147 million a year) and an argued conclusion about fairness and power.
  • 2011-01-21 · John · Looking for Alaska Five Years After the Printz Award · Books & writing, story
    • Five years after Looking for Alaska won the Printz Award, John argues that the lone-writer story of the book is too simple: many people wrote parts of it, and the real business of books is done by readers. (00:01:07)
    • Why it is here: John's own account of how his first novel was made (helpers, title, revisions, award) and an argued claim about authorship and readers that recurs in his later talks.
  • 2011-01-24 · Hank · The 1200% Increase in my Prescription Drug Costs · Health, letter vlog
    • Hank, furious that the price of his ulcerative-colitis drug Asacol HD jumped from $50 to $620 a month when a patient savings card lapsed early, asks viewers to write civilly to Warner Chilcott's CEO and argues this must be fixed for everyone, not just him. (00:01:26)
    • Why it is here: A first-hand account of a drug price hike with specific prices, dates and a direct call to contact a named CEO; the numbers and claims about the company's conduct matter.
  • 2011-01-26 · John · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! · Economics, letter vlog
    • Answering Hank's drug-price video, John buys Warner Chilcott stock to show that the company works for its shareholders, and argues that free markets, good at much, fail at health care, so the US needs universal health insurance for its economy's sake. (00:00:57)
    • Why it is here: An argued case about markets, pharmaceutical incentives and universal health insurance, with concrete prices and a Canada comparison.
    • Replies to: 2011-01-24 The 1200% Increase in my Prescription Drug Costs
  • 2011-01-31 · John · Revolution in Egypt: A 4-Minute Introduction · World affairs, explainer
    • Asked by Nerdfighters, John explains Egypt's 2011 protests against Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule and argues that, since revolutions have a poor track record, the hard work starts after Mubarak goes, so we should keep paying attention once the story stops being shiny. (00:02:56)
    • Why it is here: Dense history and figures (population, religion, dates, political prisoners) plus John's stated view that revolutions have a poor track record and his call to keep paying attention.
  • 2011-02-02 · Hank · Top 5 Awesome Things About the Webb Telescope · Science & nature, list
    • Hank argues that the world gets better both by decreasing suck and by increasing awesome, so space spending is worthwhile, and lists five reasons the James Webb Space Telescope is awesome though it will not cure malaria. (00:00:11)
    • Why it is here: A stated position on space spending ('decrease the suck and increase the awesome') plus many checkable figures about the telescope.
  • 2011-02-09 · John · NERDFIGHTERS UNITE! (in your pants) · Nerdfighteria, letter vlog
    • Answering talk about Nerdfighteria changing as it grows, John sets two rules (don't be mean, DFTBA), recalls the community's recent accomplishments, announces the coming Your Pants forum, and argues that Nerdfighter is an identity you choose and define by living it. (00:02:59)
    • Why it is here: A statement of the community's rules and of what being a Nerdfighter means, with the announcement of a new community forum.
  • 2011-02-18 · John · Thoughts from Places: Small Town America · History & curiosities, documentary visit
    • Visiting Knightstown, Indiana and its cemetery, John reflects that small towns and people have futures no one can predict, as with a young widow's headstone, so all we can really do is be kind to each other. (00:01:18)
    • Why it is here: A compact visual essay on names, stories, small-town futures and the unknowability of one's own future, ending in a moral.
  • 2011-03-16 · Hank · Why Did Fukushima Explode? · Science & nature, explainer
    • Postponing his thoughts from Haiti, Hank explains nuclear terms and how a reactor works, then why Fukushima is in trouble: decay heat with coolant systems knocked out by the earthquake and tsunami, hydrogen explosions, and uncooled spent-fuel pools. He says he does not know whether nuclear power's benefits outweigh its risks and faults people for making up their minds on a complicated issue. (00:04:11)
    • Why it is here: A dense technical explainer with checkable claims (U-235 energy per pound, containment, decay heat, the failure chain at Fukushima) plus an explicit non-position on nuclear power and a critique of opinion over knowledge.
  • 2011-03-21 · Hank · Helping Haiti · Global development, documentary visit
    • On World Water Day, Hank reports from his trip with Water.org to Savann Tabak, a village near Pignon, Haiti, and introduces its well committee, explaining why Water.org requires a broad community coalition. Having seen how Water.org operates, he asks viewers to follow the village's progress and donate at my.water.org/vlogbrothers. (00:01:01)
    • Why it is here: A considered case for a specific charity model (community committees, sustainability, due diligence) with a concrete donation ask, grounded in named place, figures and first-hand observation.
  • 2011-04-04 · Hank · Thoughts from The Well · Global development, documentary visit
    • Hank narrates the Savann Tabak villagers' walk to their water source, past a broken well, a sugar cane mill and storehouses on stilts, to a muddy spring, and reports that about six villagers recently died of cholera. He says they need a sustainable well, which Water.org will provide, and asks viewers to follow and give. (00:02:07)
    • Why it is here: First-hand report of a village's water source and cholera deaths, used to argue for a sustainable, community-run well and a specific charity, with a donation ask.
    • Replies to: 2011-03-21 Helping Haiti
  • 2011-04-27 · Hank · NASA: Increasing Awesome · Science & nature, explainer
    • After paying his taxes, Hank argues that government should increase awesome as well as decrease suck, and lists what NASA does with under half a cent of each federal dollar (about $18 billion, 0.45%) to show he is happy to fund it. (00:01:39)
    • Why it is here: An argued position on public spending for space science, backed by a dozen checkable claims about NASA's budget and missions.
  • 2011-05-18 · John · The Education Continuum WARNER CHILCOTTED · Everyday life, explainer
    • Prompted by Hank's commencement poem, John rejects the hard-soft continuum of school subjects: math and literature are both studied to learn a language and to understand our place in the universe, literature has wrong answers, authorial intent is the uninteresting question, and the brain is neither a math nor a literature organ. (00:00:13)
    • Why it is here: An argued essay on why we study math and literature, on interpretation and on authorial intent, with John speaking as an author about his own novel.
  • 2011-05-25 · Hank · Thoughts from a Battlefield · History & curiosities, explainer
    • After stopping at the Big Hole battlefield, Hank explains that the 1800s Nez Perce were militarily powerful and economically rich, how US greed for their land and gold led to war and the ambush at Big Hole, and argues we should remember places where we lost our humanity. (00:00:37)
    • Why it is here: A historical explainer with checkable claims about the Nez Perce War and an argued reflection on what a culture should remember.
  • 2011-05-27 · John · Older Than Gravity In Bruges: Thoughts from Places · History & curiosities, documentary visit
    • In a Thoughts from Places video John hunts for a toothbrush in Bruges, and argues that living amid such old history reminds us we owe the dead and the not-yet-living the awareness that human life is ours only in trust. (00:01:20)
    • Why it is here: A short but argued reflection on history, collective memory and obligation to past and future generations, framed by a comic toothbrush hunt.
  • 2011-06-01 · John · The Evil Baby Orphanage Returns...for George Washington? · History & curiosities, letter vlog
    • John uses the Evil Baby Orphanage to ask whether George Washington should be removed from history, arguing that without the American Revolution slavery might have ended earlier and the Civil War been avoided, so the truth resists simplicity. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A compact counterfactual argument about the American Revolution, slavery and the Civil War, ending in a claim about the complexity of history and a question to viewers.
  • 2011-06-06 · John · Men Running on Tanks and the Truth about Book Editors · Books & writing, letter vlog
    • After reporting on the Indianapolis Museum of Art's US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, John argues that editors exist neither to fix grammar nor to censor: the real work is the editorial letter, and writers may not be more important than editors. (00:01:47)
    • Why it is here: A clear argument about what book editors do, backed by concrete examples from his own novels and a closing claim about writers and editors.
  • 2011-06-13 · Hank · Google Is Alive! · Science & nature, explainer
    • Hank argues that the school checklist of life's traits is not a definition, proposes that life is whatever wants (needs something and tries to get it), adds Schrödinger's entropy definition, and cautiously concludes that Google is alive; he adds that nobody really values all life just for being alive. (00:00:41)
    • Why it is here: An argued definition of life with a provocative, hedged conclusion (Google is alive) and a stated position on whether all life has value; later contested by John on the Data example.
  • 2011-06-20 · John · On Religion · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • John argues that people of all faiths and none live in functional nihilism yet all feel called to meaning; debating whether God exists avoids the deeper question of how to bring meaning to human life, which religion and secular humanism both answer. (00:00:29)
    • Why it is here: A compact argued essay on functional nihilism, the call to meaning and why John declines to debate God's existence, after years of the brothers avoiding religion.
  • 2011-06-23 · Hank · Do You Believe in God? · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • Replying to John's religion video, Hank argues that the words in 'do you believe in God?' are hard to define and that the question's motives are the problem: no one should take his answer as authority, and a one-word answer invites dangerous categorising of people. (00:00:16)
    • Why it is here: An argued essay on belief, knowledge and why Hank won't give a one-word answer about God; the case against categorising people is the core.
    • Replies to: 2011-06-20 On Religion
  • 2011-06-24 · John · On Religion (Redux) · Philosophy & meaning, letter vlog
    • Following Hank's point that 'do you believe in God?' needs its terms defined, John argues that religious identities are impossible to define cleanly, since believers disagree within every tradition, and that there was never a golden age to return to. (00:00:19)
    • Why it is here: A compact argument about how fuzzy religious identity is and why golden-age nostalgia fails; the claims about practice and belief are the core.
    • Replies to: 2011-06-23 Do You Believe in God?
  • 2011-07-06 · Hank · John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you. · Science & nature, explainer
    • Hank argues, teasingly using John as the example, that cognitive bias is a big reason people are 'stupid': bias simplifies quick decisions but, unnoticed, leads to bad ones; he tours blind-spot, anchoring, confirmation and other biases and urges everyone to read about bias. (00:00:21)
    • Why it is here: A structured explainer of named cognitive biases with definitions, a study and a claim about why science matters; the insults are framing.
  • 2011-07-08 · John · Kill the Dollar Bill! · Economics, letter vlog
    • Replying to Hank's bias video, John uses the denomination effect to argue that the US should stop printing one-dollar bills and switch to $1 and $2 coins, which the GAO says would save $5.5 billion over 30 years and would also raise consumer spending. (00:00:21)
    • Why it is here: An argued policy case (abolish the $1 bill, and the penny) with a named bias, GAO figures and cost and circulation numbers.
    • Replies to: 2011-07-06 John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you., 2011-07-06 John Green is an IDIOT! And so are you.
  • 2011-07-18 · John · Gatsby's American Dream: Reading The Great Gatsby Critically, Chapter 1 · Books & writing, explainer
    • John reads chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby as a novel about the American Dream: its rich characters did not earn their wealth, have it all yet are miserable, and wealth consumes rich and poor alike; he asks viewers whether that portrait is true. (00:00:00)
    • Why it is here: A close reading of chapter 1 whose interpretive claims (the American Dream, inherited wealth, wealth consuming rich and poor) are the content.
  • 2011-07-25 · Hank · I Am Not a P#$$Y - this video contains mild swear words. · Everyday life, letter vlog
    • Hank answers a truck driver who called him a pussy while he cycled: taunting from inside a truck is cowardice, not bravery. He then admits he had no good answer to a LeakyCon question about bullying and offers two tips: it's not about you, and your job is to survive it. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: An argued rant about what bravery and cowardice are, followed by sincere advice to bullied viewers; the ideas are the point of the video.
  • 2011-08-08 · Hank · Hackers, Cyber crime, and a New Kind of War. · World affairs, explainer
    • Starting from the hack of the Your Pants forum, Hank argues that crime and war are on the cusp of a fundamental shift to cyber attacks (Anonymous, Russian mafia, Chinese hackers, Stuxnet), and worries both about the attacks and about ineffective, internet-harming legislation. (00:02:10)
    • Why it is here: A compact argument with many checkable claims (Russian mafia revenues, Chinese IP theft, Stuxnet) and two forecasts about crime, war and legislation.
  • 2011-08-10 · John · Understanding America's Debt Problem · Economics, explainer
    • John explains debt, GDP and sovereign default, and argues that although S&P downgraded US debt after Congress nearly defaulted, US borrowing got cheaper because the world still trusts the dollar; trust is the only thing backing currency, and political dysfunction slowly erodes it. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: A dense economic argument with many numbers (GDP, debt, 90% threshold, bond yields) and a clear thesis that trust backs currency.
    • Replies to: 2010-04-30 The Greek Debt Crisis Explained in Four Minutes
  • 2011-08-31 · John · How to Become An Adult · Everyday life, letter vlog
    • John tells people leaving school that the 'real world' mixes crushing monotony and paralyzing terror, that adulthood gets much better with time, and that they need a mentor (an 'Ilene'), as Ilene Cooper was for him and Looking for Alaska. (00:00:11)
    • Why it is here: An advice essay with a clear argument (time plus a mentor) and a first-hand account of how Ilene Cooper's mentoring produced Looking for Alaska and, John says, everything after it.
  • 2011-09-07 · John · The Great Gatsby: Living the Dream in the Valley of Ashes · Books & writing, explainer
    • John reads The Great Gatsby from chapter two on, through its symbols (the Valley of Ashes, Eckleburg's eyes, the green light, gold), and argues that Gatsby's doomed dream of reclaiming a golden past is the American dream and everyone's. (00:04:56)
    • Why it is here: A sustained critical reading: symbols as 'enchanted objects', the likability objection rejected, and the claim that the dream of recovering a pure past drives endless wanting.
  • 2011-10-26 · Hank · 7,000,000,000 People · Global development, letter vlog
    • As world population reaches 7 billion, Hank argues that calling population 'the problem' is useless and objectifies people; the real problems are distribution of food and water, and the trends (birth rates, poverty, disease, education) make him hopeful. (00:00:58)
    • Why it is here: A compact argued position on how to think about population, with specific numbers on food, hunger and birth rates and a stated optimism about the future.
  • 2011-11-18 · Hank · Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████ · Internet & YouTube, list
    • Hank argues that Congress should not regulate the internet through anti-piracy bills such as the PROTECT IP Act: copyright law matters and fair use needs protecting, but these bills would stifle creativity, punish sites for users' uploads and hand takedown power to corporations. (00:00:24)
    • Why it is here: A position on pending copyright legislation with concrete reasons (fair use, platform liability, takedowns without review, economic effects) and a call to action.
  • 2011-11-21 · John · Old Man Narrates Young Girl · Internet & YouTube, letter vlog
    • From an English teachers' conference in Chicago, John explains the two audiobooks of The Fault in Our Stars as copyright working well, then argues that copyright is complex, that fair use limits once cut a Millay quotation from Looking for Alaska, and that the bills before Congress (SOPA) would deepen the advantage of those who can afford lawyers. (00:01:24)
    • Why it is here: A considered position on copyright and SOPA: fair use is ill-defined, it chills discourse, current law favours those with money, and the bill would widen that gap without stopping piracy.
    • Replies to: 2011-11-18 Top 5 Reasons ████ ██ ██████

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