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Imagine others complexly

John's recurring moral frame, which he named as a theme of his book about Walt Whitman.

Early context: In his two-minute talk John described his book as about Walt Whitman and imagining others complexly; Mortenson followed with a book about nearly dying and devoting his life to education in Afghanistan. — Meeting Greg Mortenson 00:00:50

in-group term (motto) · in 17 videos, 2008–2025 · last heard 2025

Videos per year: 2008: 2 · 2009: 2 · 2011: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2014: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2016: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2025: 1

Forms heard

How the speakers say this one item, as transcribed from the videos, in order of first appearance.

form videos first heard last heard
“imagining others complexly” 1 2014-02-11 · A Middle Aged Man 00:03:29
“imagine others complexly” 2 2015-03-10 · Travel Tips (and Paper Towns Movie Updates) 00:02:05 2016-10-07 · Changing Our Business a Bit 00:01:27
“imagine people complexly” 1 2017-01-31 · Understanding Trump's Executive Order on Immigration 00:07:02

Every video

2008

date video use what is said
2008-10-28 The Unzipped Zipper (Of Your Pants) 00:02:08 mention Answering a request to promote literature in schools, John tells how he spoke at a Seattle high school about why books matter while his zipper was flagrantly unzipped, which a student pointed out at question time.
2008-11-05 On Loving One Another or Dying 00:00:58 mention Afterwards John read from the part of Paper Towns that inspired the song and ranted about the importance of imagining the other with more complexity.

2009

date video use what is said
2009-02-10 Paper Towns Tastic Question Tuesday 00:02:36 mention The book is about how we misimagine other people and our stories; Radar's parents own the world's largest Black Santa collection because John finds it funny and it asks us to imagine the world more complexly.
2009-03-10 How to Get Girls to Like You in the description

2011

date video use what is said
2011-04-25 Meeting Greg Mortenson 00:00:50 mention In his two-minute talk John described his book as about Walt Whitman and imagining others complexly; Mortenson followed with a book about nearly dying and devoting his life to education in Afghanistan.
2011-11-23 Why are Barns Red and Kardashians Famous 00:01:35 mention Not knowing who Dina and Caroline are, Hank guesses they are fighting because they're not imagining each other complexly.

2013

date video use what is said
2013-01-25 How to Make Friends 00:02:26 mention Hank advises taking the initiative: start conversations, share yourself, treat interactions as ends not means, let people help you and ask favors, listen and think about people complexly.
2013-11-29 REUNION! Arm Wrestling, Drawing, and Questions with Hank and John! 00:00:54 mention Giving each other catchphrases, Hank gives John 'Imagine complexly!' and John gives Hank 'fart fart fart'.

2014

date video use what is said
2014-02-11 A Middle Aged Man 00:03:29 mention John toasts sober driving, imagining others complexly, and not paying attention to the colour of someone else's rented Lamborghini.
2014-09-05 REUNION TUESDAY! FRIDAY! WHATEVER! 00:02:27 mention Building Legos, Henry called a figure the bad guy; John suggested villains are complicated and should be imagined complexly; Henry insisted he was really bad.

2015

date video use what is said
2015-03-10 Travel Tips (and Paper Towns Movie Updates) 00:02:05 mention John says he really feels the Paper Towns movie is about learning to imagine others complexly.
2015-04-28 Is the Paper Towns Movie Like the Book? Thoughts on Adaptations 00:02:07 mention John says the idea he wanted to tell visually is that putting people on a pedestal, failing to imagine them complexly, is tremendously destructive.

2016

date video use what is said
2016-10-07 Changing Our Business a Bit 00:01:27 mention Hank says themes emerged, formats and ideas; the most important was when John distilled what the world needs into three words: 'imagine others complexly'.

2017

date video use what is said
2017-01-31 Understanding Trump's Executive Order on Immigration 00:07:02 mention John says it is hard to imagine people complexly, especially when told to fear them, but he has found listening helpful.

2019

date video use what is said
2019-09-24 I, Too, Dislike It 00:01:40 mention John also needs poetry because it helps him imagine other people and their experiences more complexly.

2022

date video use what is said
2022-01-11 The Fault in Our Stars - Ten Years Later 00:00:29 mention His first three books were about failing to imagine others as full persons; it interested him because as a teenager he often failed to imagine others complexly, and he saw it in the culture.

2025

date video use what is said
2025-06-03 My Lies 00:01:51 mention John says the nonfiction books are still about imagining other people complexly, his overarching theme, and both have kids who like poetry, his other jam.