Is unironic enthusiasm better than being cool?

Hank says not to worry about looking cool, regrets having defined himself by what he hated, and in 2025 sums it up as: enjoy stuff.

Axis: earnest enthusiasm ... ironic detachment / cool

Positions by date: 32 records in 32 videos. The position was refined (2018), never reversed, in these records.

John

date	how	position	video
2007-07-27	first on record	John asks why being a nerd is bad, since calling someone a nerd means they would rather be intelligent and thoughtful than stupid and vapid.	July 27: How Nerdfighters Drop Insults 00:01:01
2009-05-24	restate	John praises LeakyCon people's unironic caring and says a hyper-cynical world forgets it's okay to get enthusiastic.	WROCK! 00:00:29
2009-07-19	restate	John says what he loves about being a nerd is being allowed to be unironically enthusiastic, and that calling someone a nerd just means 'you like stuff'.	Harry Potter Nerds Win at Life 00:01:10
2010-04-16	restate	John endorses Hank's point that nerdfighting is important but needs to be fun, and makes a fun video in response. → refers to Fun is Important. Being Serious Isn't	The Patron Saint of Youtube 00:00:00
2012-01-17	restate	John says it feels magical to be in a room of people unembarrassed of their enthusiasm and intellect.	Thoughts from Places: The Tour 00:01:57
2014-09-05	restate	John says he loves unironic enthusiasm.	REUNION TUESDAY! FRIDAY! WHATEVER! 00:03:39
2016-01-12	restate	John thinks some blowback against The Force Awakens is because most people are never comfortable loving something unironically, especially when it is popular.	Zero Severed Hands: On Star Wars and Making Things 00:02:26
2016-02-16	restate	John says one of his favorite things about Hank is his positive obsession, his nerdiness: unironic enthusiasm, and never tearing down without building up.	Kindness 00:01:37
2017-02-28	restate	John argues fandoms are made interesting not by the content but by people who build communities around it: Harry Potter is special not because of J.K. Rowling but because readers respond deeply, enthusiastically and without embarrassment or apology, by dressing up, fanfiction, or singing.	You Are Here 00:01:33
2017-04-25	restate	John says it's great because he wants his kid to have passions and be excited about stuff, but he knows nothing about Pokémon beyond what his son told him and a brief foray into Pokémon Go.	Pokemon, Reviewed by a Dad Who Knows Nothing about Pokemon 00:00:18
2018-03-13	restate	John, not kidding, wants a World Cup team to root for: we need to care about stuff, and caring is underrated.	Who Should We Root For? 00:03:23
2019-05-07	restate	Apart from exceptions like culturally destructive popular work, communities organized around hating art that deserves less attention are less productive than communities organized around loving art that deserves more.	How I Read and Why 00:02:27
2019-07-16	restate	On either side John mostly wants to say a believable, meaningful thank you but can't: moments are short, he can't articulate it, and thanks must pass irony and cynicism.	star struck 00:02:26
2019-07-23	restate	John has been thinking about what we love and how, because loves give us communities, and we need communities bound by enthusiasms to combat what Vonnegut called the terrible disease of loneliness.	What to Love and How 00:00:00
2020-06-23	restate	What was wrong, John says, was fear of unironized emotion: that giving in to fireflies' beauty would make him seem childish, naive, or worst, innocent and vulnerable.	You'll Never Shine if You Don't Glow 00:01:56
2021-01-26	restate	John does not want to give in to despair or hide in detached ridicule of unironized emotion, or be cool if cool means cold to experience; he wants to feel what there is to feel.	The Sycamore Tree: The Anthropocene Reviewed 00:06:35
2021-07-20	restate	After Gabriella's review praising the book's stubborn hope and tender essays, John says nothing is more radical or countercultural at the moment than laying down one's cynicism in favor of tender vulnerability.	Reviewing Reviews of My Reviews 00:02:00
2021-08-03	restate	We are only here briefly; John sometimes protects himself from cracking open with cynicism and irony, but today he urges gathering courage, being with Esther and saying what we mean.	I L*** Hank 00:02:55
2021-12-01	restate	John says being a fan of things, especially things made by people you care about, is one of life's great pleasures: loving the loves of your loves brings joy and connection.	Loving the Loves of Your Loves 00:00:00
2023-04-11	restate	John loves sports not for the balls but for the people: loving something together lets him feel earnest, unironic connection and emotion he couldn't feel otherwise.	Wrexham's Most Amazing Feeling 00:00:44

Hank

date	how	position	video
2007-11-16	first on record	Hank says it is important not to be afraid to get excited at things like the auto show.	November 16th: Green Cars at the LA Auto Show 00:03:00
2010-04-14	restate	Hank argues important does not mean serious and that fun ('important fun') is what new media should be about, not serious business.	Fun is Important. Being Serious Isn't 00:01:06
2014-07-04	restate	Hank says the most important concert advice is not to worry about looking cool: shows are about being excited about something together with other excited people.	13 Things to Know about Concerts 00:03:40
2015-11-11	restate	Hank says the people in the clips, open to the beauty of nature and of human accomplishment, are kind of his heroes, and he wants to be more like them.	Watch This If You Want To Smile (Pizzamas Day 3) 00:03:17
2016-04-01	restate	Hank says that once he is a fan he is an unabashed fan, and that simply enjoying liking people's work is different from wanting to be like them.	Loving Loving Things in Los Angeles 00:01:31
2016-05-13	restate	Hank wants to get rid of the idea that you must be the most knowledgeable fan of a band: just have a good time; it's not about looking cool.	The Time I Fell Asleep with an M&M in My Mouth (and a song) 00:03:32
2017-10-20	restate	Hank wishes he had brought more to the school: he did okay, but defined himself by what he hated rather than what he liked, thinking it cooler to be jaded than careful with other people.	Places Made of People: Thoughts from My Old High School 00:02:17
2018-03-09	restate	The band's lack of pretension and lean into enthusiasm and effort has maybe infected Hank's entire life, an infection that started with something John brought home.	John's Best Gift to Me 00:03:12
2018-03-30	refine	After discussing with Katherine on Delete This how messy stories make 100% love hard, Hank suggests full love isn't right: joy mixed with care, concern and thought.	The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Thoughts from Amsterdam 00:02:01
2018-06-15	restate	Caring about stuff is good, and sharing passions with people otherwise dissimilar from you is maybe even better.	Sports are Dumb 00:02:22
2021-09-10	restate	Hank says if you go bigger and try harder, some people will probably think it is cringe, but some might wish they could dance like you too.	The Most Important 10 Words a Stranger Ever Said to Me 00:02:33
2025-04-18	restate	Hank says the bigger theme, one he is exploring in a lot of his content now, is: enjoy stuff.	This one's for your mom 00:51:02

Background

date	how	position	video
2007-07-25	background	Answering comments that call the brothers nerds and dorky, John embraces the label ('We're nerds') and tells a 'get a life, nerd' commenter that being a nerdfighter is a good thing. (playful)	July 25: Brotherhood 2.0's Youtube Comments Are Answered! 00:00:50
2013-05-03	background	Hank defends enthusiastic novices against fans who say not knowing all the trivia makes you not a fan. (playful)	17 Rants in 4 Minutes 00:01:43
2015-11-12	background	John says his number one goal in life is to someday be as excited about something as Cheez Doodles Guy is about cheese doodles. (playful)	Cheez Doodles Guy, Ringo Silver, and Dad Jokes (Pizzamas Day 4) 00:00:15
2021-01-05	background	John notes he has turned a video about superior fish beings earnest; unironic enthusiasm about them is on his 2021 vision board. (playful)	SUPERIOR FISH BEINGS 00:03:24
2023-01-10	background	John says that sometimes, reading the "I'm 14 and this is deep" subreddit, he thinks the posts actually are kind of deep and its users are just jaded. (playful)	Introducing: The Format 00:02:08