Is there really an 'us' and a 'them', or are distant and different people just facets of us?
Axis: there is no them ... groups really are separate / other
John
| date | change | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-04-08 | new | John: there is no them, only facets of us; poverty is an us problem, and the children in Bangladesh are part of us. | Nerdfighting in Bangladesh 00:02:20 |
| 2008-11-06 | new | John says political opponents are not evil, terrorists or fascists but complicated people who contain multitudes just as you do. | On Loving One Another or Dying 00:02:24 |
| 2009-03-15 | restate | John says the Rwandans abandoned in 1994 were treated as 'a them' and should now be told 'you are not them, you are us'. | Lighting a candle for Rwanda 00:01:23 |
| 2009-07-13 | restate | Against 'they're all Muslims who want to destroy America', John says Islam, like every religious tradition, is not one monolithic thing. | On Iran, Islam, and Amazingly Stupid Comments 00:01:56 |
| 2010-09-20 | restate | John holds that critical reading shows there are no easy definitions separating 'us' from 'them'. | Life Is Like Pizza 00:03:00 |
| 2010-12-17 | restate | John says humans habitually imagine distant people as fundamentally other, but Nerdfighteria has learned they are not, seeing people in poverty as part of us. | PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health 00:01:23 |
| 2011-06-24 | restate | John says religious labels can't cleanly divide people: someone in every tradition will deny you belong, and he shares more theology with some Muslims than with many fellow Christians. | On Religion (Redux) 00:01:50 |
| 2012-11-04 | restate | John says imagining those who disagree with us as crazy, evil or traitorous makes compromise, listening and even friendship hard, and insult-driven politics is more dangerous than either plan. | Policy and Politics: Brotherhood 2.0 Week Begins 00:02:55 |
| 2012-12-17 | restate | John says children dying in poverty are not fundamentally different from his son and are not 'other' because of where they were born. | THE PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2012 IS HERE! Save the Children. 00:01:50 |
| 2013-04-16 | restate | John: national flags make others a them, but the marathon's side-by-side flags stand for a larger us that does not require a them. | Flags and Helpers 00:00:58 |
| 2013-12-17 | restate | John says the refugee children are worth investing in and, though far away, are still our neighbors. | THE PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2013 IS UPON US! 00:03:15 |
Hank
| date | change | position | video |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-06-29 | shift | Hank says TV commercials had led him to see poor people as too downtrodden to relate to; meeting the women, he rejects that: 'they're totally just people'. | How to be a Microfinancier Part 2 00:01:55 |
| 2008-04-10 | new | Hank, picking up John's 'us problem' video, rejects the hierarchy of needs: people without food still care about others and doing good; they just can't. | Barack John Obama Green 00:01:57 |
| 2009-03-18 | restate | Hank says we should show Rwandans we see them as neighbours, friends and 'one of us', with hope for their future like ours. | Lighting Candles for Rwanda 00:01:45 |
| 2010-12-21 | restate | Hank feels P4A shows we are all people being people wherever we are and whatever our circumstances, with implications beyond P4A. | Thoughts on the Project for Awesome 00:03:12 |
| 2011-12-17 | restate | Hank says the Haitians he met are, in the important ways, exactly like him and his friends and family. | We Built a Well in Haiti 00:00:00 |
Timeline notes
- Hank: first recorded event is shift (earlier stance may be outside 2007–2013 or unrecorded)