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Brotherhood 2.0: Peeps and Genocide

2007-03-06 · Hank · watch on YouTube · World affairs · reflection essay

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.

What is said

00:00:00 — Hank surrounded by 100 Peeps; bunnies and their sugar

  • ★★ Hank sits surrounded by 100 Peeps; he chose bunnies, judging they count as full-size and are easier to swallow without choking. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:00 · Peeps
  • ★ Hank reads the label: four Peeps bunnies weigh 31 grams and contain 33 grams of carbohydrates, so there is 'more sugar than bunny'. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Peeps
    • number check: 33 grams — doubtful

00:00:39 — $6 at Target; finishing the first Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club book

  • ★ Hank says each of 'these things' cost only 99 cents, so he paid exactly six dollars at Target for his 100 Peeps. (playful) — 00:00:39 · Target Corporation, Peeps
  • ★★ Hank announces he has finished the first Brotherhood 2.0 Book Club book, Philip Gourevitch's 'We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families'. — 00:00:39 · Nerdfighter Book Club

00:01:12 — Eating Peeps while discussing the Rwandan genocide and how genocide can be prevented

  • ★ Hank refers to a discussion calling the book a guilt trip about the past ('no use crying over spilt milk') and answers with '800,000 gallons of milk' (passage garbled). (playful) — 00:01:12
  • ★★★ Hank says the book is about understanding that something globally significant happened in Rwanda and, beyond acknowledging it, how it could happen. — 00:01:12
  • ★★ Hank says 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in a matter of days. — 00:01:40
    • number check: a matter of days — doubtful
  • ★★★ Hank argues genocide needs only a mix of international indecision, local alcoholism, long-term racism and a few inflammatory people controlling the media; then normal, healthy people can become genocidal. — 00:01:40
  • ★★★ Hank says Rwanda was not just bad people killing bad people but a bad situation, and that recognising those ingredients lets us stop the next genocide before it spreads. — 00:02:17
  • ★★★ Hank says world governments must recognise that genocide is possible, and citizens must too, so that they can pressure their governments. — 00:03:00

00:03:38 — Six minutes up; Hank's contribution to the fund

00:04:28 — The four-minute rule made official; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank notes the video runs over four minutes, asks not to be punished since no such rule exists yet, and makes it one: from tomorrow videos must be under four minutes. — 00:04:28 · Four-minute rule, Punishment

Humor (significant)

  • Hank reads that four bunnies weigh 31 grams and contain 33 grams of carbohydrates. — 00:00:39 > «There's actually more sugar than there is bunny in these bunnies.»
  • Hank pays exactly six dollars for his 100 Peeps. — 00:00:39 > «So, now Target has six of my dollars and I have 100 of their peeps.»
  • Hank has to discuss the book club book and also eat 100 Peeps. — 00:00:39 > «I'm going to discuss the book while eating 100 peeps.»
  • Hank stresses that something very significant on a worldwide scale happened in Rwanda, mid-Peep. — 00:01:40 > «Unlike eating Peeps.»
  • Hank gags mid-sentence after finishing his point about genocide prevention. — 00:03:00 > «That was not me almost puking. That's just the bad taste of the peep.»

Threads in this video

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