Skip to content

I Am Not a P#$$Y - this video contains mild swear words.

2011-07-25 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Everyday life · reflection essay

Lower-confidence wave

2011 videos did not pass the QA gate (17 %); their analysis is shown but less reliable.

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.

What is said

00:00:00 — Addressing the driver who called Hank a pussy; riding a bike in traffic as an act of trust and bravery

  • ★★★ Hank (description) says bullies bully because they are weak, and that the true bike-taunting story is also a metaphor for bullying. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank addresses his video to the guy who, last week, called him a pussy while Hank rode his bike down a fairly busy street. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says cyclists on roads are very vulnerable: riding with traffic, they cannot see cars behind them and must trust drivers not to hurt them. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Hank says riding a bike in traffic is both an act of trust and an act of bravery; he will not stop riding on beautiful days for fear of a distracted driver. — 00:00:29
  • ★ Hank warns that a driver distracted by a pressing text message could kill a cyclist, adding that the jab is aimed at everyone, not just the man who taunted him. (playful) — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Rant at the truck driver: the word's gendered assumptions, who is really the coward, bravery versus safety, pity

  • ★★★ Hank rejects the driver's use of 'pussy', saying it implies untrue assumptions about gender, weakness and cowardice. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank contrasts the driver, inside a 3,000-pound truck with top safety equipment and about eight times his top speed, with himself on a bike wearing a 'frickin' foam hat'. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ Hank argues that taunting a cyclist from inside what is in effect a bulletproof mech warrior is cowardice: the driver thinks he is brave, but he is only safe. — 00:01:56
  • ★★★ Hank defines bravery as the opposite of strength in the face of a far lesser foe. — 00:01:56 > «Bravery is not strength in the face of a far lesser foe.»
  • ★★ Hank says the driver's need to dominate him shows severe cowardice, and that he pities him. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Tumblr origin of the rant; Hank's self-doubt after the taunt; a LeakyCon question about bullying he could not answer

  • ★ Hank says he originally wrote this rant on his Tumblr (linked below) and loves Tumblr. — 00:02:26 · Tumblr
  • ★★★ Hank admits that for a long time afterwards one comment from a stranger made him ask what was wrong with him, though the problem was the driver's. — 00:02:48
  • ★★ Hank says that at LeakyCon a young woman asked him how he dealt with bullying, and it troubles him that he could not give her a good answer. — 00:02:48 · LeakyCon

00:03:18 — How Hank survived being bullied; two tips: it's not about you, and your job is to survive it; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank says the shouts of 'it gets better', 'stay strong' and 'we love you' would not have helped him while he was bullied; it does get better, but the moment is hard to see past. — 00:03:18
  • ★★★ Hank says that when he was bullied he dealt with it by crying and hating himself and his life: he survived it but never dealt with it. — 00:03:18
  • ★★★ Hank's first tip to bullied people: it's not about you and has nothing to do with you; it's about the people doing it to you. — 00:03:18
  • ★★★ Hank's second tip: your job is not to deal with bullying but to survive it, which you can do because it will end, and then it will get better. — 00:03:50

Humor (significant)

  • After imagining a texting driver killing him, Hank clarifies whom that remark was aimed at. — 00:00:29 > «That was not directed at the guy who called me a pussy. That was directed at EVERYONE.»
  • Hank decides the driver won't understand grown-up words. — 00:00:58 > «let's stick with your vernacular. I am very not the pussy in this situation, sir.»
  • Hank compares the truck's steel and safety equipment with his bicycle's protection. — 00:01:27 > «the most advanced safety equipment I've got is a frickin' foam hat.»
  • Hank asks whether taunting a cyclist from inside a truck is not cowardice. — 00:01:56 > «in what is in effect freaking bulletproof mech warrior»

Threads in this video

BR2_63c663735c