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Brotherhood 2.0: April 10th: Role Models

2007-04-11 · John · watch on YouTube · Nerdfighteria · reflection essay

Answering Hank's worry, John says he is a role model in some ways but that role modelling is more complicated than imitation, and that important but uninteresting subjects like drunk driving make bad vlogs, as they make bad books.

What is said

00:00:00 — John at the eye doctor again; greeting; nerdfighter Ethan Youngerman and his play The Sublet Experiment

  • ★★ John opens at the eye doctor, where he says he always is: he is no longer a writer but an ophthalmological patient, a job that doesn't pay well. (playful) — 00:00:10
  • ★★ John introduces 'noted American nerdfighter' Ethan Youngerman, creator of The Sublet Experiment, a play that will probably be performed inside John's apartment. (hedged) — 00:00:10

00:00:33 — John considers himself a role model in some ways; behaviour is shaped by people around us, real or virtual; a simplistic notion of role modelling is stupid

  • ★★★ John considers himself a role model in some ways, aware that young people, even three-year-olds, watch the show. (hedged) — 00:00:33 · Brotherhood 2.0
  • ★ John recalls a three-year-old commenter suggesting that Hank's punishment should be building a house. (playful) — 00:00:33 · Punishment
  • ★★★ John says behaviour is inevitably shaped by people around us, physically or virtually (e.g. Lindsay Lohan, Cristiano Ronaldo), so one must be aware how one's behaviour shapes others and is shaped. (hedged) — 00:00:33
  • ★ John says that is why he stopped reading PerezHilton.com: it made his brain go gooey. (playful) — 00:01:16
  • ★★★ John agrees with Hank that a simplistic notion of role modelling is stupid: nobody will be driven to drink by Hank's Holy Saturday party and Easter Sunday hangover. (hedged) — 00:01:16
  • ★★ John argues modelling behaviour is far more complicated than imitation: that Britney Spears seems addicted to methamphetamine makes him less likely to use it, not more. (hedged) — 00:01:16

00:02:00 — Teenagers' emails asking his opinion of drunk driving; important questions are not always interesting ones, for books or vlogs; all nerdfighters are role models, just not boring ones

  • ★★ Last week several teenagers emailed John asking his opinion of drunk driving; he is opposed to it, as, he jokes, everyone but drunk drivers and jerks is. (playful) — 00:02:00
  • ★★★ A year-long vlog about nothing but the perils of drunk driving would suck: whether people should drive drunk is an important question, just not an interesting one. (hedged) — 00:02:21 · Brotherhood 2.0
  • ★★ Many important things are not good subjects for books (proper push-up form, the price of a food item); John thinks what is true for fiction is broadly true for video blogs. (hedged) — 00:02:51
  • ★★★ John thinks all nerdfighters are role models, but not in boring ways, and that all need to remember the importance of decreasing world suck. (hedged) — 00:02:51 · Nerdfighteria, world suck > «I think all nerdfighters are role models. But I don't think we should be role models in boring ways.»

00:03:25 — A few beers at a party are roughly world-suck neutral; sign-off

  • ★★ Drinking a few beers at a party, John says, briefly decreases world suck and increases it the next day with a hangover, which is okay: being world-suck neutral is impressive. (playful) (hedged) — 00:03:25 · world suck

Humor (significant)

  • John, always at the eye doctor, says he is no longer a writer but an ophthalmological patient. — 00:00:10 > «By the way, this job doesn't pay well.»
  • Why John stopped reading PerezHilton.com. — 00:01:16 > «It started to make my brain go gooey, and then the goo tried to come out of my eye.»
  • Teenagers ask John his opinion of drunk driving. — 00:02:00 > «Who the hell isn't opposed to drunk driving? Drunk drivers and jerks!»
  • A few beers decrease world suck at the party and increase it with the hangover. — 00:03:25 > «being world suck neutral is pretty impressive.»

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