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September 18: In Defense of Chris Crocker

2007-09-18 · John · watch on YouTube · US politics & society · reflection essay

John argues that it is fine to laugh at Chris Crocker for caring so much about Britney Spears but not for failing gender expectations, which culture builds early and dichotomously, as 'in your pants' Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles playfully show.

What is said

00:00:15 — Reaction to Hank's reading; John finishes a Paper Towns revision and happy-dances

  • ★★ John tells Hank he really liked what Hank read yesterday, thinks it has great potential, and hopes Hank finishes it one day. (hedged) — 00:00:10 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says he has finished a revision of Paper Towns and is happy, relieved and excited enough to dance. — 00:00:10 · Paper Towns, Happy dance

00:00:37 — Chris Crocker, Britney Spears, and why gender nonconformity draws laughter or offence

  • ★★ John says he cares very little about Britney Spears; he pities her as a 'narcissistic drug addict' but saves that pity for addicts without her money. (playful) — 00:00:35
  • ★ John implies Britney Spears has $50 million, contrasting her with drug addicts who don't. (playful) (hedged) — 00:00:35
  • ★★ John notes Chris Crocker recently made a YouTube video crying in defense of Britney Spears; he won't judge, having felt bad for Kurt Cobain at Chris's age. — 00:00:35 · YouTube
  • ★★★ John says people notice that Chris is a young, openly gay person who doesn't fit expectations of how boys act, talk and think, and find that hilarious or offensive. — 00:01:04
  • ★★★ Against the popular view that gender differences are inborn ('men are from Mars'), John says intersex and transsexual people have existed since the species began. — 00:01:34
  • ★★ John says theories of inborn gender do not explain why Chris Crocker seems so funny, outrageous or offensive to everyone on YouTube. — 00:01:34 · YouTube
  • ★★ John admits even nerdfighters like him and Hank feel this 'giggly discomfort', pointing to the odd belief that baby girls like pink and baby boys blue. — 00:01:34 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★ John says babies don't actually like any particular colour; mainly they put things in their mouths and poop. (playful) — 00:01:34

00:02:05 — 'In your pants' Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles

  • ★★ John says a secret sibling's video pointed out that adding 'in your pants' to Hardy Boys titles is unusually often hilarious, and he does it to Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles. (playful) — 00:02:03 · secret sibling, in your pants

00:02:55 — What the titles 'ask' children about gender; don't laugh at people for being different

  • ★★ John playfully argues that, long before puberty, the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles already ask children 'What are you?': clues in a jewelry box, or a claw, hawk or sword. (playful) (hedged) — 00:03:02
  • ★★★ John says a world that constructs gender so dichotomously so early makes discomfort around people who don't fit gender expectations understandable, but that is not their fault. (hedged) — 00:03:32
  • ★★★ John says laughing at Chris Crocker for caring too much about Britney is fine, but laughing at him for being different gains nothing; all nerdfighters have been on the wrong side of that laughter. (hedged) — 00:03:32 · Nerdfighteria

Humor (significant)

  • John defends having felt bad for Kurt Cobain at Chris's age. — 00:01:04 > «every time Kurt Cobain coughed, he spit out more talent than Britney Spears has ever possessed»
  • Babies don't like any particular colour; John lists what they do like. — 00:02:03 > «one, putting stuff in their mouths, and two, pooping.»
  • John adds 'in your pants' to a string of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys titles. — 00:02:32 > «And of course, Trouble in the Pipeline in your pants.»
  • John strings the titles into the question the books supposedly ask children about what they are. — 00:03:02 > «a swamp monster full of lethal cargo that is a magical passport to danger capable of immense foul play and dirty deeds»

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