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Lighting Candles for Rwanda

2009-03-18 · letter vlog · Hank · 2:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: World affairs (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta, heavy topic

Hank lights his own candle of hope for Rwanda, relays a Rwandan survivor's account that the world's indifference and abandonment were worse than the fear, and asks viewers to send candle videos; he adds asks for an Irish fiddle player and votes for Nerdfighter Travis Ritchie.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank's candle for Rwanda; 100 days of killing; a Rwandan woman's story; media indifference; shame and abandonment; showing support 15 years later

  • ★★ Hank opens with his own candle statement: Hank Green, 28, living in the United States, lighting a candle of hope for Rwanda. — 00:00:00 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank says that 15 years ago generations of ethnic hatred culminated in a hundred days of killing in which over a million people died. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Hank says two days ago he spoke by phone with a woman from Rwanda whose entire family died in those 100 days; she had recently gone to Canada for school and followed events daily. — 00:00:00 · Canada
  • ★★★ Hank relays that the news she watched mostly showed 'one asshole in one white Suburban' fleeing police, while tens of thousands of killers murdered hundreds of thousands and no one talked about it. — 00:00:00 · sensationalism
  • ★★★ Hank thinks everyone can be ashamed of the world's inaction, and that humanity requires us to be ashamed of it. (hedged) — 00:00:57
  • ★★★ Hank relays the woman's point that worse than knowing friends were dying was the complete feeling of abandonment, as if no one cared, which he says was the case. — 00:00:57
  • ★★★ Hank says that, with the anniversary near, John and he, the Harry Potter Alliance and Candles for Rwanda ask viewers to show Rwandans they are cared for as neighbours, friends, 'one of us'. — 00:00:57 · othering

00:01:45 — Candle-video instructions; Nerdfighter News Network: Irish fiddle player wanted, vote for Travis Ritchie for the Big Gay Sketch Show; John's screenplay; sign-off

  • ★★★ Hank asks viewers to make a video under 30 seconds lighting a candle, saying who they are and holding it for 10 seconds, and to follow the sidebar instructions to send it. — 00:01:45
  • ★★ Hank is writing an Irish song that needs Irish fiddle and asks Nerdfighter Irish fiddle players with good microphones to email him. — 00:01:45 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank asks viewers to vote, preferably once a day for seven days, for Nerdfighter Travis Ritchie to become a member of the Big Gay Sketch Show; no sign-up needed. — 00:02:14 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank has heard John's screenplay is finished and going over well with his 'Hollywood overlord'; he is excited about it and about seeing Netherlands footage. (hedged) — 00:02:14

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Rwanda · Rwandan genocide

Also: People: Rwandan survivor Hank spoke with · Travis Ritchie

Works: The Big Gay Sketch Show

Organizations: Candles for Rwanda · The Harry Potter Alliance

Concepts: othering · sensationalism

Places: Canada · Netherlands · United States

Only in the description or credits: YouSendIt

Also centred on Rwanda: Lighting a candle for Rwanda

Also centred on Rwandan genocide: Brotherhood 2.0: Peeps and Genocide · Lighting a candle for Rwanda

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