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Shaving for Pakistan

2009-12-01 · explainer · John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: World affairs (also: Nerdfighteria) · mode: Explainer · tags: heavy topic, punishment or challenge, community lore

While shaving off his Movember beard, John surveys Pakistan's troubles (poor education, low incomes, an over-strong military, weak government, no leadership) and asks where the world should start helping; he then sets Hank's punishment: 15 hours in Missoula's Target plus publicly blending and eating a meal there.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — December 1st: Movember is over, so John shaves during the video

  • ★★ John says it is December 1st and no longer Movember, so he can finally shave, which he does over the course of the video. — 00:00:00

00:00:16 — Feeling like 'a failed state of a person'; Pakistan's education, economy, military, government and leadership; where should the world start helping?

  • ★★ John compares feeling like 'a failed state of a person' who doesn't know where to start making changes with Pakistan: the same problem times 180 million. (playful) — 00:00:16
  • ★★ John says Pakistan has a 40% illiteracy rate, though it is dropping steadily. — 00:00:38
  • ★★ John says many families' only real schooling is madrasas, where pupils read the Quran but apparently skip its condemnation of killing women and children; Saudi oil money ('used to be our money') funds them. (playful) — 00:00:42
  • ★★★ John says Pakistan's economy has grown in recent years but per-capita GDP by purchasing power is under $1,000 a year: on average people live on less than $3 a day. — 00:01:03 · extreme poverty
    • check: less than a thousand dollars a year — doubtful
    • check: less than three dollars a day — doubtful
  • ★★★ John says the military is strong ('too strong, some might argue'), the only public institution Pakistanis trust, and historically uses that trust to throw the occasional coup. — 00:01:15
  • ★★ John says people trust the military because it does things, such as rooting out Taliban elements in the northwest, even though that war is unpopular and seen as unwinnable. — 00:01:26
  • ★★★ John says the Pakistani government is bad at roads and policing, and a big problem is that laws can be passed but not enforced. — 00:01:50
  • ★★★ John says Pakistan lacks political leadership: its president, Bhutto's widower, is qualified mainly by having been married to her, and no one good is waiting in the wings. (playful) — 00:02:00
  • ★★ John says Benazir Bhutto, controversial but politically talented, was assassinated in late 2007, blaming the Pakistani Taliban, who he says keep killing talented politicians. (playful) — 00:02:04
  • ★★ John describes Pakistan as a nation with nuclear weapons and 180 million people, bordering India and Afghanistan. — 00:02:34
  • ★★★ John says the world wants to help Pakistan but doesn't know where to start (education, infrastructure or corruption); everyone is paralyzed while the Pakistani Taliban kill moderate leaders. (unsure) — 00:02:45 · aid effectiveness
  • ★★ John puts his 'non-rhetorical question for the day' to Nerdfighters: where do you start? — 00:02:56 · Nerdfighteria

00:02:59 — Hank's punishment for the extra two seconds: 15 hours in the Missoula Target plus blending and eating a meal there

  • ★★★ John reports a Nerdfighter's calculation that the extra two seconds of Hank's punished video, watched about 55,000 times, cost Nerdfighteria 26 hours; 'we want our 26 hours back'. (playful) — 00:03:03 · Nerdfighteria, Four-minute rule
    • a number in question (doubtful): "26 hours" — check against the recording
  • ★★★ John sets Hank's punishment: be at the Missoula, Montana Target when it opens at 8 a.m. and stay, without leaving, until it closes 15 hours later. (playful) — 00:03:17 · Hank Green, Missoula, Montana, Punishment
  • ★★★ Because the store closes, John adds a second punishment for the missing 11 hours: Hank buys a blender there and publicly blends and eats (or drinks) a meal of his choice in the Target restaurant. (playful) — 00:03:30 · Hank Green, Punishment

00:03:54 — Sign-off: 'Mustache!'

  • ★★ Shaved down to a mustache by the end of the video, John signs off with a drawn-out 'Mustache!' (playful) — 00:03:54 · Pizza John

Humor (significant)

  • John says he has let things slip and one day looked up at his out-of-control life. — 00:00:16

    “oh, my goodness, I am a failed state of a person.”

  • Mid-shave, John points out he has isolated a patch of cheek beard. — 00:01:46

    “It's like a hairy dimple.”

  • After describing Benazir Bhutto's assassination, John turns to her widower, Pakistan's current president. — 00:02:04

    “So now Pakistan has a president who's primary qualification is that he was once married to someone.”

  • John asks Hank whether he would want to be president of Pakistan. — 00:02:24

    “There's like a 40% death rate.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: aid effectiveness · Pakistan · Pakistan Armed Forces

Also: People: Asif Ali Zardari · Benazir Bhutto

Works: Quran

Organizations: Discovery Channel · Government of Pakistan · Target Corporation · Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan

Rituals: Four-minute rule · Punishment

Concepts: extreme poverty

Places: Afghanistan · India · Missoula, Montana · Saudi Arabia

Events: Assassination of Benazir Bhutto · Movember · War in North-West Pakistan

Also centred on Pakistan: November 5th: John's Not Happy about Pakistan · Nov · November 7: Discussing the Political Situation in Pakistan · Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton

Replies to

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2009-11-18 – 2009-12-01.