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PROJECT FOR AWESOME 2010: Save the Children and Partners in Health

2010-12-17 · announcement · John · 3:48 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Global development (also: World affairs) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: fundraising ask, calendar ritual, civic or action cta, community lore

John launches P4A 2010, pledging with Hank a penny per comment (up to a million) to Save the Children and Partners in Health; through a story of Iraqi graffiti that read 'happy birthday, sir, despite the circumstances', he argues we wrongly imagine distant people as 'other', while Nerdfighteria's projects show they are part of 'us'.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — P4A 2010 launch: take part today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a or projectforawesome.com; the commenting army

  • ★★★ John opens the 2010 Project for Awesome: viewers can take part all day today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a or projectforawesome.com, where an army of commenters, Hank and John included, will comment, rate and favorite. — 00:00:00 · Project for Awesome, YouTube

00:00:28 — Added incentive: a penny per P4A comment, up to a million, to Save the Children and Partners in Health

  • ★★★ Citing his known hatred of pennies, John says he and Hank will donate one penny for every P4A comment, up to one million comments, to Save the Children and Partners in Health. — 00:00:28 · Save the Children, Partners In Health, Project for Awesome

    “Hank and I will be donating one penny for every Project For Awesome comment up to one million comments”

00:00:47 — Story: watching Iraq-invasion news with Hassan; the 'angry' graffiti said 'happy birthday, sir, despite the circumstances'

  • ★★★ John recalls watching news just after the invasion of Iraq with his friend Hassan: the newsman read Arabic graffiti on a bombed house as anger, but Hassan laughed because it said 'happy birthday, sir, despite the circumstances'. — 00:00:47

    “Happy Birthday Sir despite the circumstances”

  • ★★★ John says he and the newsman fell into the same trap of assuming the graffiti was political and angry: as humans we habitually imagine people far away or in different circumstances as fundamentally other. — 00:01:08 · othering

00:01:23 — Thesis: we imagine distant people as 'other'; Nerdfighteria's pond sand filter and SS DFTBA show they are part of 'us'

  • ★★★ John says Nerdfighteria has already learned that people in very different circumstances are not fundamentally other, having seen what happens when you stop seeing people in poverty as other and start seeing them as part of us. — 00:01:26 · Nerdfighteria, othering
  • ★★ As evidence John cites Nerdfighteria's work with Save the Children and Shawn's Uncultured Project on a pond sand filter in Bangladesh that still provides clean water after two years. — 00:01:34 · Save the Children
  • ★★ John also cites flying the SS DFTBA, full of life-saving supplies, to Haiti with the Harry Potter Alliance and Partners in Health. — 00:01:41 · Partners In Health

  • ★★★ John defines 'us' as people who 'do this' (an on-screen gesture) to remind themselves to be awesome and who happy dance even after tragedy; keeping it going helps the poor and helps us. — 00:01:56 · Nerdfighteria, Happy dance (practice)

    “people who even in the wake of terrible tragedy find a way to happy dance”

00:02:16 — Penny pledge recap; donate at projectforawesome.com; raffle prizes (YouTubers, nerd glasses, BobbleJohn, zombie novella, naming Hank's album)

  • ★★★ John repeats that each P4A comment, up to a million, is worth a penny to Partners in Health or Save the Children, and asks viewers to donate at projectforawesome.com. — 00:02:16 · Project for Awesome, Partners In Health, Save the Children
  • ★★ John lists P4A raffle prizes from YouTubers including Meekakitty, WheezyWaiter, Nerimon and Ryan Higa, plus Nerdfighter raffles including his nerd glasses and the last remaining BobbleJohn. — 00:02:24 · Craig Benzine, John Green bobblehead, Project for Awesome, YouTube
  • ★★ Everyone who enters John's zombie apocalypse novella raffle will be emailed the story; one winner gets the printed version, extensively annotated by John and signed. — 00:02:36
  • ★★ John's favourite raffle names Hank's new album after the winner (a winner called Jeff means an album called 'Jeff'); he jokes he will enter it about 400 times. (playful, hedged) — 00:02:45 · Hank Green

00:03:01 — Closing asks: donate, comment, rate and favorite all day; brothers uploading 'Old Spice Guy-style'; thanks; sign-off

  • ★★★ John asks viewers to join the brothers all day today and tomorrow at youtube.com/p4a to comment on, rate and favorite as many P4A videos as possible, while he and Hank upload videos constantly 'Old Spice Guy-style'. — 00:03:01 · Project for Awesome, YouTube
  • ★ John thanks Nerdfighters for all their P4A videos and for inspiring the brothers, and hopes the fourth P4A is the best yet. — 00:03:18 · Nerdfighteria, Project for Awesome

00:03:29 — End screen: subscribe to youtube.com/p4a rhyme; John talks to a John bobblehead

  • ★★ John says viewers who haven't subscribed to youtube.com/p4a won't have any fun today, then boasts he made a rhyme. (playful) — 00:03:29 · Project for Awesome, YouTube

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Hassan · othering · Partners In Health · Project for Awesome · Save the Children

Also: Works: John Green bobblehead · Zombicorns

Organizations: The Harry Potter Alliance · Uncultured Project · YouTube

Rituals: Happy dance (practice) · Nerdfighter gang sign

Places: Bangladesh · Haiti

Events: Iraq War

Characters: Old Spice Guy

Policies: Abolish the US penny

Only in the description or credits: Alex Day · Craig Benzine · Meekakitty · Ryan Higa · Shawn Ahmed · Twitter

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