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I Don't Even Know

2014-04-08 · letter vlog · John · 2:52 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Books & writing (also: US politics & society, Internet & YouTube) · mode: Announcements · tags: self promotion, civic or action cta, heavy topic

John admits he doesn't know what the video is about: he adds data on racial and length-of-sentence factors to Hank's prison video, notes the TFIOS paperback release, and asks Nerdfighters to vote on Tumblr for TFIOS film tour stops.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Teaser: next month John tours with the TFIOS film cast; first, prisons

00:00:11 — Nonprofits pitching funny outreach, the GIF pronunciation and a pratfall

  • ★★ John says nonprofits often pitch funny outreach, like a GIF of poop on a stick for clean water, but he doubts funny stuff works: people want you to talk about what you care about. (hedged) — 00:00:14
  • ★ John says words belong to their users, but pronouncing GIF 'guy-f' is a stretch. (playful) — 00:00:25 · GIF pronunciation

00:00:47 — Follow-up to Hank's prison video: race and class in sentencing, long US sentences

  • ★★★ John reports a 2013 US Sentencing Commission study finding African Americans on average receive sentences 20% longer than white people for similar crimes. — 00:00:55 · United States
  • ★★ John says the study found that this racial disparity in sentencing is increasing. — 00:01:05
  • ★★ John says socio-economic class is also a big factor in sentencing. — 00:01:09
  • ★★★ John says several European countries admit more people to prison per capita each year than the US but give much shorter sentences, a big reason the US has the world's highest incarceration rate. — 00:01:14 · Europe, United States
  • ★★★ John says the US problem is not sentencing so many people to prison but sentencing them for so long, driven largely by long sentences for drug offences. — 00:01:24 · United States

00:01:34 — TFIOS paperback out today; film out June 6; Tumblr vote decides the cast tour stops

  • ★★ John notes The Fault in Our Stars comes out in paperback today, which he says is probably what the video should have been about. — 00:01:34 · The Fault in Our Stars
  • ★★ John says the TFIOS film comes out June 6, the promotional travel starts now, and he, Nat, Ansel and Shailene will visit several US places, doing he doesn't know what yet. (hedged) — 00:01:46 · The Fault in Our Stars (film), United States
  • ★★ John says Fox lets people choose the tour stops by Tumblr notes on state posts; liking and reblogging counts as two votes for a state. — 00:02:03 · Tumblr
  • ★★ John says the votes so far do not follow state population: some well-organized small states lead, which pleases him because he would like to visit North Carolina. — 00:02:11
  • ★★★ John asks Nerdfighters to like and reblog their state on Tumblr so that Nerdfighters decide where the tour goes. — 00:02:23 · Nerdfighteria, Tumblr

00:02:29 — 'The Tumblr', growing old, 'TFIOS Prison Movie' and sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★ John's description points to the TFIOS Preparedness Pack, a product he says was conceived by the brothers' dad. — video description · Mike Green
  • ★★ For the prison segment John lists his sources: a story in The Economist on America's prison population, an article on racial bias in sentencing, an explainer on what incarceration rates mean, and a piece on how drug laws affect the US incarceration rate. — video description · United States

Humor (significant)

  • Right after saying they don't rely on pratfalls for laughs, John trips while restarting his point — 00:00:38

    “That actually turned into a very painful pratfall.”

  • Corrected that it's just 'Tumblr', not 'the Tumblr', John laments his age with an Eliot line — 00:02:34

    “I am literally wearing the bottoms of my trousers rolled.”

  • Unable to say what the video is about, John names it after its topics — 00:02:41

    “Alright, Hank, I have to drop everything and go write my TFIOS Prison Movie screenplay”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: mass incarceration · The Fault in Our Stars · The Fault in Our Stars (film)

Also: People: Ansel Elgort · Nat Wolff · Shailene Woodley

Works: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Organizations: 20th Century Fox (studio) · Tumblr · United States Sentencing Commission

Concepts: institutional racism · social class

Places: Europe · North Carolina · United States

Characters: Augustus Waters · Hazel Grace Lancaster · Isaac (character, “The Fault in Our Stars”)

Memes: GIF pronunciation

Only in the description or credits: Mike Green · TFIOS Preparedness Pack · The Economist

Also centred on mass incarceration: Mass Incarceration in the US

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