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Hey, Let's Change Some Things

2016-06-17 · letter vlog · Hank · 3:29 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: civic or action cta

Hank gives viewers homework: within 24 hours, write a letter to someone who represents them in government. He explains how to write an effective one, shares his own requests for an assault-rifle ban and CDC gun research, and argues that letters create more change than shouting online.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — Homework for everyone: write a letter to a government representative

  • ★★★ Hank tells everyone watching that instead of their usual evening they will all write a letter to someone who represents them in government, as homework. — 00:00:20
  • ★ Hank jokes that anyone who won't write and mail a letter should stop watching because he will make them feel guilty, and people in non-democracies should make the rest feel guilty. (playful) — 00:00:30

00:00:43 — Why handwritten letters matter and how to write a good one

  • ★★ Hank writes one letter by hand because it is about time capital: an email is easy, while a handwritten, hand-delivered letter is hard and more likely to get noticed. — 00:00:54
  • ★★★ Hank, who found it hard to believe, says congressional staffers agree that letters and phone calls matter more than Twitter and email because they show the constituent cares more. — 00:01:09 · United States Congress, Twitter
  • ★★ Hank advises that a letter to a government representative be respectful, with no curse words and no anger. — 00:01:20
  • ★★ Hank advises saying who you are and that you belong to the community the person represents, getting to the point fast, sharing a personal story briefly without griping, and setting out the request separately. — 00:01:25

00:01:49 — Hank's own requests (assault-rifle ban, CDC gun research) and tips on research, return address and form letters

  • ★★★ Hank's own letters ask for a ban on assault rifles in America. — 00:01:49 · United States
  • ★★★ Hank also asks Congress to let the CDC study, and fund study of, the public health effects of guns. — 00:01:51 · United States Congress
  • ★★ Hank says the CDC's study of the public health effects of guns has been under a 20-year ban. — 00:01:51
  • ★★ Hank advises learning the representative's positions on your issue so you know whether to thank them, and points to description info on finding representatives and their voting records. — 00:01:58
  • ★★ Hank advises putting your address on the envelope, since representatives, remarkably, often write back. — 00:02:10
  • ★★ Hank wrote three letters, one to each of his senators and one to his representative, and put their text in the description for viewers to draw on. — 00:02:15
  • ★★ Hank tells viewers to make their letters different, since staffers notice form letters immediately and give them less weight. — 00:02:22

00:02:28 — Reach out to your government within 24 hours; shouting online changes little; share your letters

  • ★★★ Whatever their issue or country, Hank wants the community to reach out to their governments, say they care about their countries, and do it within the next 24 hours. — 00:02:28 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Hank says that after watching Hannah's video this week (week of 13 June 2016) he could not not do this. — 00:02:40
  • ★★★ Hank says confining our shouting to the internet and to people who agree with us may make us feel better and righteous, but is not the path that creates the most change. (hedged) — 00:02:53
  • ★★ Hank invites letter writers to share their letters with him on Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr with a hashtag or tag, and to thank others who sent letters. — 00:03:09 · Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr

00:03:20 — Writing felt empowering and scary; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank found writing the letter empowering and a little scary, and says that if you're not doing something that scares you once in a while, you're doing it wrong. — 00:03:20

In the description and comments

  • ★★ The description adds that you can search your representatives together with any issue to learn how they vote, and that you are free to write to your state-level representatives too. — video description
  • ★★ Hank sent basically the same letter to Senator Steve Daines and Representative Ryan Zinke, who hold very similar positions. — video description
  • ★★ In his letters Hank introduces himself as owner of an education-media business in Missoula that employs over 20 Montanans and has just moved into a new downtown office. — video description · Missoula, Montana
  • ★★★ Hank writes in the wake of the Orlando attacks, noting that the night before, his colleague Christina Grimmie was killed by a man with a violent history who had bought two guns the week before. — video description
  • ★★★ To Steve Daines, Hank writes that guns are part of Montana's history and culture and he has no wish to end his neighbors' access to firearms, but there is a problem that needs action. — video description · Montana
  • ★★★ Hank asks Daines to change his position and work to ban the sale or transfer of assault rifles like those used in the Orlando, Aurora and San Bernardino murders, and to let the CDC study gun violence as a public health issue. — video description
  • ★★ Hank thanks Senator Jon Tester, with whom he agrees more often, for supporting common-sense gun regulations, noting this is not an easy position in Montana and his moderate views hurt him. — video description · Montana
  • ★★★ Hank asks Tester to work in Congress for a ban on high-capacity rifle magazines and for restored CDC funding to study gun violence as a public health issue. — video description · United States Congress
  • ★★ Hank tells Tester he is pleased to support him and looks forward to doing so in 2018. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Assault weapons ban

Also: People: Hannah (creator, mentioned from 2016)

Organizations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · Facebook · Snapchat · Tumblr · Twitter · United States Congress · United States House of Representatives · United States Senate

Concepts: echo chamber

Places: United States

Policies: Dickey Amendment

Only in the description or credits: Christina Grimmie · Jon Tester · Missoula, Montana · Montana · Pulse nightclub shooting · Ryan Zinke · Steve Daines

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2016-06-17 – 2016-07-01.