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History Is Happening

2017-12-19 · letter vlog · John · 3:13 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Internet & YouTube (also: Global development) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, fundraising ask, self promotion, heavy topic, community lore

Tired, struggling with OCD and compulsive scrolling that makes history feel like something happening to us, John says the 11th Project for Awesome (almost $2 million raised) reminded him the social internet can make the world suck less and, via Raj Panjabi's 'no condition is permanent', that we are not mere passengers in history.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — John's tiredness, OCD and compulsive scrolling; feeling like a passenger in history

  • ★★ John is physically and metaphysically tired; his brain and voice are limping to the finish line of 2017. (hedged) — 00:00:08
  • ★★ John says too much work and travel and too little sleep and exercise are bad for his OCD. — 00:00:18 · mental disorder
  • ★★ Lately John feels compelled to scroll through his social media feeds for hours, though it generally makes him feel worse. — 00:00:27
  • ★★★ His mental illness often makes John feel a passenger in his own consciousness; scrolling the social internet makes him feel a passenger in history, as if it happens to us. (hedged) — 00:00:33 · mental disorder
  • ★★ Citing James Joyce's 'history is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake', John says history unfolding these days often feels like a nightmare. — 00:00:51

00:00:58 — Feeling powerless is a lie: the 11th Project for Awesome raised almost $2 million

  • ★★ John often feels powerless against injustice, inequality, violence and structures that encourage oppression, as if he can only scroll. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ John says that powerlessness is a lie, as he was reminded when thousands of people worldwide came together for the 11th annual Project for Awesome. — 00:01:15 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★★ As John records, the 11th Project for Awesome has raised almost two million dollars for charity. — 00:01:24 · Project for Awesome

00:01:27 — Last chance to donate for perks; P4A t-shirt at dftba.com

00:01:45 — Thanks to participants; the social internet as a platform for activism; we are changing the world

  • ★★ John thanks everyone who took part in the Project for Awesome by donating, making videos, commenting or joining the livestream. — 00:01:45 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★★ John says participants reminded him the social internet is not only passive scrolling but hearing stories, becoming better informed and making deeper connections. — 00:01:53
  • ★★★ John says the social internet can be a platform for activism and fundraising that truly makes the world suck less. — 00:02:04 · world suck
  • ★★★ John says we are not just able to change the world: each of us changes it every day through our choices; the world is made of our actions, passions and beliefs. — 00:02:10

00:02:27 — Raj Panjabi's 'no condition is permanent'; we are not mere passengers in history; sign-off

  • ★★ In the first half of this year's (2017) Project for Awesome they raised money for Save the Children and Last Mile Health. — 00:02:27 · Project for Awesome, Save the Children

  • ★★★ Last Mile Health CEO Raj Panjabi, who grew up in Liberia, shared his father's saying: no condition is permanent, neither the good nor the bad. — 00:02:33

    “no condition is permanent”

  • ★★ John says unequal access to health care and education is not permanent: we have seen dramatic reductions around the world. — 00:02:44 · progress

  • ★★ John warns that political and social stability, peace and progress are not permanent conditions either. — 00:02:52
  • ★★★ Though big forces act on and within us, John says we are not mere passengers in history: the human story is something we are part of, not scrolling through. — 00:02:57

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: historical determinism · Internet · Project for Awesome

Also: People: James Joyce · Raj Panjabi

Projects: DFTBA Records

Works: Turtles All the Way Down

Organizations: Last Mile Health · Save the Children

Terms: world suck

Concepts: internet addiction disorder · mental disorder · obsessive-compulsive disorder · progress

Places: Liberia

Products: New Zealand five-cent coin

Also centred on historical determinism: Billionaires and Radical Hope: Thoughts from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland · This Is Not Normal

Also centred on Internet: Watermelon Internet Trolls · WE WON! Net Neutrality and Re-Thinking Cynicism · 19 Ways to Not Suck on the Internet · Is YouTube Good for Humanity? · Logging Off · LEAVE IT IN 2017

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