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How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?

2021-04-06 · letter vlog · John · 3:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: timely hook, civic or action cta

Starting from his favorite meme, How Do You Do, Fellow Kids, John says he can't know other people's experience from the inside, sympathizes with vaccine hesitancy from his own anxiety, argues that shame doesn't work and that immunity is a public space, and asks the worried to seek help and supporters to offer it.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — 'How do you do, fellow kids': the meme's origin and recursion, and the lesson against acting hip to a young audience

  • ★★ John's all-time favorite meme is How Do You Do, Fellow Kids. — 00:00:00 · How do you do, fellow kids?
  • ★ The meme comes from a 30 Rock scene where a then-55-year-old Steve Buscemi dresses as a high schooler; it first appeared almost a decade ago. — 00:00:00 · How do you do, fellow kids?
  • ★★ As the meme ages it grows more meta; as Kaitlyn Tiffany has written, it is out of touch, out of date and out of place in its current context, a meme of a meme. — 00:00:00 · How do you do, fellow kids?
  • ★ There is a lot to dislike about meme discourse, but John loves its recursion. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ The meme reminds John of a lesson learned the hard way: if he tries to act hip and relatable to a young audience, it will feel mega cringe. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John doesn't know what it is like to be a teen or twenty-something today; he can listen and try to empathize but can't know it from the inside. — 00:00:29 · perspective-taking

00:00:58 — Vaccine hesitancy; John's anxiety and why shame doesn't help him; vaccines are safe and effective

  • ★★ Many viewers cannot yet access vaccines; John is sorry, and says supply and distribution must increase dramatically. — 00:00:58 · vaccine
  • ★★★ Likewise John doesn't know vaccine hesitancy from inside, but he sympathizes with viewers who feel it or find getting vaccinated against COVID stressful. — 00:00:58 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ Living with severe anxiety most of his life, John has learned that shame isn't effective for him: being told to stop worrying or that he's an idiot doesn't help. — 00:01:27
  • ★★ John doesn't find judging himself for his uncertainties helpful; what helps is finding a way to overcome them. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ The COVID vaccines approved in the US and much of the world are safe and effective; over 100 million people have received them, and they dramatically reduce personal and societal risk. — 00:01:27 · vaccine, COVID-19 pandemic, United States

00:01:56 — Reasons for hesitancy; immunity as a public space; encouraging people without shaming them

  • ★★★ If everyone were fully vaccinated tomorrow, COVID-19 would be at most a minor problem for humans. — 00:01:56 · COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★★ To get there we must be inoculated not only as individuals but as communities. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ Some people simply refuse vaccination, their choice, but far more are hesitant: misinformed by their feeds, distrustful of health care, finding appointments hard, or at low personal risk. — 00:01:56

  • ★★★ Immunity is not really a personal trait: as Eula Biss wrote, immunity is a public space; every immunized person lessens COVID's ability to reach the vulnerable. — 00:02:26 · COVID-19 pandemic

    “immunity is a public space”

  • ★★ From smallpox to typhoid, we have learned over and over that immunity only really works when it is shared. — 00:02:55

  • ★★★ Getting vaccinated is something you do for yourself and for your community, so your vaccination matters to John and his to you. — 00:02:55 · vaccine
  • ★★★ Encouraging people to get vaccinated, John tries not to pose as a fellow vaccine hesitant or to shame anyone, since worry and uncertainty aren't shameful and shame doesn't work. — 00:02:55 · How do you do, fellow kids?

00:03:24 — Ask for help or offer it; ending this together; sign-off and vision board

  • ★★ What helps John when he feels fear and uncertainty is support, reassurance and empathy, not shame. — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ John tells worried viewers that worry is okay and to ask for help, and those supporting someone to offer help. — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ We can't make other people's choices for them, but the only way to end this is together. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ On his vision board John is thankful for safe and effective vaccines and hopeful for shared immunity soon. (hedged) — 00:03:49 · vaccine

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Mentioned

Central: COVID-19 pandemic · herd immunity · How do you do, fellow kids? · vaccine · Vaccine hesitancy

Also: People: Caitlin Tiffany · Eula Biss · Steve Buscemi

Works: 30 Rock

Concepts: anxiety disorder · misinformation · perspective-taking · smallpox · typhoid fever · vision board

Places: United States

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