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The Vlogbrothers Videos I Didn't Make

2021-07-13 · letter vlog · John · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Nerdfighteria (also: World affairs, Health, Books & writing) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore, self promotion

John describes Vlogbrothers videos he abandoned (one on nation-states he didn't understand, one on the 'sense of impending doom' written for himself, one on Nerdfighteria factions that Rosianna warned would weaken the community) and concludes that Vlogbrothers videos are really about Nerdfighteria as a productive community, so any video that weakens it is a bad video.

What is said

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

00:00:00 — For every video John makes, at least one is abandoned; sharing the unmade ones

  • ★★ John has made almost a thousand Vlogbrothers videos, but for each one at least one is abandoned as too personal, too self-indulgent, or never reaching its point. — 00:00:03 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ Last week (week of 5 July 2021) John tried to make a video about nation-states and how international sporting competitions can both strengthen and challenge nationalist ideas. — 00:00:21

00:00:29 — The unmade nation-states and international sport video

  • ★★ John finds nation-states weird: England and Scotland are different nations in international soccer but the same one leaving the European Union, which is not a nation though it does most things nations do. — 00:00:33 · England
  • ★★ John says the topic was too big for four minutes, and failing to acknowledge nuances, such as many nation-states not choosing their own borders, can deceive via distillation. — 00:00:50

00:00:58 — Lesson on understanding; the 'sense of impending doom' video written for himself

  • ★★★ John's lesson: he can't really make a video about something he doesn't understand, and he doesn't understand nations. — 00:01:01
  • ★★ A few years ago John wrote a video on how a symptom of both panic attacks and heart attacks is a 'sense of impending doom', and how hard it is to know how to respond to that feeling. — 00:01:08
  • ★★ John says body and mind problems are often presented and imagined separately, though our minds are made of meat and our bodies contain all our thoughts and feelings. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John says his sense of impending doom has at times been so powerful that it is difficult to sense anything else. — 00:01:38
  • ★★★ John sees meaning and power in talking openly about mental health and ways to improve it, but thinks it's also okay to write something raw and personal not for public consumption. — 00:01:46 · mental disorder

00:01:56 — Writing about himself in The Anthropocene Reviewed, its bestseller run, and writing to connect versus to process

  • ★★ John, who writes about his life and mental health especially in The Anthropocene Reviewed book, thanks viewers: it has been on the New York Times bestseller list for seven consecutive weeks. — 00:01:59 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book), The New York Times
  • ★★★ John distinguishes writing about yourself to build connection with a reader or viewer from talking about yourself to process grief, fear or dread; he often only knows which afterwards. — 00:02:14

00:02:26 — Rosianna's vetoes; Vlogbrothers videos are about Nerdfighteria; the unmade factions video and not maximizing views

  • ★★ John's long-time producing partner Rosianna Halse Rojas often reads his scripts and asks him not to make them, for undercooked hot takes, a great weakness of his, or for content that might divide or weaken the community. — 00:02:26 · Rosianna Halse Rojas

  • ★★★ John says it took him long to understand that Vlogbrothers videos are not about their topics but about Nerdfighteria being a productive community where people feel fulfilled and connect. — 00:02:43 · Vlogbrothers, Nerdfighteria

    “Vlogbrothers videos are not about whatever they're about. They are about Nerdfighteria.”

  • ★★★ John says any video that weakens that sense of community is by definition a bad video. — 00:02:58

  • ★★ John says the brothers' few public disagreements have been about exceptionally silly things like whether Batman is a good superhero and whether butt is legs. (playful) — 00:03:02 · Hank Green
  • ★★ John says this reflects their real-life relationship: they almost never argue, and when they do it's over things like Batman. — 00:03:15 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ Years ago John wrote a would-be funny video on the brothers' differences and how Nerdfighteria's factions might line up in a civil dispute; Rosianna said it would get many views but weaken the community. — 00:03:21 · Nerdfighteria, Rosianna Halse Rojas
  • ★★★ That was when John belatedly understood that maximizing views was not the point of this YouTube channel. — 00:03:33 · YouTube
  • ★★ John says he usually learns more from what he doesn't make than from what he does, and unfinished videos sometimes feed into finished ones, like this one. — 00:03:39

00:03:53 — Unfinished videos feed finished ones, like this one; sign-off

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment John says a community needs an expansive definition of strength: never being challenged or stretched weakens a community or an individual. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment, welcoming a suggested video on books he never wrote, John says he has over 40 abandoned first chapters. — creator comment
  • ★ In a comment John thanks everyone who has read and shared The Anthropocene Reviewed book, including grandparents who don't know him, and calls seven weeks on the bestseller list incredible. — creator comment · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Rosianna Halse Rojas

Works: The Anthropocene Reviewed (book)

Organizations: European Union · The New York Times · YouTube

Concepts: association football · mental disorder · mind-body dualism · myocardial infarction · nation state · nationalism · panic attack

Places: England · Scotland

Characters: Batman

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