Vlogbrothers John and Hank: Finding Hope in Community
A late-20s Hank Green pops a purple bunny Peep into his mouth as he attempts to eat as many Peeps as possible in 6 minutes. This punishment, issued by big brother, John Green, on March 5, 2007, was for Hank texting John the message, “See you tomorrow.”
Just months before this, Hank challenged brother John to 365 days of textless communication, and thus was born “a whole new kind of brotherhood,” and one of the most significantly impactful YouTube channels to date. The channel quickly spawned the influential online community, Nerdfighteria.
These were the early days of Vlogbrothers – when posts were mostly two, 20-something brothers creating silly online videos of 4 minutes or shorter for one another.
Today’s Golden Connection highlight is a winding story of how those unpolished, textless communications went from a Peep punishment and Nerdfighteria members putting silly things on their heads to major pharmaceutical announcements for increased access to TB testing and treatment.
In setting up the punishment, John informs Hank, “Here’s the catch: however many Peeps you don’t eat in that 6 minute period, you will contribute that many dollars to a new bank account that I’ve set up. The bank account will be known as the Brotherhood 2.0 Fund for Decreasing Suck Levels Worldwide.”
John foreshadows what this community is capable of: “Hank we will use your contribution to this fund and future contributions from us and possibly our viewers in order to increase the overall level of worldwide awesomeness – for instance maybe we’ll send Melissa [a Nerdfighter community member] to a concert and then after that maybe we’ll help cure malaria.”
“Hank, you can look at this as a punishment but you can also look at it as a project. We’re starting something here – something important – something that’s going to allow us to decrease the overall level of the world suck. How much are we going to decrease suck levels? That depends on how many Peeps you eat. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Six minutes and 17-and-a-quarter Peeps later, Hank’s final punishment total is $82.75 which he contributes to the Brotherhood 2.0 Fund for Decreasing Suck Levels Worldwide.
In the 16+ years since that post, John and Hank Green have gone on to decrease a tremendous amount of suck in the world not just through their still-going vlog, but also the successful companies (such as Crash Course, SciShow, and Complexly) they’ve founded and books they’ve written (for example: an Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank and The Fault in Our Stars – which was turned into a major motion picture – by John). Thus, this won’t be the last time I highlight the Vlogbrothers.
Fast-forward to 2023 and one major topic of concern for John for over a year has been the lack of accurate testing and treatment for MultiDrug Resist Tuberculosis. When he learns that Johnson & Johnson is going to renew their patent on Bedaquiline, a treatment drug too expensive for most parts of the world to afford, John uploads the vlog post: “Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson.”
Renewing the patent gives J&J another 4 years of exclusivity – preventing an estimated 6 million people access to the drug if it were allowed to be created as a generic medication.
John calls on the Nerdfighteria community to petition J&J to do the right thing and live up to their credo that their first responsibility is to the patients who use their products and services. Nerdfighters communicated to J&J in mass, and within days J&J provided licenses to allow generics to be created and sold in the places of the world where TB thrives. (Note, they didn’t cancel the patent, but they did lift the barrier for getting treatment to parts of the world that are in the most need.)
In the fall, John then calls out Danaher for unacceptable price increases and profits on their standard TB cartridge which is used in testing. Danaher responds to the Nerdfighteria community and vows not to take any profit from the sales of the cartridge in poor countries as well as other significant steps to ensure the cost and maintenance of the product are affordable.
John’s focus for the past year on this particular disease led to awareness by their established community followers which led to action when it was needed to decrease TB suck levels worldwide.
John beautifully describes the power of the community who first gathered around two silly brothers in the beginning of Vlogbrothers:
“Early in 2007 - way back when we were just beginning Brotherhood 2.0 - I was hospitalized for an infection between my eye and my brain, and Hank, you asked people in our community to take pictures of them with stuff on their heads to cheer me up.
“And, of the 400 or so people who regularly watched those videos, about 350 people sent in pictures, and this was before it was easy to send digital pictures - this was before the iPhone, and when I was in this hospital bed watching that video seeing all these people with ridiculous stuff on their heads. It was the first time when I thought, ‘My God, this community has a lot of energy in it; they want to do interesting stuff together.’
“I just remember thinking this feels like it could be really special, and so it has proven to be. I mean the idea that 16-and-a-half years later, the organizational and creative talents of Nerdfighteria would be harnessed together not to cheer up one guy in a hospital but to expand TB treatment and diagnostics to millions - that is awesome.
“I am genuinely in awe of you, and you are truly made of awesome.
“Hank, I just want to leave you with three words that I've had to learn over and over again these last 17 years - never underestimate Nerdfighteria.”
This embodies what Social Seahorse Connections is all about as well – creating community and connection – sometimes around silly things and sometimes around serious things. It is my hope that someday a community of social seahorses will be making their own announcements of profound impact in making the world a more awesome place with less suck.
John’s description of where he finds hope on his recent post “End of a Rough Year,” resonates with me, and I hope it does you as well:
“I find hope in community - in collaboration - in making meaning together - by making change together. I find hope in the we of my life, the we of TB Fighters, the we of Nerdfighteria, the we of my family, the we of Indianapolis.”
Let’s increase the overall level of worldwide awesomeness together.
Golden Connection Challenge: Communicate with someone who you usually text with by a phone call instead today.