Redefining Brotherhood

-Helen Anderson

Two brothers, one video blog, the intro clicks out in typewriter style before each video. 365 days of textless communication. It’s a whole new kind of brotherhood.

And it is a whole new kind of brotherhood for Hank and John Green, a kind where talking face-to-face doesn’t necessarily mean being in the same room (or even the same state), where intense conversations take place in four-minute segments and where the whole world has a view into the lives of the brothers. Or at least a view into the 3" by 4" boxes that are their YouTube videos.

It began as a simple brother-to-brother project. After Hank, a website designer and devout environmentalist, and John, an award-winning young-adult author, realized that their relationship had consisted almost solely of emails and text messages, they swore off textual communication for an entire year. Instead, they would make video blogs on alternating weekdays and post them on YouTube. What they didn’t realize was that they would soon gain a legion of devoted and actively participating fans.

The brothers’ off-the-wall humor as well as their intelligence and creativity drew viewers to their videos. These viewers soon came to be called “Nerdfighters.” But for the brothers, the word means more than just someone who watches their videos. To them, Nerdfighters are people who aren’t afraid to be intelligent or “nerdy.” Nerdfighters have the desire to make the world a better place and the conviction to turn this wish into reality. As John puts it, “A Nerdfighter is like a regular person, except that instead of being composed of tissues and cells and organs, they’re made out of awesome.”

Hank and John aren’t going to leave the internet without having made a mark. They are already the founders of the “Foundation to Decrease WorldSuck,” as well as supporting Kiva.org, a website that provides loans for entrepreneurs in developing countries. Discussions in their videos frequently include the upcoming presidential elections and possible solutions to global warming. The brotherhood was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal for a video John made in which he said he would drink a blenderized Happy Meal if 200 people donated money to the political campaign of his friend Daniel Biss, who is running for the Illinois state legislature.

“The Biss phenomenon illustrates another way the Internet is shaking up politics and changing the way races are run this year,” the article states. John didn’t expect to have to drink the blenderized Happy Meal, but he was surprised at the number of people willing to donate money in order to watch him perform such an unpleasant task.

Brotherhood 2.0 provides a daily dose of humor that can make the weekdays fly by. If there is a downside to the project, it is the disappointment that results from checking the website for a new video, only to realize it’s Sunday (the videos are only posted Monday—Friday). But the lack of weekend videos does little to offset the ingenuity, whimsy and intellect that characterize the project. Hank and John’s videos can not only improve your day, they can leave you with a tidbit of knowledge or a greater understanding of the current global situation.

 As the completion of the project looms closer, fans are begging for another year, but Hank and John are eager to set down their video cameras and resume normal life. They can be happy knowing their project has made an impact not only in the lives of thousands of viewers, but also, in its own small way, on the world.