S/O Hank and John Green

Ravenclaw

Thu, Nov 22 2018, 7:39 am

I see there are some others fans of the vlogbrothers here, so I wanted to start a discussion about something that has been slightly bothering me lately.
Let me start by saying that I like their work a lot. As they say, working to make the world suck less. Dad jokes. Positive news. Not harshing on others’ yums.
Here’s the thing though. There are a few tiny things that bother me. John talking extensively about Anne Frank in TFIOS without once referencing the holocaust. His crash course video on WWII is also pretty silent on the holocaust, at least the part about it mainly being Jews who were killed.
Hank tweets politically on almost every major event in America, but had nothing to say after Pittsburgh. His reaction to piediedew ‘s Nazi salute video was also unapologetic.
Then there is An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. At first, I loved the point it was bringing out—about polarization in America and how terrible painting the opposing side as strawmen is. But he never really concluded that point. In the end, the book was about how wonderful April May was in trying to bring world peace, while the “evil” Defenders (obviously his version of Republicans) were the ones carrying out ALL violence. It was so biased that I lost faith in its initial theme, because he was undermining his own message. (“We chose the most neutral media outlet we could find, CNN.” Quote from the book)
None of the above things are enough to make me not enjoy their work anymore, but it has made me wary and slightly uncomfortable.
Thoughts?

anon for this

Thu, Nov 22 2018, 8:46 am

I've not watched vlogbrothers, but my daughter does and has told me about it. I've read a few excerpts from John Green's books and read Hank Green's An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. The book is written from April May's point of view, and given her character and views it's not surprising that she considers CNN to be a neutral news source. While some of the Defenders resort to violence I think Green's portrayal is more nuanced than that, and it's clear that April May blames herself for some of what happened. I'll probably read the sequel but won't buy it unless it's at a book sale.

Just curious, what do you think of John Green's laptop decal?

anon for this

Fri, Nov 23 2018, 3:53 am

If you already knew that John Green was a fan of Woody Guthrie's ideas, then I'm not sure why you are surprised that Hank Green's book is critical of those whom he sees as authoritarian. It's true that John and Hank are separate people, but since they vlog together and John has vigorously promoted Hank's book it's fair to say they have similar views.

I did not know about their response to PewDiePie, but I agree that it does sound concerning.

Ravenclaw

Fri, Nov 23 2018, 8:13 am

I didn’t know that quote was from Woody Gunthrie.
I was mostly annoyed because halfway through the book I was so excited by the point it was bringing out—namely that humans have more in common than we think, and at the end of the day we all have the same goals more or less, albeit different ideas about how to reach them.
But his consequential portrayal of The Defenders left no room for the peace and understanding he was initially trying to promote. As if all evil only ever comes from one side...
(And I say this as someone who is pretty libertarian, but I still dislike painting one’s political opponents in black and white terms.)

imasoftov

Sun, Nov 25 2018, 6:42 am

anon for this wrote:

Just curious, what do you think of John Green's laptop decal?

I also don't think Woody Guthrie physically killed any fascists himself, with his guitar or with any other device.

see here for a tweet by John

https://twitter.com/johngreen/.....08064

anon for this

Sun, Nov 25 2018, 7:30 am

imasoftov wrote:

I also don't think Woody Guthrie physically killed any fascists himself, with his guitar or with any other device.

see here for a tweet by John

https://twitter.com/johngreen/.....08064

Thanks for the link. My daughter follows the vlog brothers, but I don't, so I don't know much about the content. But I did know that John Green had a laptop decal designed for him with the motto from Guthrie's guitar. And I thought that decal indicates that Green would be anti-fascist and likely anti-authoritarian in general.

While Guthrie never used his guitar to kill fascists, he used it to praise those who did.

Just curious, did you read Hank Green's book? If so, what did you think about it?

anon for this

Sun, Nov 25 2018, 11:05 am

imasoftov wrote:

No. If I run into it when I'm buying other books I might, but no urgency.

I borrowed it from the library and didn't think the characters were particularly well-developed. Hoping for better from the sequel. My daughter much preferred John Green's novels.