UPDATE: Added Obama-riffic Vlogbrothers goodness, as a reward to #TFY for living with all my Israel/Palestine blather all the time — at the bottom!
Three years ago, Israel was waging war in Gaza. I had some pretty powerful opinions about it.
This evening, the boy (a 12 year old, it should be noted) discovered and showed me the video you will find after the jump, made the day after the war began by a person I’d never heard of: John Green, brother of Hank Green, and one-half of the (I’m coming to discover) extremely boss and Obama-supportive Vlogbrothers, who (I’m coming to discover) the boy really loves. And the thing is: This John Green dude has summed up the entire Israeli-Palestinian situation in less than four minutes.
Accurately.
I would argue that there’s a little boat-missing when he gets into the question of the connection between the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, and al-Qaeda, and as an Israeli, I would argue that Israel has the larger share of responsibility at this point (greater power = greater responsibility, etc), but really, for a person to get this much this right, and all in less than four minutes? Wowza. And by that I mean: Huzzah.
And there’s a puppy. Because he couldn’t bear to talk about something so depressing without a little relief.
For more Vlogbrothers goodness, click here. (This one, for instance, on proper tipping, is both funny and accurate. And now the boy knows how important it is to tip, and why. Rock and roll, baby!)
To sweeten the pot, the reason my kid loves the Vlogbrothers is because they’re funny, they’re talented, and they’ve built a community (the “Nerdfighters”) of “great people doing great things.” Can I just remind you of his age? He’s 12. The boy is 12. And he’s moved by people trying to make the world a better place through humor and knowledge. I LOVE MY KID.
PS And as a special gift to the denizens of Angry Black Country, a Vlogbrothers endorsement from 2008:
(Fair warning: If you listen to it for all seven minutes and 49 seconds, you may never get it out of your head. You’ve been warned).
John and Hank are really amazing and fun to watch. They’ve coordinated numerous projects and community activities (yes, YouTube has a community). Glad to see you’ve discovered them and are sharing the message of Nerdfighters!
ARGH, this song is killing me. And ty Emily.
One Obama, two Oba…hey, that’s not what I wanted to say. :(
Two things:
1. Anyone who doesn’t love our President has a screw loose.
2. That’s a pretty good analysis of the Israeli/Palistinian situation but man, he talks fast. I had to put my ears in high gear just to keep up.
Oh man, that *is* awesome. Lovely find!