SumBlog 1

The discussions we had this week and last week covered inequality; class & status; and race, ethnicity, & nationality. We learned a lot of important definitions and ideas over the past three class periods. During the race, ethnicity, and nationality discussion I thought playing Guess Who was a great activity and really got us thinking about view others from the outside. The statistics we received about upper-, middle-, and lower-class in the U.S. were really interesting and surprising to me. The topic of inequality and societal norms was also intriguing.

While learning about inequality I couldn’t help but think of a YouTube video I watched a while back. Said video was made by Hank Green, co-owner of the YouTube channel Vlogbrothers. Vlogbrothers started in 2007 as a way for two brothers (Hank and John Green) to communicate via Internet for one year—which they dubbed Brotherhood 2.0. However, they grew a following and continued making YouTube videos even after the Brotherhood 2.0 project was completed, and their videos still follow by the rules they came up with at the beginning of Brotherhood 2.0. For example, all videos must be less than four minutes and, as you’ll notice, they address each other at the beginning and end of each video. The Vlogbrothers channel isn’t a specific genre; they discuss anything and everything and do so with the power of nerd and being awesome.

While their channel doesn’t appeal to everyone, this video relates to our topic of inequality and makes it relatable to most people. Hank takes the inequality from The Hunger Games and translates it to our society.

Enjoy! Vlogbrothers: "I Am President Snow"

Another video I found relates to our discussion on class and status, particularly caste systems. This video is made by other Vlogbrothers owner, John Green. (Who is also a really great author. You should check out his work. A movie is coming out in June based on his book The Fault in Our Stars. It’s a phenomenal book.) However, this video is for the YouTube channel Crash Course—which is an additional channel John and Hank created. On Crash Course, the brothers teach the audience about literature, science, history, etc. in about ten minutes. These videos provide lots of educational information and are also entertaining to watch. The video I am sharing is about India’s history. You can watch the whole thing if you wish but 1:32-5:19 is when the video focuses mainly on the Indian caste system.

Happy learning! Crash Course: "Buddha and Ashoka"