On Wednesday Vlogbrother, Hank Green, made a video about his trip to Haiti with water.org, a charity that helps people in third world countries get clean , safe water. The Vlogbrothers have a large, devoted following of awesome people called Nerdfighters. Nerdfighters fight for nerds not against them. Hank and John have long since realized that having such a large, devoted following can help improve the world. A lot. Nerdfighters want to help other people, but don't always know how they can help. So often times the Vlogbrothers will highlight certain charities that Nerdfighters can help. This time it's water.org.
Hank and John also know their audience. They know that actually going to a third world country and helping out, is much better than just telling Nerdfighters about a charity. Images speak ten times louder than words. They also know that Nerdfighters are far more likely to help out if they can connect with the people they are helping. Showing clips of the village and people they are helping is just one way to make that connection. Hank makes the connection even stronger by coupling the images with his own descriptions of the places and people we are seeing.
It would be far to easy to turn this video into another pleading charity commercial, but Hank understands that Nerdfighters don't need to be pushed to do the right thing. He knows he's provided more than enough motivation for the Nerdfighters through the images he has chosen to portray and the connections they forge with other people.
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