F ³: Committed to the Bit

 

Some things you learn in school. Some things you learn on the job, or from books. 

Some things you learn from your kids.

I refer to the expression, “commitment to the bit.” As in, “You have to admire their commitment to the bit.”

My kid, in turn, very likely learned that term because of the amassed body of work known as the Vlogbrothers. John and Hank Green - - brothers in real life - - began a video blog in 2007 with the intent to pass communications back and forth on a regular basis. 

They’re still doing it.

Along the way they’ve done silly things, addressed serious issues, built community, and transformed a desire for change by turning it into a zany approach both to learning initiatives and to philanthropic ventures. 

I missed all of this but my kid did not. They were watching YouTube at the height of vlogbrothers phenomenon. It’s only in the last year or so that I discovered them and realized the connection to a world that my youngest and their friends had been so deeply plugged into.

So what does it mean? Here’s one description, from Commit to the Bit, Emmbrooke Flather, The Heights/Boston College:

For this new generation, outlandish, weird humor has been normalized and celebrated at an unprecedented level, and I think it’s beautiful. 

Above all, a bit allows you to embody the truest, most imaginative parts of yourself with no concern for how wild or crazy they may seem to others. The phrase “Commit to the Bit,” is a comedic one, but it also holds a lot of weight. It means not compromising your sense of self, or allowing doubt to creep in, and always striving to remain fully present in this moment of fun, laughter, and genuine human connection.

John Green is, as you probably know, is an author. He is currently on tour to promote his newest novel: “Hollywood, Ending.” From a hotel room in Pittsburgh he addresses his brother Hank’s most recent video, in which he references - - you guessed it - - 

But one thing that we definitely do share, one way that we both feel loved and connected and enriched and honored as friends is bit commitment. Like every time I sneeze in front of you, you say, "Oh god, what was that?" We made a bet nearly 10 years ago that is about to come due that we talk about all the time. We decided to upload a video to YouTube every weekday of 2007. (Hank Green, Pretend You Don’t Know This)

You may wonder why I decided to dedicate an entire post to this today but that’s only because you haven’t read the ending yet. John Green took his brother’s words and riffed on them in a way which is almost a sermon. I’m talking about a good sermon, the kind that takes things you know and somehow presents them to you in a new way that makes you think. 

I think this is why most art is made not for glory and least of all for profit, as William Faulner put it, but an absolute commitment to the bit. Art is not, as our current economic system would have us believe, a luxury. It is an essential human expression. It is one of the core forms of human commitment to the bit. I mean, we made art before we had a caloric surplus or specialization of labor because art is not optional for humans. 

So, why did I spend 8 years writing Hollywood, Ending? Well, sure, I hoped that it would reach people and help me pay the bills, but primarily it was fun. It was, as Zadie Smith calls writing, a thing to do. It was a way of imagining a bit and then making it real by committing to it.

And there it is.

• Art is not, as our current economic system would have us believe, a luxury. 
• It is an essential human expression. 
• It is one of the core forms of human commitment to the bit. 
• I mean, we made art before we had a caloric surplus or specialization of labor 
• …because art is not optional for humans. 

Sometimes I joke that the only reason I am still writing a blog after 15 years, long after blogs have gone out of fashion, is that I don’t know how to stop. This week John Green’s words suggested another possibility: a deep commitment to the bit.

Village Green/Town² Comments