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OHC KIDS TRY AMERICAN PRODUCTS

Views: 47.2 million | ◈ 0 (free/open access)

[Five kids, ages 10-14, seated at table. Products in front of them, smuggled in for the video. They’ve never seen most of these brands.]


HOST: “This is a Coca-Cola. It was the most popular drink in the world for almost a hundred years.”

GIRL, 12: (sips) “It’s… really sweet? Like, why is it so sweet?”

BOY, 14: “My abuela talks about these. She says everyone drank them before the Transition.”

GIRL, 11: “It doesn’t do anything though? It’s just sugar and water? My Yerba Smart adjusts to—”

HOST: “Right, but this was made before AI drinks.”

BOY, 10: “Before AI? Like… all the same drink for everybody? That’s kind of sad.”


HOST: “This is an iPhone. From Apple.”

BOY, 14: (turns it over) “It doesn’t open.”

GIRL, 12: “What do you mean?”

BOY, 14: “You can’t open it. You can’t fix it, you can’t change parts, you can’t see inside. It’s sealed.”

GIRL, 11: “On PURPOSE?”

"On PURPOSE?" — An eleven-year-old discovers the concept of planned obsolescence.

BOY, 14: “On purpose. And you can’t put your own software on it either.”

BOY, 10: “So it’s like… a toy? That you can’t play with?”

HOST: “It cost $1,299.”

[ALL FIVE KIDS LAUGH]

GIRL, 12: “My OHC tablet cost ◈ 12, my papa and I built it together, and I’ve upgraded it three times.”


HOST: “These are Nike shoes. They were like… the Uyuni Cooperativa of America.”

BOY, 14: (holds up shoe, examines sole) “The geometry is flat. There’s no biomechanical mapping.”

GIRL, 11: “And it comes in one shape? For everybody’s feet?”

HOST: “Well, there were different sizes—”

GIRL, 11: “Sizes, sure. But everyone with size 7 got the exact same shoe? Even if their arches are different? Even if they pronate?”

BOY, 10: “That would hurt.”

GIRL, 12: “I think it did hurt. I think that’s why they had so many knee injuries.”

HOST: “They also cost $349.”

[SILENCE]

BOY, 14: “Three hundred and — for ONE pair? Of shoes that don’t even fit right?”

"Were Americans okay?" is not a punchline. It's a real question from a generation that only knows America as a cautionary tale.

GIRL, 12: (quietly) “Were Americans okay?”


[END OF VIDEO]

TOP COMMENT (◈ 24,891 likes): “Were Americans okay?” is the question that will define this century.

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