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MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

nytimes.com

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Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video" To me this seems like a semi-obvious minmaxing solution to making popular videos: make essentially zero profit, regardless of revenue. At some point you get so much revenue that you can't spend it all so the next logical step is to simply give it away as part of the video. And in this case it's a virtuous cycle - app…

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My biggest issue with people who complain about young people is that they think young people learn negative behaviours via osmosis.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#282
post #190
post #80

It's not altruism if it's your source of income. Sorry but I don't buy this bs. He's doing it to generate income, that's all. Altruism is "unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others" but we have quite the opposite here - a selfish way of milking poor people for emotions in order to generate income. Real altruism is hard and done only by a few. Literally EVERY man/woman/child on this planet will say yes…

Man this is such a cynical take. I listened to his interview on the Joe Rogan show and was really impressed. Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video. Using this approach he was able to produce progressively larger and more expensive videos. He has demonstrated his frugal lifestyle, has publicly given away an incredible amount of money to good causes, and has…

Lemme know if he does it without filming and I'll be the first to call out my BS. Some people just don't see the forest from the trees but it's all good with me, MrBeast needs you for income. True altruism is hard, this is business.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#283
post #190
post #80

It's not altruism if it's your source of income. Sorry but I don't buy this bs. He's doing it to generate income, that's all. Altruism is "unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others" but we have quite the opposite here - a selfish way of milking poor people for emotions in order to generate income. Real altruism is hard and done only by a few. Literally EVERY man/woman/child on this planet will say yes…

Man this is such a cynical take. I listened to his interview on the Joe Rogan show and was really impressed. Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video. Using this approach he was able to produce progressively larger and more expensive videos. He has demonstrated his frugal lifestyle, has publicly given away an incredible amount of money to good causes, and has…

> Man this is such a cynical take.

It’s not a competition; OPs view is not yours.

Emotional responses to content are subjective. It’s never been, never will be, that all humans are of a normalized opinion on anything, I’m not sure what the point of your take on OPs take is?

Must we role-play feeling like Shiny Happy People about everything? Why must everything be framed in toxic positivity?

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#284

The MrBeast video where he pays for people's eye surgery felt icky to me and it took me a while to really figure out why. On one hand, I think it's great that people in need were able to receive assistance. On the other hand, why is it that it took some rich YouTuber to pay for their surgeries in the first place? As I understand it a lot of these eye surgeries have been fairly standard for decades, so why isn't there…

There's a term for this very specific feeling of ickyness: the Orphan Crushing Machine. It comes from this tweet, https://twitter.com/pookleblinky/status/1309325764739858432, which reads:

> "Every heartwarming human interest story in america is like "he raised $20,000 to keep 200 orphans from being crushed in the orphan-crushing machine" and then never asks why an orphan-crushing machine exists or why you'd need to pay to prevent it from being used."

You're 100% right. It's nice that MrBeast paid for those simple and cheap surgeries to restore people's vision, and it's abhorrent that it required someone with money to decide to take that step for the problem to be solved.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#285
Not religious but I remember Jesus's words (lol):

> Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. > So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. > But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing > so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206%3A1...

I agree with this, it all depends on your motivations of your acts. If you give to be seen you're just seeking attention but of course for the receiver it's not less valuable.

It seems he gives some money to make more money (views), is that something altruistic? I don't think so.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess thats what I mean. Of course he wouldn't continue because he wouldn't have the money to continue. I give you 30 grand or cure your blindness or buy you a house and you participate in my video. It seems like a win win. If the argument is that he is making more than they are making off that one video, again, that goes back to me having benefit less than you. Maybe the problem is the framing people have of it be…

> I guess thats what I mean. Of course he wouldn't continue because he wouldn't have the money to continue. Not exactly what I was saying. Let's say he stopped today. Or when he hit $25M in total wealth. Some figure where he could live a comfortable life while still contributing to these kinds of acts. Would he still do it? Or is continued profit / brand building / etc a key component? Is this fundamentally a transac…

I would assume not. I don't think he thinks of it as a charity, but the tension between continued profit and doing amazing things in this case doesn't bother me. I think it's positive in that the better he does the more people he can impact. Transactions can be incredibly positive even if they are dispassionate.

I understand your point. It's a good one and well taken. Very eloquently put.

Those two things are definitely not always aligned and probably arent always in this case either.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#287
post #80

It's not altruism if it's your source of income. Sorry but I don't buy this bs. He's doing it to generate income, that's all. Altruism is "unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others" but we have quite the opposite here - a selfish way of milking poor people for emotions in order to generate income. Real altruism is hard and done only by a few. Literally EVERY man/woman/child on this planet will say yes…

Top comment is exactly what I expected it to be.

Here we have some dude who is earning money by helping people - yet for some reason this is one of the biggest sins he can do in eyes of a lot of people. Why? Just because he can't help everyone?

This is so weird take on the matter. What are you doing to help people? Are you taking credit for that work? And if not would you not be able to help more people if you had some notoriety?

There are things that you can criticize MrBeast on - like the MrBest Burger internet kitchens - but him making money off of helping people is not one of them.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#288
post #272
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man this is such a cynical take. I listened to his interview on the Joe Rogan show and was really impressed. Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video. Using this approach he was able to produce progressively larger and more expensive videos. He has demonstrated his frugal lifestyle, has publicly given away an incredible amount of money to good causes, and has…

Flywheel. He’s a genius.

It's a flywheel with exactly one input: YouTube. If YT changes their rules or payout schedule tomorrow, it all goes away. But sure, for the time being he's hit the infinite charity glitch.

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#289
post #80

It's not altruism if it's your source of income. Sorry but I don't buy this bs. He's doing it to generate income, that's all. Altruism is "unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others" but we have quite the opposite here - a selfish way of milking poor people for emotions in order to generate income. Real altruism is hard and done only by a few. Literally EVERY man/woman/child on this planet will say yes…

"""Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"""

Re: MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

#290
post #282
post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man this is such a cynical take. I listened to his interview on the Joe Rogan show and was really impressed. Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video. Using this approach he was able to produce progressively larger and more expensive videos. He has demonstrated his frugal lifestyle, has publicly given away an incredible amount of money to good causes, and has…

Lemme know if he does it without filming and I'll be the first to call out my BS. Some people just don't see the forest from the trees but it's all good with me, MrBeast needs you for income. True altruism is hard, this is business.

Filming it is how he raises funds for the next act of charity. Your suggestion not to film it is killing the golden goose to spite your face.
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