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MrBeast has become a viral sensation for his acts of altruism

nytimes.com

331–340 of 565 posts

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

#331

I find it interesting that people are upset that this, for lack of a better term, philanthropy achieved by MrBeast, while yes, its for the likes, the YouTube popularity, its a cottage industry of "feel good" that he's producing, is somehow bad? I wonder how sustainable this will be ultimately, but it seems like he's able to just give all this stuff away and help people, and yes, they have to agree to be being filmed…

It strikes me that people are simply jealous. Jealous that he’s both successful and well liked.

Exactly this. People don’t have a problem with him doing good. They have a problem with him getting credit for it.

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

#332
post #307

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…

> But this doesn't strike me as being done out of any noble purpose Money given away doesn't have to have a "noble purpose", the act is good in itself. The people receiving it don't care about motive, I don't care about motive, and the only reason you care about motive is because you're threatened by another person doing good. There's no virtue inherent to giving anonymously. A piece of food or a warm house don't car…

I used neither the words "good" nor "bad" so I think you're responding to something that I didn't write.

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

#333

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…

The Bible also says being gay is a sin, so I’d say it’s not a great source of morality in general. Arbitrary at best.

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

#334
post #218

Wow. Cataract surgery? Australia provides cataract surgery free under socialised healthcare. The big concern is that some patients wait up to 2 1/2 years after diagnosis for the surgery, and that indigenous Australians lack access to medical care for even diagnostics. But to just say, we know what's wrong, and how to fix it, and have available doctors nearby, but nah the kid just gets to grow up blind? What the fuck.

Well for poor people in the US, there is Medicaid. For old people there is Medicare. Most people have health insurance in the US (92.5% of Californians have health insurance, for example). Things are not as bad in the US as people often claim.

8% of Californians not having health insurance is an absolute unmitigated travesty, and we should be ashamed to call it “not bad”

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

#335

In semi-related news, a french twitch streamer, "Zerator", just learned that he will become "Knight of the National Order of Merit" which is an honorific title that "rewards distinguished merits acquired either in a public, civil or military function, or in the exercise of a private activity during at least 10 years." He is known for organizing a caritative event each year in France with a lot of french twitch stream…

Nice! How does that award rank in the French honours system? I am only familiar with the Legion D'Honeur (almost certainly spelt incorrectly)

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

#336
post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Look at me doing good for these people! This was MR BEAST that did this, me, I'm MR BEAST AND I HELP PEOPLE! REMEMBER THE NAME FOLKS, IT'S ME, MR. BEAST. Make sure to like and subscribe!"

-->

"This guy is a champion of generosity, a paragon of goodness. I admire him so much." --people like you, and other children

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

#337
post #66

I think a reason why people are uncomfortable about him is that boasting about giving to charity is very unchristian. "Be careful that you don't do your charitable. giving before men, to be seen by them, or else. you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 6:1 If you're not allowed to even tell people you give to charity, I can't imagine what God in the old testament would do to you if you profit f…

This is what makes me uncomfortable -- if you have to be seen giving something away then you're not really doing it for altruistic purposes. Also, this isn't strictly a Christian concept, but similar ideas exist in Judaism: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/256321/jewish... Buddhism: https://www.learnreligions.com/perfection-of-giving-449724 Islam: https://www.quranexplorer.com/blog/Education-In-The-Ligh…

Are major religions really the only place you can derive your morals from?

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

#338
post #106

I find it interesting that people are upset that this, for lack of a better term, philanthropy achieved by MrBeast, while yes, its for the likes, the YouTube popularity, its a cottage industry of "feel good" that he's producing, is somehow bad? I wonder how sustainable this will be ultimately, but it seems like he's able to just give all this stuff away and help people, and yes, they have to agree to be being filmed…

This is philanthropy porn. He is not the philanthropist because he doesnt haev the money in the first place, he is using other people's money to perform charity on camera. I 'm not very religious but it is a tale as old as humans. The christian gospels called out this hypocricy for a reason: > Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the…

> He is not the philanthropist because he doesnt haev the money in the first place, he is using other people's money to perform charity on camera.

How does one can acquire money in the first place without recieving money from other people?

Does your money should appear from nowhere, so you will become "true" philanthropist?

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

#339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He is a content producer who has built a brand on large cash prices not a charity manager. It’s a for profit company. The fact that apparently half of the readership can’t make the difference is a bit worrying to me.

Of course it’s for profit. No one dispute that. But his business involves giving away money. It doesn’t matter if he keeps 50% of the profits for himself and 50% is given away. He’s doing a million times more to help people than anyone on this forum.

I seriously doubt he's producing more QALYs than some effective altruists on this site. Someone on a typical software engineering income (going w/120k) can donate enough to save ~2-3 lives a year[0] at 10% giving, let alone someone trying to maximize their impact (of which I'm sure there's several). [0]: https://www.givewell.org/impact-estimates

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

#340
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.

A lot of it isn't filmed and just happens in the background

https://www.beastphilanthropy.org

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