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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

#351

Post by operator-name »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #153
scaredginger wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, the discomfort is that Mr Beast's content relies on exploiting people's desperation due to the lack of social safety net. It's not his fault that they're in such dire straits to begin with, but he's nonetheless behaving opportunistically and his actions have no chance of changing the system that landed these people in such tough situations

He’s making these peoples lives better though. How would him not doing this stuff help anyone? Just because he’s not overthrowing the system the happiness he’s provided is worthless?

https://nitter.lacontrevoie.fr/pookleblinky/status/130932576...

In doing good, Mr Beast bring to light the uncomfortable lack of support we provide as a society.

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

#352

Post by teawrecks »

chimen wrote: 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…

I don't have a horse in this fight, but, isn't your criticism only valid if he is gaining wealth at a significantly faster rate than he is giving it away?

I think we can both agree that if he gives away more than he makes in ad revenue, he won't be able to keep doing that for long. And hopefully we both agree that if he's able to make back roughly equal to what he gives away, there's no problem there either? At that point he's basically a non-profit. It's only really an issue if he's giving away 1 million and pocketing 10 million, right?

Or is that not quite it either? Because what if he's able to invest that 10m such that the next video gives away 5m and pockets 50m?

My question is, where is the line between being a force for good vs bad, given that his philanthropic potential can grow along with his profits, and he seems to have a track record of doing so? Is it when he starts making 100m but is still only giving away 5m? I have no idea what the actual numbers are, maybe he's already well beyond that point, and now he's just investing his profits into PR to make himself look like a good guy .

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

#353

Post by hn666 »

windowshopping wrote: post #336
snovv_crash wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That last sentence is just not true, I think it's okay to deeply respect someone with a BUSINESS MODEL (because it is what it is) that's based on helping others for views. Let's say he stopped doing it and just worked a shitty job and gave all his money, being then a true altruist, the impact he'd have on the lifes of people would be far lower than the one he's having now.

Yes the media overhypes his actions as some sort of altruism god, as they do with everything, but that doesn't take away that he came up with a model that feeds on helping people, and that alone deserves my respect.

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

#354

Post by wafriedemann »

Dig1t wrote: post #190
chimen wrote: 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…

>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.

That's what every sensible businessman does in the early years of a new venture. It's only a stark contrast to the avera social media personality who takes out as much as they can early on to fund car leases, rent for fancy homes and designer brand clothes.

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

#356

Post by lozenge »

guyzero wrote: post #332
vasco wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Why is the "noble"ness of his actions relevant?

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

#357

Post by themagician »

I’ve always assumed it’s mostly fake, like damn near everything else. Is there any hard, actual proof that he actually gives away what he says he does? There doesn’t seem to be any reason to actual give away the money if you can so easily fake it and still get the views. It’s kind of a known YouTube scam, and I just figured MrBeast was the biggest.

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

#358

Post by windowshopping »

hn666 wrote: post #353
windowshopping wrote: post #336

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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

That last sentence is just not true, I think it's okay to deeply respect someone with a BUSINESS MODEL (because it is what it is) that's based on helping others for views. Let's say he stopped doing it and just worked a shitty job and gave all his money, being then a true altruist, the impact he'd have on the lifes of people would be far lower than the one he's having now. Yes the media overhypes his actions as some…

No, he came up with a model that glorifies himself to the max (by helping people.) There is a gigantic difference. I cannot imagine respecting that.

There are so many people out there who deeply deserve your respect and yet this guy is the one with your attention - because vainglorious self-promotion is his mantra and his mission. Go read about any of the countless people out there making serious, meaningful contributions without pasting a photo of their face and bio links over everything they do. Oh, I guess it'll be a bit harder to find them. Easier to just keep watching Mr. Beast and pondering how much respect his brilliant business model deserves.

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

#359

Post by iainmerrick »

xrd wrote: post #4

My kids love Mr Beast. I'm uncomfortable with it and can't put my finger on it. It feels like he makes life look like you stand a good chance of having someone walk in and give you $100,000. Maybe there is no harm in thinking that? But it feels like the same thing as buying a lottery ticket. I guess YouTube is free? But is the time spent on that channel worth it over doing other things? I admire the approach he takes…

Right - I don't think kids understand the philanthropy angle, what they understand is the lottery angle. People randomly getting $10,000 (or $1,000, or $50,000) just for being a bystander in a video.

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

#360

Post by sokoloff »

chimen wrote: 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…

> his actions do more good than harm

I agree with what you typed there, even though based on the rest of the context, it's probably not what you meant to type.

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