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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

#491

Post by erikerikson »

hnlmorg wrote: post #454
Aunche wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you get to be the arbiter of what's demeaning? Are "poors" too stupid to determine their own limits? Playing silly games is hardly comparable to peeing your pants in public.

It's about power imbalance. Using your power (in this case, wealth) to encourage other people to do actions they otherwise would not want to. It's also not a topic that is easy to define as "right" or "wrong". Some game shows will be more empowering or enjoyable than others. Some contestants on the same show might find the experience more emotionally rewarding than other contestants. There's a very subjective, fuzzy,…

> It's about power imbalance. Using your power (in this case, wealth) to encourage other people to do actions they otherwise would not want to.

Like working at a sprocket factory? I think that somewhat fairly fits here. You could be describing how most of the world looks at their work. My point is that there might be deeper to look for the more "honest" objection.

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

#492

Post by HDThoreaun »

em-bee wrote: post #449
HDThoreaun wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

is he really? how much good is a one-time payment of a lump of money helping? sure, it may allow someone to afford something they could not before, but unless they are able to invest that money into something that will improve their live for the long term, then such a payment doesn't really do anyhing to actually change their situation. one time payments need to be used strategically, and we know from lottery winners…

I think he’s doing more good than you will in your life. I donate half my income to the global poor and I think he’s doing more good than I will.

Keep on working on fixing our system, but it doesn’t make sense to complain that others aren’t when you are extremely unlikely to succeed.

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

#493

Post by albrewer »

smallnix wrote: post #346
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…

> There's no virtue inherent to giving anonymously. Maimonides has a different viewpoint: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzedakah

What about when the public act of giving causes you to be able to give more?

Is it better to give privately, knowingly kneecapping your capacity to do so again in the future?

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

#494

Post by sodapopcan »

goodpoint wrote: post #406
wnkrshm wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MrBeast is exactly the media phenomenon a broken system would come up with in some 80s cyberpunk movie, as a bandaid to give people the illusion of hope: the 'happy hour' show in a boring dystopia. That is not MrBeasts fault, it's the environment's. Say you see MrBeast give thousands of people help, and you have the same problem as these people - sure, you're happy for the other people but why didn't you get any help…

> MrBeast is exactly the media phenomenon a broken system would come up with in some 80s cyberpunk movie, as a bandaid to give people the illusion of hope: the 'happy hour' show in a boring dystopia. Nicely put. Some people claim that MrBeast's actions are better than nothing, but the money he's using are not growing on trees. The same money could have been used to fund a fair health system, where people receive trea…

But the YouTube exhibit is what keeps making more money. There's always somewhere else the money could go.

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

#495

Post by 93po »

prepend wrote: post #416
rozap wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this any different from Kirkland brand stuff from Costco? They just happen to have a reasonably high bar because they're playing the long game. It's not the practice that you likely have an issue with, it's the individual.

Good example. Kirkland stuff is good. It would be shady if Costco put their name on anything and didn’t care about their product. So if you see something with the kirkland brand, you have some expectation of quality. And if you have a problem Costco will fix it (or drop the product). The MrBeast brand doesn’t really stand for anything. And he doesn’t correct quality problems.

What are the quality problems? He seemed to me to put a lot of pride into his chocolate bars and the opening of his burger joint in a mall.

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

#496

Post by hnlmorg »

erikerikson wrote: post #491
hnlmorg wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's about power imbalance. Using your power (in this case, wealth) to encourage other people to do actions they otherwise would not want to. It's also not a topic that is easy to define as "right" or "wrong". Some game shows will be more empowering or enjoyable than others. Some contestants on the same show might find the experience more emotionally rewarding than other contestants. There's a very subjective, fuzzy,…

> It's about power imbalance. Using your power (in this case, wealth) to encourage other people to do actions they otherwise would not want to. Like working at a sprocket factory? I think that somewhat fairly fits here. You could be describing how most of the world looks at their work. My point is that there might be deeper to look for the more "honest" objection.

There are laws (in Europe at least) to protect employees from being exploited due to that power imbalance.

Whereas it's not so clear cut, in my opinion at least, that contestants of Mr Beasts videos aren't being exploited. But as I said, the only people who can honestly answer that are the contestants themselves.

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

#497

Post by sodapopcan »

em-bee wrote: post #469
em-bee wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is he really? how much good is a one-time payment of a lump of money helping? sure, it may allow someone to afford something they could not before, but unless they are able to invest that money into something that will improve their live for the long term, then such a payment doesn't really do anyhing to actually change their situation. one time payments need to be used strategically, and we know from lottery winners…

the eye surgery is obviously an example of a one time payment with a long term benefit. if he is able to generate income to solve more problems like that then he is indeed helping people.

Also paying off debt.

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

#498

Post by voidhorse »

andromeduck wrote: post #115
voidhorse wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the discomfort comes from a deep, pretty much unconscious understanding we all have about how capitalism, taken to it logical extremes, will always perpetuate inequality to the extreme degree, and how gross inequality donned up in the guise of philanthropy is still gross inequality . His content is a direct display of our economic system at the limit, at which point it becomes absurd. When you recognize that…

This is much more akin to old timey aristocracy than anything else.

I fail to see how, given the system we currently have is called capitalism and given that this content is contemporary. The behavior is analogous to behaviors that would have potentially been possible under aristocracy, but it's pretty clearly a phenomenon of late capitalism unless you take a completely ahistorical view of existence. Ideas with historicity have history, they aren't fixed idealist definitions...Mr Beast is functioning in a system we call capitalism because of the general rules it follows and taking actions enabled by the flow of wealth in such a system.

Capitalism isn't just some abstract Platonic definition, we are living it, it evolves in time. Just as the feudalism before it was a lived system that evolved in time, that eventually collapsed, giving way to a new mode (capitalism), the same will happen under this economic system.

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

#499

Post by tmn »

vfinn wrote: post #149
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…

1) His way of giving away things for free undermines the suffering people go trough to make a living; it makes effort and hardship look like a joke (maybe in the future no effort is required, and we are reminded about this possibility here, and it's sad); 2) It promotes consumerisms: getting stuff (phones, cars) is supposed to liberate us, and doing it in this way reveals how empty it all is; 3) It feels rarely perso…

It's almost like it's a parody of materialism/consumerism. Let's not pretend like Mr Beast is anywhere close to the genesis of this. Mr Beast is exposing what a lot of us don't like about the broader culture. Change will only start with the individual and the family. Secular values don't have to be the compass direction we drift towards.

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

#500

Post by erikerikson »

hnlmorg wrote: post #496
erikerikson wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's about power imbalance. Using your power (in this case, wealth) to encourage other people to do actions they otherwise would not want to. Like working at a sprocket factory? I think that somewhat fairly fits here. You could be describing how most of the world looks at their work. My point is that there might be deeper to look for the more "honest" objection.

There are laws (in Europe at least) to protect employees from being exploited due to that power imbalance. Whereas it's not so clear cut, in my opinion at least, that contestants of Mr Beasts videos aren't being exploited. But as I said, the only people who can honestly answer that are the contestants themselves.

Similar laws exist in the US as well.

I haven't watched Mr Beast's videos to have an opinion. He popped up on my kid's screen once, we banned him and some associated channels and forgot him. It was clearly garbage content for us in our brief experience and not worth our time to identify why.

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