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Reminds me of the quote by George Steinbrenner[1]. "If you do something nice for somebody, and more than just the two of you know about it, maybe you're doing
by ryuuchin 9y ago
Reminds me of the quote by George Steinbrenner[1].
"If you do something nice for somebody, and more than just the two of you know about it, maybe you're doing it for the wrong reason"
[1] https://tree.mindbloom.com/apps/inspiration/detail/quote/563b31a2-e4ce-431c-bc0b-c7a854c91bfd/ https://tree.mindbloom.com/apps/inspiration/detail/quote/563...
- ygaf 9y agoThe Bible teaches this too.
- jsolson 9y agoYes, but it's tied up in a bunch of other bits like not eating pork and worshipping a particular deity. The secular quip raises the same questions about human motivations without the other baggage.
- philwelch 9y agoBecause clearly George Steinbrenner is a better moral teacher than Jesus.
- wavefunction 9y agoJesus didn't talk about eating pork or not though.
- philwelch 9y agoTrue, but he did teach about not doing good deeds just to show off, which was the original point.
- Chris2048 9y agoIf GS taught the same without claiming to be the son of god, then yes.
- dang 9y agoPlease keep HN threads free of religious flamewar. The parent comment wasn't particularly substantive but veering into general litigation of (biblical) religion definitely leads nowhere good. All such discussions are the same and therefore off-topic here.
- Veedrac 9y agoThis quote really irritates me; if we don't allow people to be judged by the good they do, more people die, because fewer people give. It's as simple as that. People shouldn't just feel free to talk about how they are contributing to saving lives, they should be encouraged. Introducing a social stigma that one isn't allowed to be publically happy or proud of doing good is cruel and counterproductive. I have personal cynical hypotheses about why the state of affairs is as it is. None of it has to do with the qualities of those who donate.
- verylittlemeat 9y agoMany people are recognized for doing good without needing to tell people they're doing good. If you feel you're doing good and not being recognized for it then maybe the kind of good you're doing isn't really necessary. It's called being humble.
- Veedrac 9y agoI'm sure all those people who didn't die of malaria but otherwise would have disagree on whether said intervention was necessary. If the virtues of being "humble" mean another billion people die of easily preventable diseases, fuck being humble.
- verylittlemeat 9y agoAre you Bill Gates? Then by all means use your high profile to promote your cause. If you're joe millionaire the only reason you're putting your name on something is because you have status anxiety. You know it, the people you're giving the money to know it and the public knows it. This goes 1000x more for the $20 donation you brag about on facebook.
- Veedrac 9y agoOr maybe people want to be allowed to talk about the charity they do because it's important to them and talking about it encourages other people to join in. Painting givers who want to discuss as selfish narcissists, as you have, is unkind. More importantly, it means more people die preventable deaths. A more measured argument than my own is at Giving What We Can: https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2016/08/its-good-to-talk/ https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/post/2016/08/its-good-to-tal....