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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'r

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

voidhorse 3y ago
Right, exactly. It takes advantage of systemic problems and relies on the perpetuation of those very problems for its continued feasibility and existence. This is why it feels kinda dirty and wrong to us even though it has a surface presentation of being "morally good". It's sort of like a recast economic version of colonial white savior ideology—"educate" the primitives—"donate" to the impoverished, all while ensuring the inequalities and social division persist.
cm2012 3y ago
Would it better if he paid the people to make beads or dig holes instead of entertaining his viewers?
- namarie 3y ago
  I think so, yes. It'd be even better if he just gave the money, no strings attached.
  - junon 3y ago
    But then he'd have no money to give away. I don't see how it's this difficult to understand. Either you have Mr Beast as we do now - curing blindness and deafness, giving people houses and cars, raising millions for tangible, proven reforestation and sea cleanup efforts - or we don't have Mr Beast at all. I also find his videos uncomfortable to watch for many of the same reasons stated here, but I don't find them harmful, and I can appreciate how he's helped these people.
    - garte 3y ago
      But these videos only get watched exactly _because_ they are demeaning. So the problem is the nature of the videos itself and this alone disqualifies any good this guy supposedly does.
      - junon 3y ago
        I don't agree with that assertion at all.
  - blitzar 3y ago
    That would be like the pimp giving their stable of ho's money and not making them prostitute themselves. Who then would pay for their pimp-mobile and bling, and the upkeep of the ho's?
HDThoreaun 3y ago
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?
- operator-name 3y ago
  https://nitter.lacontrevoie.fr/pookleblinky/status/1309325764739858432 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.
  - HDThoreaun 3y ago
    Mr beast is not able to upend society and convince enough voters to provide a better support system. You’re advocating for doing nothing, that’s what would happen if he focused on politics instead of fun videos.
    - em-bee 3y ago
      i don't see the parent comment as suggesting that pointing out the lack of support in our society is a bad thing. personally i think pointing out how the social net is failing is exactly what we need. if that is really the effect that his videos have then that is good.
- em-bee 3y ago
  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 that many don't know how to do that. if we want to help people we need to work on changing systems that allow them to raise their income or lower their monthly expenses or carefully guide them to use one time payments to fix a problem in their life that will have a long term benefit.
bigger_cheese 3y ago
I agree with you, I have only seen one of his videos in which he paid for people to have cataract surgery I found it strangely absurd. The issue is if he was to instead start using money to tackle systemic issues then it moves beyond philanthropy and it becomes political. "I paid for 1000 people to have cataract surgery" as a video hits a lot differently to "I lobbied congress to make cataract surgery free" Systemic change is hard and a lot of people won't want to engage with it. It is easy to look at an altruistic act and say "this is a good thing" a lot harder to question the underlying causes that necessitated the act. There is a famous quote "When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist."
veave 3y ago
Why should he be in charge of changing the system?
itairal 3y ago
I have literally never watched a Mr Beast video but if I go to youtube under a new username or stealth mode then the probability of Mr Beast being on the front page I would put at about 95% and it has been that way for a long time. We have agency. Anything could be promoted instead but instead we get this nonsense. Over time of course all this gets lost and we just pretend this is all organic.
red-iron-pine 3y ago
Or put simply, he's not lobbying for improvements to minimum wage, or housing, or healthcare, or transportation -- he's schleppin for views. It's poverty-porn.
TheLML 3y ago
The basic counter point to that is that dozens of millionaire content creators partake, too. For many people it's also a novelty to be in a MrBeast video. For those already rich content creators an additional motivator may be the clout, of course.

voidhorse 3y ago

Right, exactly. It takes advantage of systemic problems and relies on the perpetuation of those very problems for its continued feasibility and existence. This is why it feels kinda dirty and wrong to us even though it has a surface presentation of being "morally good". It's sort of like a recast economic version of colonial white savior ideology—"educate" the primitives—"donate" to the impoverished, all while ensuring the inequalities and social division persist.

cm2012 3y ago

Would it better if he paid the people to make beads or dig holes instead of entertaining his viewers?

namarie 3y ago
I think so, yes. It'd be even better if he just gave the money, no strings attached.
- junon 3y ago
  But then he'd have no money to give away. I don't see how it's this difficult to understand. Either you have Mr Beast as we do now - curing blindness and deafness, giving people houses and cars, raising millions for tangible, proven reforestation and sea cleanup efforts - or we don't have Mr Beast at all. I also find his videos uncomfortable to watch for many of the same reasons stated here, but I don't find them harmful, and I can appreciate how he's helped these people.
  - garte 3y ago
    But these videos only get watched exactly _because_ they are demeaning. So the problem is the nature of the videos itself and this alone disqualifies any good this guy supposedly does.
    - junon 3y ago
      I don't agree with that assertion at all.
- blitzar 3y ago
  That would be like the pimp giving their stable of ho's money and not making them prostitute themselves. Who then would pay for their pimp-mobile and bling, and the upkeep of the ho's?

HDThoreaun 3y ago

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?

operator-name 3y ago
https://nitter.lacontrevoie.fr/pookleblinky/status/1309325764739858432 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.
- HDThoreaun 3y ago
  Mr beast is not able to upend society and convince enough voters to provide a better support system. You’re advocating for doing nothing, that’s what would happen if he focused on politics instead of fun videos.
  - em-bee 3y ago
    i don't see the parent comment as suggesting that pointing out the lack of support in our society is a bad thing. personally i think pointing out how the social net is failing is exactly what we need. if that is really the effect that his videos have then that is good.
em-bee 3y ago
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 that many don't know how to do that. if we want to help people we need to work on changing systems that allow them to raise their income or lower their monthly expenses or carefully guide them to use one time payments to fix a problem in their life that will have a long term benefit.

bigger_cheese 3y ago

I agree with you, I have only seen one of his videos in which he paid for people to have cataract surgery I found it strangely absurd. The issue is if he was to instead start using money to tackle systemic issues then it moves beyond philanthropy and it becomes political. "I paid for 1000 people to have cataract surgery" as a video hits a lot differently to "I lobbied congress to make cataract surgery free" Systemic change is hard and a lot of people won't want to engage with it. It is easy to look at an altruistic act and say "this is a good thing" a lot harder to question the underlying causes that necessitated the act. There is a famous quote "When I give food to the poor they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor they call me a communist."

veave 3y ago

Why should he be in charge of changing the system?

itairal 3y ago

I have literally never watched a Mr Beast video but if I go to youtube under a new username or stealth mode then the probability of Mr Beast being on the front page I would put at about 95% and it has been that way for a long time. We have agency. Anything could be promoted instead but instead we get this nonsense. Over time of course all this gets lost and we just pretend this is all organic.

red-iron-pine 3y ago

Or put simply, he's not lobbying for improvements to minimum wage, or housing, or healthcare, or transportation -- he's schleppin for views. It's poverty-porn.

TheLML 3y ago

The basic counter point to that is that dozens of millionaire content creators partake, too. For many people it's also a novelty to be in a MrBeast video. For those already rich content creators an additional motivator may be the clout, of course.