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> Can someone give me some examples of philanthropy that is NOT predatory/extractive? Richard Stallman and his work on free software? I think what OP is sayin

> Can someone give me some examples of philanthropy that is NOT predatory/extractive? Richard Stallman and his work on free software? I think what OP is saying is that at Mr Beast's income level, he can effectively create a lasting change that most of us can't. Instead he focuses on people individually, giving them nice gestures but nothing life-changing, and he continues to do this because his viewers demand these types of low-scale altruism. So effectively he's just an entertainer that earns his salary by doing small acts of kindness, nothing more. It's like the old proverb in a way: "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But teach him to fish, and you feed him for life". Mr Beast is just giving people fish for a day, but it doesn't help anyone after that one chance encounter with him.

moomoo11 3y ago
So the 1000 people who can see now or hear “got one fish for a day”? Come on bro. It should be up to society to ensure the health check doesn’t return just 200 OK but that everything else that makes that 200 OK possible is also actually fine. MrBeast is an entertainer who happens to make a brand by doing stuff that does some impactful thing. More than most people. Now those 2000 people who can see and hear.. maybe they have a new chance at life. Even if 1% of them become mega successful that’s 1-20 people who will go on to impact more than 2000 people EACH. And they can tell people MrBeast was the reason.
- batmaniam 3y ago
  Right, that's on the individual level. You and I can donate to a medical organization that helps people 'see and hear' too. Or fund a go-fund-me to help that person. It's great that person got immediate access to the healthcare they needed with this money. We can do basically what Mr Beast does right now if we pooled our resources together. The bigger issue is why that healthcare is inaccessible to them in the first place? How do you or I go about solving this? How are you and I gonna bring this attention to Congress, and get their asses to work on that issue? Unless we both quit our careers to go into politics, it's not really possible for a random no-name person to make that change for the greater population. How about the other 10k people who can't see or hear? What about them? If I had Mr Beast's financial or influence level, the next step I would be doing is wondering why those 1k or 2k people didn't get their healthcare and then trying to patch that. We all know how much of a scam our current system is. Once that's patched, everyone gets to eat for life, not just a single batch of 1k people in my lifetime. Individual contributions are great and welcomed, but temporary. Societal change is where things get real. Cmon bro. It's why we have 40 hour work weeks, why women can vote and get college education, why lgbt community is accepted. And it's not like individual contributions and making society change are mutually exclusive... So what' stopping Mr Beast from going to that next step?
  - oh_sigh 3y ago
    What is Mr Beast's net worth? Maybe somewhere between $100M and $500M. There are at least 1000 people in the US right now, probably far more, who have just as much money or influence as him. What's stopping all of them from going to that next step?
    - batmaniam 3y ago
      Exactly. What's stopping them? Nothing, right? They've got all the money they'll ever need, and powerful friends if they need something money can't buy. Yet like you said, what's being done to fix structural issues within society? The only structural changes I see are wealth disparities getting increasingly wider in society, with laws and tax cuts being favored for the ultra rich after each new presidential leadership. Who's putting the work into this? Not me, and probably not you. So who? They for sure donate to make-a-wish foundations or whatever, which is great. But think of it this way: how does that help you or your kids when cost-prohibitive life-saving surgery is needed? Are you gonna quit your job and camp out near a rich youtuber's house to get that lucky chance encounter in the hopes you'll get picked for the next individual success?
      - oh_sigh 3y ago
        It doesn't help when a random person needs that surgery. But it certainly does help the random person that gets the surgery. My point is that he can't just drop $300M on some topic and get the world to change. Can you tell me how he could use his money to ensure that everyone in America gets that life saving surgery? Is he going to somehow convince die hard Republicans that it isn't socialized medicine? Biden and Trump each spent far more than Beast's net worth on trying to get elected in 2020, and one of them lost after spending $800M. I don't really see what he is supposed to do to effect structural change in the US with his measly $300M or whatever.
  - tasuki 3y ago
    > If I had Mr Beast's financial or influence level, the next step I would be doing is wondering why those 1k or 2k people didn't get their healthcare and then trying to patch that. It sounds like you know what should be done. Why don't you have Mr Beast financial or influence level? And why is that necessary to structurally improve healthcare? > So what' stopping Mr Beast from going to that next step? What's stopping you or anyone else?
jakelazaroff 3y ago
> Richard Stallman and his work on free software? I think "philanthropy" in the sense GP meant it specifically means donating money, so Richard Stallman's work wouldn't qualify.
kaba0 3y ago
> Richard Stallman and his work on free software There are no more controversial example than him.
motoxpro 3y ago
Does philanthropy have to be utilitarian? In the sense that if you donate money your only goal should be scale? Is that the definition? Which one is better, donating $1 to 100,000 people or $100,000 to one person? Similarly is donating $10,000 to cancer research better than $10,000 to one person? The cancer research may never have an impact, but it makes us "feel" good becasue it has the potential to change millions of lives. Just an interesting one to me how we diminish the impact of helping one person when that one person could go on to be a Steve Jobs or the first person in the family to go to college. Literally life changing, where as donating for scale is a drop in the ocean and means almost nothing to a ton of people.
imgabe 3y ago
Nothing life changing? Didn't he help blind people get medical treatment that restored their sight? That sounds pretty life changing to me.
NoPicklez 3y ago
This is insane. The guy took 1000 blind people and made them see again and in return he made more money to continue doing more good. There's giving a man a fish and then there's giving people their vision back, far out.
aforwardslash 3y ago
> Richard Stallman and his work on free software? Quick nitpick: if you think RMS haven't milked the "free software" cow enough, you're probably delusional. Its basically his lifestyle.

moomoo11 3y ago

So the 1000 people who can see now or hear “got one fish for a day”? Come on bro. It should be up to society to ensure the health check doesn’t return just 200 OK but that everything else that makes that 200 OK possible is also actually fine. MrBeast is an entertainer who happens to make a brand by doing stuff that does some impactful thing. More than most people. Now those 2000 people who can see and hear.. maybe they have a new chance at life. Even if 1% of them become mega successful that’s 1-20 people who will go on to impact more than 2000 people EACH. And they can tell people MrBeast was the reason.

batmaniam 3y ago
Right, that's on the individual level. You and I can donate to a medical organization that helps people 'see and hear' too. Or fund a go-fund-me to help that person. It's great that person got immediate access to the healthcare they needed with this money. We can do basically what Mr Beast does right now if we pooled our resources together. The bigger issue is why that healthcare is inaccessible to them in the first place? How do you or I go about solving this? How are you and I gonna bring this attention to Congress, and get their asses to work on that issue? Unless we both quit our careers to go into politics, it's not really possible for a random no-name person to make that change for the greater population. How about the other 10k people who can't see or hear? What about them? If I had Mr Beast's financial or influence level, the next step I would be doing is wondering why those 1k or 2k people didn't get their healthcare and then trying to patch that. We all know how much of a scam our current system is. Once that's patched, everyone gets to eat for life, not just a single batch of 1k people in my lifetime. Individual contributions are great and welcomed, but temporary. Societal change is where things get real. Cmon bro. It's why we have 40 hour work weeks, why women can vote and get college education, why lgbt community is accepted. And it's not like individual contributions and making society change are mutually exclusive... So what' stopping Mr Beast from going to that next step?
- oh_sigh 3y ago
  What is Mr Beast's net worth? Maybe somewhere between $100M and $500M. There are at least 1000 people in the US right now, probably far more, who have just as much money or influence as him. What's stopping all of them from going to that next step?
  - batmaniam 3y ago
    Exactly. What's stopping them? Nothing, right? They've got all the money they'll ever need, and powerful friends if they need something money can't buy. Yet like you said, what's being done to fix structural issues within society? The only structural changes I see are wealth disparities getting increasingly wider in society, with laws and tax cuts being favored for the ultra rich after each new presidential leadership. Who's putting the work into this? Not me, and probably not you. So who? They for sure donate to make-a-wish foundations or whatever, which is great. But think of it this way: how does that help you or your kids when cost-prohibitive life-saving surgery is needed? Are you gonna quit your job and camp out near a rich youtuber's house to get that lucky chance encounter in the hopes you'll get picked for the next individual success?
    - oh_sigh 3y ago
      It doesn't help when a random person needs that surgery. But it certainly does help the random person that gets the surgery. My point is that he can't just drop $300M on some topic and get the world to change. Can you tell me how he could use his money to ensure that everyone in America gets that life saving surgery? Is he going to somehow convince die hard Republicans that it isn't socialized medicine? Biden and Trump each spent far more than Beast's net worth on trying to get elected in 2020, and one of them lost after spending $800M. I don't really see what he is supposed to do to effect structural change in the US with his measly $300M or whatever.
- tasuki 3y ago
  > If I had Mr Beast's financial or influence level, the next step I would be doing is wondering why those 1k or 2k people didn't get their healthcare and then trying to patch that. It sounds like you know what should be done. Why don't you have Mr Beast financial or influence level? And why is that necessary to structurally improve healthcare? > So what' stopping Mr Beast from going to that next step? What's stopping you or anyone else?

jakelazaroff 3y ago

> Richard Stallman and his work on free software? I think "philanthropy" in the sense GP meant it specifically means donating money, so Richard Stallman's work wouldn't qualify.

kaba0 3y ago

> Richard Stallman and his work on free software There are no more controversial example than him.

motoxpro 3y ago

Does philanthropy have to be utilitarian? In the sense that if you donate money your only goal should be scale? Is that the definition? Which one is better, donating $1 to 100,000 people or $100,000 to one person? Similarly is donating $10,000 to cancer research better than $10,000 to one person? The cancer research may never have an impact, but it makes us "feel" good becasue it has the potential to change millions of lives. Just an interesting one to me how we diminish the impact of helping one person when that one person could go on to be a Steve Jobs or the first person in the family to go to college. Literally life changing, where as donating for scale is a drop in the ocean and means almost nothing to a ton of people.

imgabe 3y ago

Nothing life changing? Didn't he help blind people get medical treatment that restored their sight? That sounds pretty life changing to me.

NoPicklez 3y ago

This is insane. The guy took 1000 blind people and made them see again and in return he made more money to continue doing more good. There's giving a man a fish and then there's giving people their vision back, far out.

aforwardslash 3y ago

> Richard Stallman and his work on free software? Quick nitpick: if you think RMS haven't milked the "free software" cow enough, you're probably delusional. Its basically his lifestyle.