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"Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video" To me this seems like a semi-obvious minmaxing solution t

"Mr. Beast built his channel by taking all profits from each video and plying it into the next video" To me this seems like a semi-obvious minmaxing solution to making popular videos: make essentially zero profit, regardless of revenue. At some point you get so much revenue that you can't spend it all so the next logical step is to simply give it away as part of the video. And in this case it's a virtuous cycle - apparently giving away money generates more revenue so it just keeps going. But this doesn't strike me as being done out of any noble purpose - all he wants is YT view and charity is just a side-effect of that. "How can you watch the video where he pays for the blindness surgery for all those people and say that that was anything other than an amazing win for all those nice people?" My criticism would be that it's local change vs trying for structural change. Why don't those people already have access to surgery? The counter-argument to this would be that structural change is somewhere between very hard and impossible, so just spend the money locally. A more cynical take is that lobbying for restructuring the US health care system doesn't generate YT revenue, so he's incentivized to fund the most clickbaity charity projects.

oh_sigh 3y ago
The reason those people don't have access to surgery has nothing to do with mrbeast. Do you think he could actually get a law changed and help more people than he already did? Why wouldn't a "Mr Beast goes to Washington" style video get as many views as his direct support videos got?
- guyzero 3y ago
  "Do you think he could actually get a law changed and help more people than he already did?" The most popular YT video creator could probably start a fairly large lobbying effort although yes, the multi-trillion dollar US for-profit health insurance industry could probably do better. "Why wouldn't a "Mr Beast goes to Washington" style video get as many views as his direct support videos got?" It might, there's only one way to know.
  - junon 3y ago
    Team Trees and Team Seas weren't enough? Good lord, y'all are just never satisfied with charity work. "Mr Beast literally cured blindness for a thousand people and gave them a bunch of money, no strings attached." "Yeah but he did it for views!" So what?! He markedly improved 1000 peoples' lives in the process. What have YOU done today? Get over yourselves.
    - throwaway2990 3y ago
      Not only did he improve 1000 lives. He bought awareness to 100s of 1000s of people who didn’t know it’s relatively affordable or can be cured for some.
    - plewd 3y ago
      > What have YOU done today? None of us are in his position to make as much change though. Are we not allowed to criticize someone that has far more power than us for not using it to its full potential?
      - sokoloff 3y ago
        You can criticize anyone for anything you want. Many people will ignore you or think you're a crank when you criticize someone for restoring the sight of 1000 poor people because it wasn't "to its full potential".
      - bobsmooth 3y ago
        The stereotypical HN user is a highly paid SW engineer. Have you donated to charity lately?
      - junon 3y ago
        No. That's such an absurd take that I don't even know where to begin.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
dmarchand90 3y ago
I thought he was cool until he launched a chocolate line. Really? Is that what we need? Most of his audience is young gen z, and I'm sure the last thing the most obese generation ever needs is someone pushing more sugar on their diets
- guyzero 3y ago
  It's better than an energy drink line I suppose.
- fragsworth 3y ago
  Are you joking? I can't really tell. Chocolate? Do you think girl scouts are scumbags too?
  - dmarchand90 3y ago
    Girl scouts are children selling sugars to adults. Mr beast is an adult who sells sugar to children. Anyway, I don't think he's a scumbag. I think he's a nice guy and I'm sure I would be his friend if we took the same pottery course or whatever. I just don't think trying to "cram one more treat into America's already bloated snack hole"[1] is very 'cool'. [1] Simpsons, season 8, episode 164, The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
    - throwaway2990 3y ago
      Kids buy chocolate regardless of mr beast. His chocolate is considered one of the more healthier options. And parents buy it. Not kids.
  - slaw 3y ago
    Girl scouts sell junk food with corn syrup.
- j45 3y ago
  Would an alcohol, gambling, drug or other line be more acceptable since suns are being compared?
eldritch_4ier 3y ago
It’s never enough. This guy is throwing millions towards others and helping their lives, but because he’s not suffering enough to do it, or doing it out of your defined pure intentions, it’s hardly good at all? It’s clear you care more about the sacrificial theater of giving than you do about actual impact. What good have you done for anyone but yourself in the last month? Do you even fulfill your own standards? Is any charity less than implementing your preferred political policies useless? It’s hard to even describe how childish and selfish your take is.
- guyzero 3y ago
  I sleep soundly knowing Mr Beast gives less than zero shits about my opinion.
- TX81Z 3y ago
  Well said.
- WastingMyTime89 3y ago
  He is a content producer who has built a brand on large cash prices not a charity manager. It’s a for profit company. The fact that apparently half of the readership can’t make the difference is a bit worrying to me.
  - throwaway2990 3y ago
    Of course it’s for profit. No one dispute that. But his business involves giving away money. It doesn’t matter if he keeps 50% of the profits for himself and 50% is given away. He’s doing a million times more to help people than anyone on this forum.
    - waveBidder 3y ago
      I seriously doubt he's producing more QALYs than some effective altruists on this site. Someone on a typical software engineering income (going w/120k) can donate enough to save ~2-3 lives a year[0] at 10% giving, let alone someone trying to maximize their impact (of which I'm sure there's several). [0]: https://www.givewell.org/impact-estimates https://www.givewell.org/impact-estimates
radar1310 3y ago
[flagged]
- doctor_eval 3y ago
  My biggest issue with people who complain about young people is that they think young people learn negative behaviours via osmosis.
- oreally 3y ago
  Can't blame them entirely. Competition drives down costs, and the cost is very close to free (or some of your data), or else it's some whale indirectly paying for others. Richer get richer, and some are shocked when they are priced out of big ticket items.
- Jochim 3y ago
  Older people love to talk about how they bought a house working a minimum wage job or how the janitor became CEO of the company when neither are a reality due to their greed. Most young people are angry about the fact that their living and educational expenses are far higher than the older people responsible, and profiting from that increase. Refer also to the increase in retirement age and poorer pensions for younger generations.
balaji1 3y ago
If not structural changes, does Mr. Beast continue to donate every month to some fixed cause(s)? AFAIK they do food donation drives regularly (or something similar) and probably supports other causes consistently. Those come from a place of passion, vision and commitment. Otherwise the YT videos are good execution to serve the audience and sponsors. Tbh I haven't been tempted to watch his videos. Like many other commenters, I find something is off
vasco 3y ago
> 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 care about the intentions of the original owner of the money. In fact the only reason I could see for someone pushing a narrative of "only some donations are good because of motive" would be to discourage donations, which I'm not sure why anyone would do unless they are utterly evil.
- guyzero 3y ago
  I used neither the words "good" nor "bad" so I think you're responding to something that I didn't write.
  - lozenge 3y ago
    Why is the "noble"ness of his actions relevant?
    - guyzero 3y ago
      He's not viral because of charity, he's charitable because he was already a highly viral video creator. It's not a comment on his videos, it's a comment on the NY Times framing.
      - ozim 3y ago
        As much as I agree with that analysis. I still think being charitable instead of blowing money on hookers, drugs and cars is something to applaud. Just like many other celebrities that continue to make money of their lifestyle which isn’t something to applaud. I believe Snoop Dog did his fair share of charity but I definitely don’t applaud his endeavors in pornography and drugs. On the other hand I don’t have any idea if mr.Beast spends money on hookers. But if I would choose which content should be more available on the internet I’d go with me.Beast not Snoop Dog.
superhuzza 3y ago
"My criticism would be that it's local change vs trying for structural change. Why don't those people already have access to surgery?" The reality is that Mr.Beast will not be changing the entire U.S. healthcare system. And that hundreds got life changing surgeries they wouldn't otherwise have gotten. Do you think if you asked those people, they would say Mr. Beast is predatory? Would they have preferred that he Mr. Beast not run a donation-focused youtube channel? He's created quite an ingenious way to siphon money from advertisers to random people. It's not the most 100% effective way of creating change, but viewing it so negatively is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
- gota 3y ago
  > The reality is that Mr.Beast will not be changing the entire U.S. healthcare system. The reality is that Mr Beast has a better shot at it than 99.99% of americans; the argument is he won't take that shot because he prefers to be Mr Beast Not to mention this is not all or nothing. He could flip or decide hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of votes, in favour of candidates that do want to reform the healthcare system. All it takes is about half the politicians plus one, no? I'm not an US voter and don't suffer its healthcare system, so maybe it is an immutable part of life and I can't grasp it - but I doubt it
  - em-bee 3y ago
    The reality is that Mr Beast has a better shot at it than 99.99% of americans better by what margin? given that the likelyhood of anyone else making that change is almost zero, even if his chances were 10 times as high, that is still not enough to make any dent. part of the problem here is thinking that changing the system can only be done by some single person with superhero powers, when in reality it takes a mind change in all of society. the US healthcare system will not change until everyone starts demanding that change. the best MrBeast can do is to influence his audience, but he'll need to convince more than a few million people before a change can happen.
iamben 3y ago
"My criticism would be that it's local change vs trying for structural change." Does that have to be a thing? If he was growing vegetables for his neighbours or his community wouldn't we be going 'what a top bloke'?

oh_sigh 3y ago

The reason those people don't have access to surgery has nothing to do with mrbeast. Do you think he could actually get a law changed and help more people than he already did? Why wouldn't a "Mr Beast goes to Washington" style video get as many views as his direct support videos got?

guyzero 3y ago
"Do you think he could actually get a law changed and help more people than he already did?" The most popular YT video creator could probably start a fairly large lobbying effort although yes, the multi-trillion dollar US for-profit health insurance industry could probably do better. "Why wouldn't a "Mr Beast goes to Washington" style video get as many views as his direct support videos got?" It might, there's only one way to know.
- junon 3y ago
  Team Trees and Team Seas weren't enough? Good lord, y'all are just never satisfied with charity work. "Mr Beast literally cured blindness for a thousand people and gave them a bunch of money, no strings attached." "Yeah but he did it for views!" So what?! He markedly improved 1000 peoples' lives in the process. What have YOU done today? Get over yourselves.
  - throwaway2990 3y ago
    Not only did he improve 1000 lives. He bought awareness to 100s of 1000s of people who didn’t know it’s relatively affordable or can be cured for some.
  - plewd 3y ago
    > What have YOU done today? None of us are in his position to make as much change though. Are we not allowed to criticize someone that has far more power than us for not using it to its full potential?
    - sokoloff 3y ago
      You can criticize anyone for anything you want. Many people will ignore you or think you're a crank when you criticize someone for restoring the sight of 1000 poor people because it wasn't "to its full potential".
    - bobsmooth 3y ago
      The stereotypical HN user is a highly paid SW engineer. Have you donated to charity lately?
    - junon 3y ago
      No. That's such an absurd take that I don't even know where to begin.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

dmarchand90 3y ago

I thought he was cool until he launched a chocolate line. Really? Is that what we need? Most of his audience is young gen z, and I'm sure the last thing the most obese generation ever needs is someone pushing more sugar on their diets

guyzero 3y ago
It's better than an energy drink line I suppose.
fragsworth 3y ago
Are you joking? I can't really tell. Chocolate? Do you think girl scouts are scumbags too?
- dmarchand90 3y ago
  Girl scouts are children selling sugars to adults. Mr beast is an adult who sells sugar to children. Anyway, I don't think he's a scumbag. I think he's a nice guy and I'm sure I would be his friend if we took the same pottery course or whatever. I just don't think trying to "cram one more treat into America's already bloated snack hole"[1] is very 'cool'. [1] Simpsons, season 8, episode 164, The Twisted World of Marge Simpson
  - throwaway2990 3y ago
    Kids buy chocolate regardless of mr beast. His chocolate is considered one of the more healthier options. And parents buy it. Not kids.
- slaw 3y ago
  Girl scouts sell junk food with corn syrup.
j45 3y ago
Would an alcohol, gambling, drug or other line be more acceptable since suns are being compared?

eldritch_4ier 3y ago

It’s never enough. This guy is throwing millions towards others and helping their lives, but because he’s not suffering enough to do it, or doing it out of your defined pure intentions, it’s hardly good at all? It’s clear you care more about the sacrificial theater of giving than you do about actual impact. What good have you done for anyone but yourself in the last month? Do you even fulfill your own standards? Is any charity less than implementing your preferred political policies useless? It’s hard to even describe how childish and selfish your take is.

guyzero 3y ago
I sleep soundly knowing Mr Beast gives less than zero shits about my opinion.
TX81Z 3y ago
Well said.
WastingMyTime89 3y ago
He is a content producer who has built a brand on large cash prices not a charity manager. It’s a for profit company. The fact that apparently half of the readership can’t make the difference is a bit worrying to me.
- throwaway2990 3y ago
  Of course it’s for profit. No one dispute that. But his business involves giving away money. It doesn’t matter if he keeps 50% of the profits for himself and 50% is given away. He’s doing a million times more to help people than anyone on this forum.
  - waveBidder 3y ago
    I seriously doubt he's producing more QALYs than some effective altruists on this site. Someone on a typical software engineering income (going w/120k) can donate enough to save ~2-3 lives a year[0] at 10% giving, let alone someone trying to maximize their impact (of which I'm sure there's several). [0]: https://www.givewell.org/impact-estimates https://www.givewell.org/impact-estimates

radar1310 3y ago

[flagged]

doctor_eval 3y ago
My biggest issue with people who complain about young people is that they think young people learn negative behaviours via osmosis.
oreally 3y ago
Can't blame them entirely. Competition drives down costs, and the cost is very close to free (or some of your data), or else it's some whale indirectly paying for others. Richer get richer, and some are shocked when they are priced out of big ticket items.
Jochim 3y ago
Older people love to talk about how they bought a house working a minimum wage job or how the janitor became CEO of the company when neither are a reality due to their greed. Most young people are angry about the fact that their living and educational expenses are far higher than the older people responsible, and profiting from that increase. Refer also to the increase in retirement age and poorer pensions for younger generations.

balaji1 3y ago

If not structural changes, does Mr. Beast continue to donate every month to some fixed cause(s)? AFAIK they do food donation drives regularly (or something similar) and probably supports other causes consistently. Those come from a place of passion, vision and commitment. Otherwise the YT videos are good execution to serve the audience and sponsors. Tbh I haven't been tempted to watch his videos. Like many other commenters, I find something is off

vasco 3y ago

> 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 care about the intentions of the original owner of the money. In fact the only reason I could see for someone pushing a narrative of "only some donations are good because of motive" would be to discourage donations, which I'm not sure why anyone would do unless they are utterly evil.

guyzero 3y ago
I used neither the words "good" nor "bad" so I think you're responding to something that I didn't write.
- lozenge 3y ago
  Why is the "noble"ness of his actions relevant?
  - guyzero 3y ago
    He's not viral because of charity, he's charitable because he was already a highly viral video creator. It's not a comment on his videos, it's a comment on the NY Times framing.
    - ozim 3y ago
      As much as I agree with that analysis. I still think being charitable instead of blowing money on hookers, drugs and cars is something to applaud. Just like many other celebrities that continue to make money of their lifestyle which isn’t something to applaud. I believe Snoop Dog did his fair share of charity but I definitely don’t applaud his endeavors in pornography and drugs. On the other hand I don’t have any idea if mr.Beast spends money on hookers. But if I would choose which content should be more available on the internet I’d go with me.Beast not Snoop Dog.

superhuzza 3y ago

"My criticism would be that it's local change vs trying for structural change. Why don't those people already have access to surgery?" The reality is that Mr.Beast will not be changing the entire U.S. healthcare system. And that hundreds got life changing surgeries they wouldn't otherwise have gotten. Do you think if you asked those people, they would say Mr. Beast is predatory? Would they have preferred that he Mr. Beast not run a donation-focused youtube channel? He's created quite an ingenious way to siphon money from advertisers to random people. It's not the most 100% effective way of creating change, but viewing it so negatively is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

gota 3y ago
> The reality is that Mr.Beast will not be changing the entire U.S. healthcare system. The reality is that Mr Beast has a better shot at it than 99.99% of americans; the argument is he won't take that shot because he prefers to be Mr Beast Not to mention this is not all or nothing. He could flip or decide hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of votes, in favour of candidates that do want to reform the healthcare system. All it takes is about half the politicians plus one, no? I'm not an US voter and don't suffer its healthcare system, so maybe it is an immutable part of life and I can't grasp it - but I doubt it
- em-bee 3y ago
  The reality is that Mr Beast has a better shot at it than 99.99% of americans better by what margin? given that the likelyhood of anyone else making that change is almost zero, even if his chances were 10 times as high, that is still not enough to make any dent. part of the problem here is thinking that changing the system can only be done by some single person with superhero powers, when in reality it takes a mind change in all of society. the US healthcare system will not change until everyone starts demanding that change. the best MrBeast can do is to influence his audience, but he'll need to convince more than a few million people before a change can happen.

iamben 3y ago

"My criticism would be that it's local change vs trying for structural change." Does that have to be a thing? If he was growing vegetables for his neighbours or his community wouldn't we be going 'what a top bloke'?