3 ms·

its unbecoming to faun over the rich. they deserve no more respect for their giving than a poor man does when he gives. and yet, CNN will never run a story exal

its unbecoming to faun over the rich. they deserve no more respect for their giving than a poor man does when he gives. and yet, CNN will never run a story exalting a walmart cashier when she gives $5 to the Salvation army, and it will never run a story exalting a short order cook when he gives $20 to the Boys and Girls Club.

Florin_Andrei 12y ago
On the individual level, the $5 donated by the cashier has the bigger impact. On a social level, Tim Cook's fortune, donated, has the bigger impact. Both gestures deserve respect.
jaredhansen 12y ago
It's not about respect, it's about marketing to your target customer. Consider the problem from the perspective of the global poor, who have a few different "target customers" from which they can solicit funds. From this perspective, it's not particularly helpful for CNN to run a story about a walmart cashier giving $5 to the Salvation Army, because even in the best of all possible worlds (let's say 100% of walmart cashiers see the story, and there's a 100% conversion rate, so all of them donate $5!), it's just not that much money. Walmart employs about 2M people - best of all worlds, that $5/each amounts to $10M. That's nice and all, but it doesn't move the needle. Conversely, if all the "fawning" over Tim Cook, Buffett, Gates etc. gets just one more billionaire to donate his/her wealth, the impact on global poverty is just thousands to millions of times larger than that. It boils down to what it is that you're trying to accomplish: are you trying to get more money devoted to helping the poor, or are you trying to adjust allocation of social status so that it flows toward people who have altruistic attitudes (regardless of their ability to deliver)? I'm fortunate not to be living at under $1/day, but if I were, I know which one I'd pick.

3 ms·

its unbecoming to faun over the rich. they deserve no more respect for their giving than a poor man does when he gives. and yet, CNN will never run a story exal

by metaphorm 12y ago

Florin_Andrei 12y ago
On the individual level, the $5 donated by the cashier has the bigger impact. On a social level, Tim Cook's fortune, donated, has the bigger impact. Both gestures deserve respect.
jaredhansen 12y ago
It's not about respect, it's about marketing to your target customer. Consider the problem from the perspective of the global poor, who have a few different "target customers" from which they can solicit funds. From this perspective, it's not particularly helpful for CNN to run a story about a walmart cashier giving $5 to the Salvation Army, because even in the best of all possible worlds (let's say 100% of walmart cashiers see the story, and there's a 100% conversion rate, so all of them donate $5!), it's just not that much money. Walmart employs about 2M people - best of all worlds, that $5/each amounts to $10M. That's nice and all, but it doesn't move the needle. Conversely, if all the "fawning" over Tim Cook, Buffett, Gates etc. gets just one more billionaire to donate his/her wealth, the impact on global poverty is just thousands to millions of times larger than that. It boils down to what it is that you're trying to accomplish: are you trying to get more money devoted to helping the poor, or are you trying to adjust allocation of social status so that it flows toward people who have altruistic attitudes (regardless of their ability to deliver)? I'm fortunate not to be living at under $1/day, but if I were, I know which one I'd pick.