Video Altruism

Alright.

If you've been paying attention, you know who Mr. Beast is.

If you're in the loop, you know that recently, he helped restore the eyesight of one thousand people, then dropped a whack of cash more to cover the lost income of some of these people, then a whack load more to cover even more surgeries to help restore more people's eyesight.

He's known for doing huge, charitable events, and making YouTube videos of it. He has an entire channel dedicated to philanthropy.

He's also known for doing games and contests to give out money, too.

And there's people who aren't happy with any of this.

They complain he's using the disabled and poor as a commodity.
They're saying that if he's going to help people, he should shut up and not make videos of his work.

And we're saying these people are missing the point, or don't understand the reality of the situation.  If he didn't do video, he'd not get money.  No money, no means to help people.

And really, we think it's a matter of jealousy.
They're jealous he's become popular.

They're jealous he's become rich.
They're jealous of the people he's given money to.

We also think it's a matter of guilt.

Seeing the injustices in the world he points out.
Seeing the poor being grateful when he turns their life around.
Seeing the raw good he does for others.

So, they badmouth him.
And ignore the sheer amount of good he's capable of doing, and does.

"He could use the money he spends on these videos to help more people."

That's not how this works.
First and foremost, you need a source of income to help people.
His income is videos.  He's expanded some since then, but the biggest source of income is still people watching his videos, and the sponsors he picks up.

So, the choice is simple.
He makes videos, gets revenue, and helps people.

Or.

He doesn't make videos, runs out of revenue, and people suffer.

Here's some things he's done.

• His first sponsor.  He asked for more money than they initially offered. When they asked him what he was going to do with it, he said he was giving it all to a homeless guy and videotaping it. And he did. That's what got the ball rolling and started this whole thing.  His first act was to help someone who needed it.
• He's the one who started Team Trees and was a major force behind Team Seas. Go and see just how much of a difference this has made. Like, 33 million pounds of trash removed from rivers and seas.
• He bought all the stock in a grocery store in a single day, to fill food banks in the city, and paid for the groceries of anyone who happened to be going through, then all the pet food and such from the grocery store went to the local animal shelters.
• He went to other countries, ravaged by storms, and helped get new houses built so people would have homes.
• He made a 'bank' where if you walked in and asked for money, he just gave it to you, no strings attached.
• He made a 'car lot' and just gave cars away to the people who needed them, giving mobility to those who needed it to find work, or to get to their jobs.
• He helped one thousand people across the globe get their eyesight back.

He brings in people who follow him, and gives them a chance at getting a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million dollars. He changes their lives - and even if they don't get the money, they get a once-in-a-lifetime memory.

And this pisses people off.

Because, apparently, it's bad to be seen helping people.

They'd rather have people suffer, than to see someone being a positive force - to be a self-made millionaire then turn around and use that money to help other people.

They don't want to believe someone can be rich and honestly altruistic.

And there's some people who don't want to see people succeed.  They want to see those people torn down - they want to feel superior when that person fails. In the states, it's well known that people want to punish success. Who cares if it hurts other people in the process? Their smugness is more important.

To which we have to say, what sort of selfish prick are you?

He's living the life we want - where we've got the means to help change the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, regularly. That's the kind of life we dream of having. Are we jealous? Maybe a little bit - but the good he's doing is far more important than our feelings.