Fuck Off With Your "Make The Homeless Smile" And Here's Why...

"Lets Just Drive" (lets-just-drive)
09/15/2013 at 15:43 • Filed to: None

Okay, I get it. "Make the Homeless smile," is probably a better use of the internet. Sure, it's better then Twerking, Planking, Swag, YOLO or a bunch of those other fly-by-night trends which make such good use of the interwebs.

But here's the thing; why are you recording it? That homeless person you just helped will probably never see the video of you getting off on being a good person. The only people who will see it are your friends and contacts and the only reason to record that kind of act of kindness and share it with the world is not, I repeat NOT, to make the world a better place but so that YOU can look good for a few moments, so that YOU can feel good about using your slave-labor built smartphone to record and post your kindness you YouFuck or Facefuck. Sure, it helps other people feel good about themselves too, for a brief moment watching you give a fucking banana to a homeless guy, or an apple to a homeless kid but let's be legit here; you're recording your heroic ass giving a homeless person an orange... which cost you a few dimes and nickles... on a few hundred dollar smartphone built by foreign, overseas labor... while wearing your flashy watches and jewelry, in fashion-sensitive, vintage, super-expensive skinny jeans... and so on...

So get the fuck over yourself. If you want to enact change in the lives of those less fortunate then yourself, take a page from the book of guys like my friend Todd, who volunteer their time at the shelters and food banks and kitchens, for no money, and then doesn't post how good and kind he is by way of self-masturbatory videos.

Todd, you and guys like you are what restore my faith in humanity... not a compilation videos of university hipsters giving their fellow man a hand up if only so they can look good on the interfuck.

DISCUSSION (51)

dieselwagon > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:47

First im hearing of this... Total asshattery. It is an example of how vain and superficial the 'social media' generation is becoming...

Lets Just Drive > dieselwagon
09/15/2013 at 15:50

"Humanity is good. I've restored your faith in humanity by giving this homeless, addicted, disenfranchised man an apple and a bottle of water. But just to make sure you know that I'm rocking that Swag, and that YOLO, I shot this video on my new Samsung iPhone Sixteen."

I don't want them to live on this planet any more.

Victorious Secret > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:50

Who pissed in your cereal? Who is to say these people don't also do everything your friend Todd does? Why are you judging them for what they throw out on social media?

Its funny you bring up materialistic things; do you live in a cloth tent wearing straw clothing and walk everywhere on your wooden flat shoes? I bet you don't.

Some people do good work and never speak of it or need to speak of it. Others do good work and tell people about it. Others pretend to do good work for self gratification. In any event, why are you judging what someone else does with their own energy?

I probably do more than your friend Todd, I don't give a flying fuck if people find out about it or not. I don't use my work in a self-jerking method, why do you care what others do with it? Why even bring up your friend Todd who no one here gives a shit about to begin with?

Brian, The Life of > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:52

Your rage was so profound it caused my browser's font setting to be changed to "old people."

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:53

Fat font, very edgy.

Victorious Secret > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 15:53

Not edgy, new age hipster.

PS9 > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:53

As shallow and self serving as this asshattery is, it's an upgrade from the bum-fights thing that was going on earlier in the years of the web. Good thing it's gone now.

"What? But PS9, that website is still-"

I SAID, GOOD THING IT'S GONE NOW!!

Victorious Secret > Brian, The Life of
09/15/2013 at 15:54

You JUST changed it to old person?

Pfft. Way to be behind the times.

Wait a sec...that makes me a hipster.

Oh dear god.

Lets Just Drive > Brian, The Life of
09/15/2013 at 15:56

C&P. What can I say? Kinja is poopy.

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 15:56

C&P error.

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:57

Why not edit the post and remove it then? It looks a bit strange.

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:58

Agreed. It's another opportunity for people to "humblebrag". Just do your good deeds and be done with it.

Also I had a bum loitering in a McDonald's ask me for change the other day. He wanted change to "buy a hamburger"... Now this bum could afford to lose about 60 pounds from his gut alone, and to top it off, he already had 2 sandwich wrappers and half a drink on his table...

ttyymmnn > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:59

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

wilsel > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 15:59

If people see someone else doing a good deed, they themselves are more likely to do a good deed. It's easy to become selfish, sometimes I need a reminder myself that there's plenty of people who don't have it as easy as I.

dieselwagon > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 16:03

Giving a homeless person something is charity. Taking a video of yourself giving them something, is self-promotion. All I see is him calling people out on it, saying it's not the same as actually doing a good deed. It's a self-serving activity which shouldn't be given the same esteem as actual charity.

If you didn't give a fuck about all the good things you do, why did you bring it up?

I also think you're underestimating how much the younger generation does things "for the LULZ". That is not something that should be encouraged and this is an example of it.

Lets Just Drive > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 16:08

Who is to say these people don't do everything my friend Todd does? I'd guess, the people in question, their friends and/or family? I don't know. Regardless, I didn't actually say anything about what 'these people' do outside of, or in addition to filming themselves giving away apples and oranges. What I did critique, however; is the inequity and hypocrisy with which these videos tend to be shot and presented. Furthermore, I'd propose that these videos are of less social benefit then their veneer indicates.

Lastly, you may well "do more" then my friend Todd. Here's the thing, he's not the kind of guy who'd point that out. And Todd, like many of my selfless friends, has never sought validation for what he does and that is the the very crux of my contention - that whatever social benefit these videos may offer is far out weighed by the reality and context of the videos themselves.

And because I think it's fucking ironic you'd bring this up, I'm just going to go ahead and quote you:

"In any event, why are you judging what someone else does with their own energy?"

What, you mean outside of the fact that the videos themselves are asking for that judgement? Outside of the fact that this is the very purpose of these movies?

Victorious Secret > dieselwagon
09/15/2013 at 16:08

And what, the generation before this did things differently? Or before them? Or any generation will do it differently?

Easy to view our history in rose tinted glasses and then turn around and say kids of today are selfish and do it for self promotion or whatever else.

So what you're saying is that I can be charitable to a homeless man and it stays as valid charity but the instant I record myself doing it, its not charity anymore? Really? We're using that absolute definition on what charity is?

Wow...the cynicism is amazing.

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 16:08

Not sure how, with Kinja, short of just retyping the rant.

Victorious Secret > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:11

If your friend Todd doesn't care about being known publicly, why bring him up? who cares? Once again, your arguments are straw man at best, baffling at worst; and for what?

so I can be charitable in my own time in my own way and if I keep it to myself it stays as charity but if I take a video of me doing such things, its suddenly self promotion?

Really? You're that cynical? You can't fathom that someone can do good works AND wants to show people that good works are being done in order to create the movement of encouraging others to do more good work?

Who is to say that whoever watched these so called videos you speak of didn't suddenly find themselves in a capacity or desire to go out and do some helping of their own? Are you saying thats a bad thing?

Lets Just Drive > wilsel
09/15/2013 at 16:12

That, or seeing someone else doing a good deed lets the viewer deceive themselves into thinking that there are enough good people out there that they can go on living their own lives without change. Psychologically, there's more evidence to support that idea then there is to support the idea that people witnessing good deeds are more likely to preform good deeds themselves.

That, psychologists and anthropologists agree, is the more common social impact of these types of movies and videos. For everyone who watches this kind of movie it's something like 10% of people who will act and 90% who'll not.

Like I said, it's better than Twerking but it's no where near as good as helping a person for the sake of helping them, rather then helping a person for the sake of then being able to show others how you've helped someone.

Lets Just Drive > ttyymmnn
09/15/2013 at 16:12

You're saying this in what context, exactly?

Lets Just Drive > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123
09/15/2013 at 16:13

I was with you most of the way.

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:14

What went wrong?

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:15

Wait, you've been around this long and still haven't seen the "Edit" below the posting time, viewcount (flame) and replycount (speech box) yet? Posts, unlike replies, can be edited indefinitely. You can still go back several months and edit or even delete any post you made back then. See the below example if you have trouble finding it:

Kinja'd!!!

Lets Just Drive > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 16:20

Yeah.

Here's what I've decided; you're playing devils advocate, trolling, or you genuinely believe this is a movement for the betterment of humankind.

In either situation, I'm not willing to continue this discussion with you.

I'll leave it on this note - Those who preform acts of great kindness or charity should be rewarded by their fellow humans and peers for their actions, and through that social acknowledgement, encourage others to do likewise. Those who preform acts of great kindness or charity for publicity are doing themselves, their cause, and those they help a great disservice. This is why, previous to the internet "I'm a self promoting publisher" bullshit we contend with today, the greatest acts of charity were rewarded and acknowledged by others and self promotion, as it applies to charity and general human kindness, a ploy of the politic.

The fact that these people set out with the intention to do good, charitable works, where the presence of a camera is every bit as important as the charitable goods boggles my mind. I have to wonder, if Jesus were real and alive today, would he be recording his miracles on his smartphone and uploading them to YouTube with captions like, "OMFG, charity FTW guis! I make teh blind c again!!@!!"?

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 16:22

Thanks Sparf, I never knew that. Now can you teach me to wipe my own ass, too?

The formatting, genius, is the problem. I cannot edit the text format.

Now it's my turn to be incredulous:

Wait, you've been around this long and still haven't learned that for all it's functionality, the Kinja commenting system is totally borked?

ttyymmnn > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:25

Making a homeless person smile does nothing to help the problem of homelessness.

Lets Just Drive > ttyymmnn
09/15/2013 at 16:28

Ah.

Thank you!

I agree, vehemently.

Victorious Secret > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123
09/15/2013 at 16:29

I'm promoting your post back up so it isn't dismissed.

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:30

That's not what I meant, I was just genuinely surprised you hadn't seen it.

dieselwagon > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 16:34

I would contend there is a difference because these 'charitable' acts wouldn't happen if they were unable to record it. Generally, video relating to charitable matters is to create awareness of the situation to prompt change. I find it hard to believe anyone doesn't realize giving some food to a homeless person is a good thing to do.

Now, the difference is with "kids these days", they can be enabled by people on the internet, so while they may not know anyone personally who agrees with what they're doing. There may be hundreds (potentially thousands) of people on the internet encouraging people to do stupid things. Where this doesn't cause any real harm, it doesn't really help or change the situation either.

I don't disagree i'm very cynical, this has been formed by life experience and observations of human nature. Videoing yourself performing a charitable act for the sole reason of recording to show others doesn't give you the moral high ground. Even without recording it, you don't get the moral high ground. However this would appear to be precisely the reason it's done, not for the benefit of humanity or society, but for their own ego. Unless it is just for the lulz and they don't even realize it's an inherently good thing they're doing.

People do charitable things for all sorts of reasons, many of them self-serving (I include myself in this). Just because there is a benefit to the recipients doesn't mean we're not allowed to call people out on their hypocrisy or self-serving reasons.

The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123 > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 16:34

Thank you sir.

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 16:35

I know. I was being sarcastic in reply.

Didn't mean any hurt feelings.

Sorry.

Victorious Secret > The Opponaut formerly known as MattP123
09/15/2013 at 16:36

Charitable acts, yay!

Wait a tick, this isn't charitable anymore because people know about it.

Damnit.

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 16:42

Yeah I got the sarcasm, it just seemed very passive aggressive.

Naija > dieselwagon
09/15/2013 at 16:45

self-aggrandizement man

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 16:46

It may have been. I didn't intend that.

So, again, I apologize.

Sparf > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 17:00

I tried posting a .gif of water flowing under a bridge, but Kinja wouldn't let me.

Lets Just Drive > Sparf
09/15/2013 at 17:01

See? See?!

It's not us . It's Kinja that's trying to break us up!

DasWauto > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 17:28

There, I fixed it.

DasWauto > Brian, The Life of
09/15/2013 at 17:29

Fixed.

DasWauto > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 17:31

Use 'Paste and match style' (Command + Shift + V) instead of 'paste'; mac but windows should have a similar option (Ctrl + Shift + V maybe). It'll solve the font issues. I've fixed it for you on this one.

TheOnelectronic > Lets Just Drive
09/15/2013 at 18:07

That is the biggest piece of uninformed bullshit I have ever read.

I will have you know, sir, that Swag is forever.

#yoloswag420blazin4jesus

Lets Just Drive > DasWauto
09/15/2013 at 18:58

Merci beaucoup!

Lets Just Drive > DasWauto
09/15/2013 at 18:59

Thank you.

Thank you!

THANK YOU!

So many headaches. So simple a solution.

(that is, btw, my recently divorced friends mantra...)

Lets Just Drive > TheOnelectronic
09/15/2013 at 19:00

I have been told. I now know my role.

I smell what the Rock is cookin'.

Bakkster, touring car driver > Victorious Secret
09/15/2013 at 21:54

"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."

If the most reward you want from doing good is for YouTube commentors to like you , then so be it, but it isn't charity.

NaturallyAspirated > Lets Just Drive
09/16/2013 at 17:10

Reminds me of Matthew 6:2 in the Bible:

"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward."

Lets Just Drive > NaturallyAspirated
09/18/2013 at 18:22

Not often that the Bible comes to my rescue, but thanks.

Svend > Lets Just Drive
11/10/2013 at 06:16

I agree with you wholeheartedly fella, well done.

Lets Just Drive > Svend
11/10/2013 at 14:47

Woah, new comment + promote on an old thread.

Awesome!

Also, thank you!