I always ask myself “would this person have done this if they weren’t planning on making a video about it?” It reminds me of that “wholesome homeless people” youtube trend in (I think) the mid-2010s where they would give someone on the street like $1000 and then “secretly” film the person to see if they went to go buy booze/drugs but then miraculously they would go in a store and come out with groceries and share with other people on the street while sad piano music played.
There were tons of videos doing this until people started realizing that it was set up and they told the person what to do beforehand. Like, is it good that some people on the street got fed? Sure. Was it done for the most cynical, self-promotional reasons? Definitely. Would those youtubers have done any of that shit if there wasn’t a camera around making sure all their viewers saw how charitable they were? Doubtful.
I remember an old h3h3 video (back before I found out they were reactionary garbage) where they reacted to someone handing out sandwiches on a street corner and when one of the people reached in for a sandwich too early the youtuber yelled “BACK OFF!!!” in a really rude way that demonstrated they didn’t actually give a shit about these people, they just wanted the perfect shot of them doing a good deed so they could milk it for views.
I always ask myself “would this person have done this if they weren’t planning on making a video about it?” It reminds me of that “wholesome homeless people” youtube trend in (I think) the mid-2010s where they would give someone on the street like $1000 and then “secretly” film the person to see if they went to go buy booze/drugs but then miraculously they would go in a store and come out with groceries and share with other people on the street while sad piano music played.
There were tons of videos doing this until people started realizing that it was set up and they told the person what to do beforehand. Like, is it good that some people on the street got fed? Sure. Was it done for the most cynical, self-promotional reasons? Definitely. Would those youtubers have done any of that shit if there wasn’t a camera around making sure all their viewers saw how charitable they were? Doubtful.
I remember an old h3h3 video (back before I found out they were reactionary garbage) where they reacted to someone handing out sandwiches on a street corner and when one of the people reached in for a sandwich too early the youtuber yelled “BACK OFF!!!” in a really rude way that demonstrated they didn’t actually give a shit about these people, they just wanted the perfect shot of them doing a good deed so they could milk it for views.