Speaking of Restoring Faith in Humanity

[Traindom]

I just think we should be happy that people saw something wrong going on and did something about it. I mean, I've gotten bullied too but I don't mind that she got some money out of the video. I'm happy people have shown the better side of humanity.

Who's to say she does or does not deserve it? She sure didn't deserve the bullying but she got that anyway. People decided to give money to her and, well, you can't really stop them from doing that. I think she should do whatever she wants with it. And I do think she will do good things with the money given that she won't even press charges against the little miscreants. But it's her choice. She wouldn't be wrong to use it otherwise either.

I won't deny that there is a "fad" thing to this donation situation. It happened with Haiti and Japan. You'd see all these people donating (which is good) but after some time, they stopped caring and donating as much as they had before. It wasn't really "in" anymore. You could blame it on the media shifting attention, but it didn't go on forever. It's stupid to expect people to donate forever, of course, but there is a phenomenon here.

This situation is pretty "hot" right now and for good reason, in my opinion. Although people lover expressing their emotions and relishing in attention, this came from a good place. This video got the exposure it did because it appealed so strongly to our morality. Not only did it appeal to our morality, but people cared enough to actually do something about it instead of just trying to get likes or retweets.

[Tim]

(06-23-2012 07:21 PM)Nick Wrote:  How should I respond to that? Should I just come out and say that I have an unhealthy mindset? Should I just say that yes, there is something very wrong with me because I think everyone who has donated since I began typing this post is stupid?

I'll just say it then. The people who took the donated amount all the way up to $620,265, and everyone who comes after them, they are doing it for stupid reasons. Clearly, since I still do believe that, there is something wrong with my mindset.

Sure, why not? That's a big part of what this site is about. If you don't feel it's an unhealthy mindset, then ok. But there's a Buddhist principle that goes something along the lines of 'how you see the world is a reflection of how you see yourself and vice versa'. I believe that's very true. I think if you believe that people are inherently miserly, uncaring about others, and generally selfish, you really believe that about yourself. And if you think that these people are stupid for helping, and that they're doing it for selfish reasons, then I'd suggest that reflects something about you. Maybe you believe that you are not really a generous person, and any altruistic act you do is motivated by selfish reasons. Maybe you feel that you don't do enough good in the world, and so you feel the need to belittle the good will of others.

I don't know, I could be totally wrong here. I had a similar mindset to the one I just described a couple of years ago, and it left me absolutely miserable. I was incredibly cynical, and it shut me off from seeing any good in other people and the world. In fact Postmasculine was probably the biggest influence in helping me move beyond that mindset. Anyway, I could just be projecting from that experience. But I also truly believe that how you see the world is of crucial importance in revealing and understanding what you believe about yourself.