Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

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Sir-Sister-of-Suck
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Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

Post by Sir-Sister-of-Suck »

There's this idea in society that if you do good things, you're not expected to brag about it, or even worse - do it for the good publicity. It seems increasingly common that when celebrities donate to a charity, people tend to view it as an empty gesture because they appear to be doing it primarily to keep up their the public image. What is so wrong with that? What harm or difference comes from doing something for the benefit of your public image? At the end of the day, they're still doing something positive for society. Strictly viewing this in a utilitarian way, that would be what matters most.

The assessment I've come to is that people tend to dislike this because they don't see these people as truly good individuals because they're really doing it for a selfish endeavor, and it's more about questioning their character. But isn't selfishness what drives all of our actions, anyway? When we do a good deed, we're doing it for our own self-interest of wanting to feel good from helping that person. We can never do something that simultaneously goes against our will, and everything we actively do turns out to be selfish, regardless. Or at least at our own self-interest.

When we consider this, doesn't the difference begin to seem blurry? Celebrities who want to publicly make large contributions to a charitable cause are selfish, and if they don't make it so public they're still selfish because they just want their empathetic feel-goods. Why is one incentive significantly worse than the other?
Impenitent
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Re: Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

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pride is one of the seven deadly...

-Imp
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

It's probably because the really genuine and good people in the world generally get no recognition. Just look at how people are still taken in by that criminal witch Mother Teresa.
When someone anonymously pays for a child's life-saving operation it means they are doing it because they actually care, not because they want flattery and for everyone to know what a 'wonderful' human being they are.
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GreatandWiseTrixie
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Re: Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

Post by GreatandWiseTrixie »

The debate of selfless and selfish is something mental midgets ask themselves in their spare time.
"Am i truly selfish or am I selfless"? The pathetic mental midget asks itself, endlessly. It has the mind of a 4 year old girl. Brainwashed by the media and culture. It hasn't been through much real abuse or hardship in order to stop being so self-critical.

A real Evolved being would say, it doesn't matter. I want to make myself happy. And I will try to make others happy. Long as I try to make myself and others are happy, people are happy, therefore its good and nothing to worry about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnzDrJjGiSk
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Re: Why shouldn't people do good things for the publicity?

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GreatandWiseTrixie wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2017 7:06 pm
A real Evolved being would say, it doesn't matter. I want to make myself happy. And I will try to make others happy. Long as I try to make myself and others are happy, people are happy, therefore its good and nothing to worry about.
That's what Nero said. And Caligula, and Hitler, and Stalin, too. As well as Jesus, Yahweh, the Hindu gods.

Zeus and Jupiter were old school gods... they did not give a hoot about being liked or popular. They just smitted people who openly criticized them. There is a whole bunch of attitudinal differences between earning people's liking and making them do your bidding that way, and forcing them into a yoke to make them do your bidding, but the end result is the same.

Why celebrities get nailed to the cross when they give money to charities? Because it's a faux-good deed.
They will never miss the money they had given. It's money they probably recoup in popularity, or in taxes. If you forward-average your non-taxable charitable donations and roll them over into K-two plan with bifurcative accelerated depreciation, then you actually save on taxis.
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