If This Were Porn, it Would Have 100,000 Views Already...
Most of my writing "career" has had relatively little to do with web sites like Steemit.
Years ago, I was a technical writer in the IT industry; subsequently I wrote a lot of advertising copy and sales letters, as well as corporate newsletters. More recently, I have primarily written articles for magazines and web sites in the self-development and New Age/Metaphysics field.
Do People Care About "Doing Good?"
An oak leaf in the sun...
A couple of years ago, approximately at this time of the year, I found myself being part of a fundraising campaign for a charitable non-profit organization. We wrote all sorts of appeals... ultimately striving towards the goal of raising US $100,000 for education in developing nations.
As much as we used social media and other forms of web advertising and connecting... it was basically like "pulling teeth" to get even a small number of people to visit the web site and make a $10.00 donation to what was a very worthy cause.
We even had a deal with a corporate sponsor who agreed to pay $5 to the campaign for every person who put a link to it on their Facebook page... no out-of-pocket expense; all you had to do was post a single link and it was worth $5 for a good cause.
Yeah, but if this were PORN...
The title of this article was inspired by a comment left on one of the organization's blog posts, during the fundraiser.
Looking through a henge...
The comment was left by one of the most active social media promoters for the charity campaign, in frustration over the general lack of interest from some 500,000 people targeted.
It really got me to think about our values, as a society... and how we so often gravitate towards throwing our hard earned cash not at things that will improve our lives or the greater world, but at things that serve only our basest of instincts.
I remember sitting with my wife-- who's on the board of directors of the organization-- and we were talking about the way very few people were willing to spend just $10.00 for a donation that would do a lot of good... yet every day millions of people surf the Internet and agree to pay $29.95 a month to watch poorly produced pornography online.
Morals aside, what does this say about us, as a species?
Wagtail sitting on a post...
Moreover, what does it say about us that so many are "suspicious" of fundraisers ("because what if they are not legitimate") yet voluntarily, willingly and without a second thought support sketchy producers of adult entertainment... an industry that's notorious for engaging in "shady dealings?" What does it say that many are more concerned about "their privacy" when it comes to a charitable contribution, than when buying adult entertainment?
Let's for a moment disregard the actual product/service being sold and not judge it... and just stay with examining the pattern of (mis)trust... we're essentially trusting the least trustworthy, and acting with mistrust towards the trustworthy. What gives?
Or even, lets use Steemit as an example: People are more likely to trust Facebook-- who for sure is using your private information for marketing than Steemit... which is even regarded by many as "a scam" for actually rewarding its contributors.
Maybe it's just me, but that strikes me as "a world gone mad."
What do YOU think? Are our values "messed up," with respect to what we prioritize? Would you be more likely to question someone fundraising or someone selling adult entertainment? Can we truly consider ourselves "civilized" when we place personal gratification ahead of common good? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Created at 171205 23:58 PDT
what does it say about us?
well....consider that the VAST majority of 'charity' and 'do good to those poor poor people'...including big names such as "united way' and Hilliary Klinton (haiti?)..turn out to be bogus.
Well what can you say?
At least porn..however bad...DELIVERS.
Personally, I find myself so sickened by the amount stolen from me by the state and sent overseas as foreign aid, that I struggle with the idea of sending more voluntarily.
@everrittdmickey quite true artist least porn delivers a temporary satisfaction but @denmark got a point also doing good can be satisfying also to the doer and investing in others is doing an investment on a world you also can benefit from both you guys got a pint there worth reflecting
A lot of "charities" are NOT trustworthy.
Which suggests that (most) people don't give a shyte about anyone but themselves.
"Charity begins at home," as the saying goes.
well of course they don't.
anyone beyond the Dunbar number radius are not real people.
they're just numbers...or statistics.
interesting read that touches on this very subject.
The world is all screwed up! I was shocked when I opened a site last night and it jumped to a porn site. I was so confused and shocked I just closed the laptop...ha ha ha... My friend sent me a message on Facebook the other day which included a picture of someone breastfeeding. It was a private message(supposedly) and she got banned for a week from Facebook. Now how on earth would any one know what is going on in my private messages? Hmmm not so private anymore. In my honest opinion people don't think further than their noses. Only the now is important and not what comes after in other words they live only in the present and do not often think of the consequences of their actions. It is easier to do something sneaky than to do something good. People are also curious creatures, so weird things attract us. Just my few cents...
I think perhaps right there you summarized a lot of what ails the world. I'm not necessarily out to point fingers... but I do think some it has to do with the rate of busy-ness in our lives, and the amount of information overload we have to deal with. There is so MUCH happening around us that people are forgetting how to care and pay attention and be mindful.
Very true. Life was so much easier forty odd years ago...lol
This is one of the best posts that I have read in a long time. It is so sad that things on our wonderful planet is changing so much. Try and write about ligt the world, and see how only the same people come back everyday. I am old and silly, but life was not like this when we were younger. I am not judging anyone, but it would be wonderful if people cared a little more.
@bigbear, you also touch on something perhaps important-- "stage of life."
As children we are inherently selfish... "it's all about ME!" As we grow up, we become more aware that sometimes it's also about other people... first it becomes "about" a partner perhaps, then maybe children... then (for many) it becomes about "the world" when we realize we want our children to live in a better place... and maybe that becomes stronger when we have grandchildren and we're not so busy being parents anymore and instead have more time to think outside ourselves...
Stop showing that plant p0rn man you going attract them botanists! Perhaps that been your plan all along. Raise some money!
While I do think values do get very messed up we also just become cold to certain things. The issue for fund raising for charity is everyone is always constantly getting hit up for money. Everyone and everything wants or claims to have a need for money. I would go on Facebook right now and there is always someone in dire need. Everyone has endless stories of how they help someone or a charity and they got scammed.
Not to mention I know there are quite a few recourses out there to help people choose and identify if a charity is the right fit for them. Can’t think of that for p0rn; granted, I’ve never looked for such “resource”(excuses me one moment I got go register some domain names for a new business Idea I just had….).
While asking people just to post a link on their Facebook might not seem like a lot. It is because there are lots of similar things trying spreading their advertisement the same way by using Facebook and encouraging users to share a story that really is advertisement. Why I think that is 90% of my Facebook feed and thus I only ever use it for certain things.
It might seem twisted but if you have to choose between paying for entertainment or helping someone you will never know in some country you will never visit that is suffering in a way you have not experience. Entertainment is just going win out more times then not. Most don’t seem to be wired to gain enjoyment form sending a piece of paper off saying they donated $10.
When some people shop they are willing to spend extra money for stickers on a product that claim, Organic, free ranged, fair trade, non-glutton, sourced logically. While others, well they just want whatever fulfills their current need at best price possible. While people can spend a lot to fill their entertainment “needs” a $10 bill sent to their local church is all their charity needs require to be fulfilled.
I considered using pictures of postage stamps instead, so as to attract some philatelists... which sounds truly filthy.
Fundraising is actually a dirty business, in many ways. I frequently get calls from the University of Texas Alumni Association... asking for donations for my alma mater. And I'm thinking "What the hell is WRONG with you people???" The University of Texas endowment fund is $24,000,000,000... that's the gross national product of a small country and they are begging for money?
One of the thing I really liked about the ideology of Steemit when I first got here was the underlying idea that this had the making of a "gift economy." When I upvoted your comment, 11c went into your tip jar... and that creates a sort of "pay it forward" dynamic.
We vote for the world we want with our habits... and I'll be up front and say that I am not great at giving to charities, but I DO occasionally buy a couple of bags of fresh groceries and haul them over to the local food pantry, and I DO sometimes volunteer to serve food at the American Legion hall. I suppose "because there, but for the grace of God, go I."
If it was porn I wouldnt have looked and I def dont trust Facebook. :)
Well Karen, you are-- as they say-- "smarter than the average bear."
I wouldnt put money on that lol
Hello.
I am the partner of lucylin (patriot war gamer).
I am sure you know we are in 'the adult industry' in many things. (sorry for english -not my no1. - 1st- language - I am quite good - I do Thai english translations service).
I have not been online for a while, - my first day back today in fact.
Morals aside, what does this say about us, as a species?
We are sexual things, and nothing change that.
Can we truly consider ourselves "civilized" when we place personal gratification ahead of common good?
i think this comes before the common good.
When this is done, the next part happens... it can be a start to something bigger - but we all need to be satisfied with our life first thing, before moving to help others -(and not to do with sex !)
Hello partner of @lucylin, thanks for the comment. Your English looks just fine to me!
What you say definitely holds true in most cases, although I'd also say that it can be through the helping of others that we sometimes can make our own lives better.
Welcome back to Steemit.
The world has really gone mad. Usually the pendulum swings left and slowly gravitates to the centre before it swings right only to make its way back in the same slow motion. Right now I am not sure where the heck we are on the pendulum. Perhaps it fell? Where it all ends is anyone's guess. It seems that everyone is out for themselves. It is a sad state of affairs...
I am not sure where we are... but sometimes I am reminded of the many people I have met who assured me that it was "the fear of God" that kept them on the right path.
"So, absent the fear of God, you would just steal, plunder, cheat and kill?" I would ask.
"Probably," they replied.
That's not a religious comment... but a commentary on the fact that a great many people (it seems) evidently live with only a whisker separating them from savage barbarian behavior... and THAT scares me... because it also feels like that "root" part of me was bred out of me many generations ago.
Once again we are talking about that short term human instinct.
If I can have more now...Why wait.
Look at credit card debt.
Absolutely... it's our instant gratification world.
But this is also about the underlying trust issue. People often seem less trusting of legitimate business than sketchy operators. And I think to myself... WTF???
It doesn't surprise me at all that people will pay for a service that gives them something (even if you don't think it's worth much) over giving money to a charity that will do absolutely nothing for them.
There may be more complicating factors, like trust in the charity, trust in charities in general, even the idea of charity, but putting that aside, it's not really very much in anyone's direct interest to give to charity.
In my experience you need to make a personal connection with someone in order to be charitable. It doesn't have to be with someone who will benefit from the charity, it could be someone collecting on their behalf, but that is really needed. Many drives during Christmas rely on moving people to give based on guilt, pity, religious duty, often invoking images of distress and violence. But as much as the images and messages terrify us, I don't believe it is an effective way to incite charitableness.
Perhaps you need to give people something in return for their donation, or get them involved somehow. I don't think you can rely on the ultimate altruism of the average person, and I don't think it should surprise you that you have difficulty in soliciting on those grounds.
Yes, charity often does have a bad name... organizations collecting $1,000 of which only $34 actually makes it to the intended end recipient-- the rest go to paying for the organization director's new Mercedes. Apologists for the system then point to the fact that those recipients "Wouldn't even have had $34, without our fundraising."
Ultimately, it didn't really surprise me, either... but it pointed to some of the ironic contradictions in human nature, best summarized by one of my all time favorite cartoons:
Agreed @denmarkguy. The mentality is a little crooked there at the same time it's malicious. Always trying to find bad in the good. 😯
Indeed... and again, we can look locally at Steemit. Here's a perfectly legitimate system to reward content creators... and yet people are busy looking for ways to manipulate and exploit it.