You’ve probably seen these videos popping up all over facebook and getting passed around on social media, all the while racking up millions of views. Some unassuming millennial gent walks up to a homeless person and gives him a hundred bucks or something like that. “Oh, how sweet! I need to share this video with everyone, because humanity and kindness sure are great!” you might be saying to yourself as you click that “share” button. The problem is, humanity and kindness have absolutely nothing to do with these videos being created. When said millennial gent starts walking up to a homeless person with hundred dollar in hand, charity is usually the last thing on his mind.
Go to youtube and enter something like “homeless experiment” or “homeless charity” and go down the list and count every video that has millions of views. Keep in mind though, that most of those videos are on partnered, revenue-sharing youtube accounts. When these individuals get millions of views because of their “kindness”, they end up raking in thousands of dollars (if not more) as a result. Would you grab a camera and a hundred dollar bill and film yourself “being kind” to a homeless individual if it meant you would practically be guaranteed a tenfold return on your investment for doing so. If you would, you aren’t alone, as those search results so clearly indicate.
At some point, somebody on youtube decided to do a “social experiment” involving giving charity to some down-on-their-luck homeless guy on the street somewhere, and racked up a shit-ton of views in the process. Now, perhaps the first instance of this happening was actually done out of kindness, being that there was no way of knowing this genre of video would become so large and profitable. The thing is, once that video became successful, all the profit chasers out there suddenly had a new type of video to create in order to make a quick and easy paycheck. When someone releases a filmed video of themselves engaging in charity of some sort, they are doing so because it will ultimately be profitable for them in the long run. There is absolutely no other reason to post such a video on a public forum. It is a self-serving act, pure and simple. Do you honestly think any of these kids would be handing that much money over to a homeless person if they weren’t recording the act?
I’m sure it’s great for the homeless guy who gets a hundred dollar bill, but ultimately he’s just being used as a prop in a video filmed for the sole purpose of going viral and becoming profitable. The guy(s) filming the video don’t care about the subject. Absolutely any homeless person will do for filling the role of Homeless Guy #7 in their current youtube production. If this target ends up reacting in some profound, touching, unintended way, all the better. That can only mean more views, more likes, more shares, and ultimately, more profit. The whole “homeless charity” genre is really just an offshoot of those terrible videos where a white kid from the ‘burbs goes to the hood to try to instigate a group of black guys into trying to fight him. Both types of videos are completely planned out and edited with the intent of buying into people’s sensitivities and/or racist proclivities.
So stop sharing these videos, stop liking these videos, and stop subscribing to channels who post these kinds of videos. If you want to feel good about a homeless person receiving a little money, go out and give money to a needy person yourself. Stop helping these internet weasels make money off using homeless people as a means to an end.