Last week, filmmaker Casey Neistat released a video showing how he put $25,000 of movie studio marketing money into a relief campaign for Typhoon Haiyan victims.
My cynicism is so firmly ingrained that when I see something nice, something proactive, something that might even be called “good works,” I feel an instinctive urge to tear it down:
Self-promotion alert! This guy is only doing this so he makes more money. And what’s with that huge flat of Spam? He’s going to feed the hungry with processed fake meat? And did you see those custom Ray-Bans he was sporting? Why didn’t he hock those and use the money to buy some more supplies?
Watching this video reminded me of all the arguments people used to beat down Invisible Children for their viral KONY2012 campaign.
But you know where I think this cynicism comes from? Despair. The job seems so much bigger than what’s in my power to help. And it irritates me to see anyone else take a crack at it.
Casey Neistat didn’t “fix” the typhoon aftermath. He didn’t feed everyone in Tacloban. He did the job he was hired to do and yes, he probably went back home to a cush life in Los Angeles.
But as a result of him doing his job, some devastated people had a meal. And that’s more than what I’ve done lately.
Photo via Casey Neistat Google+
