
Advice on Starting a Microgrant Program - exolymph
https://nadiaeghbal.com/microgrants
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dmix
> Similarly, Elon Musk’s ham-handed attempts to solve the world’s problems
> (first, the Thai cave rescue, and then, the Flint water crisis) straddle an
> uncomfortable line between generosity and self-promotion, with one of the
> rescue divers calling Elon’s misguided efforts a “PR stunt”

Even if Elon did make some mistakes, I'd be careful to be quick blame the
individuals for these types of things. Every famous "untouchable" type person
always has thousands of people just waiting to kick them down as soon as they
make the smallest mistake.

People _love_ being outraged and contrarian. Combining the two is half of
viral posts on Twitter these days.

It's up to us as a culture to decide whether to value that. It seems to easy a
way to dismiss a person's actual contributions or intentions. ie, the question
of whether Elon was motivated by self-promotion vs making some gaffs.

~~~
arkades
Who gives a shit if it -is- self promoting?

I was reading a blog post about narcissism. The author’s comment regarding
whether one went on a Red Cross trip to Haiti out of good motives or bad
matters to what kind of person you are, but sure as hell doesn’t matter to the
Haitians.

Ultimately this sort of judgment and outrage isn’t about the famous person -
it’s about our self esteem. Because if I can judge you on “what you really
are” rather than your actual deeds, then he’s not so great, and my lazy non-
Thai-rescuing ass isn’t so bad. This is ego protection by the mediocre, and
little more.

~~~
dmix
True, a whole bunch of amazing things have been created in this world in the
name of self-benefit. But social grace still matters, at least culturally if
not for actual charity outcomes.

I also can't think of anyone less likely to be _driven_ by self-promotion in
response to some tragedy than already-famous billionaires. But everyone wants
there to either be the Disney evil rich-guy villains narratives or thankless
superheros.

