
Doing Good Makes It Easier to Be Bad - dnetesn
http://nautil.us/blog/-why-doing-good-makes-it-easier-to-be-bad
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kokokokoko
That is a massive leap of faith to believe that a person that works for a
large international non-profit is someone who automatically behaves justly and
morally. It is often a prestigious and above average paying position. There
are certainly people who go into non-profit work for all the right reasons.
But there are plenty that do not.

~~~
coderintherye
>It is often a prestigious and above average paying position

Incorrect. Furthermore, the salaries are often public, so this is provable.
Look up our 990 if you don't believe me. You can also review via GuideStar[0]
or Foundation Center[1]. I work with a lot of fellow non-profits, on average
our positions pay about 80% of market. Perhaps you are only looking at CEO
pay? On average, that is also below market, but there are some outliers which
I'd have to guess you are basing your incorrect assertion on.

[0] [https://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx](https://www.guidestar.org/Home.aspx)
[1] [https://foundationcenter.org/](https://foundationcenter.org/)

~~~
kokokokoko
By "above average" I meant it was above the median income as opposed to above
average for the position. I should have made that language a bit clearer.

From there I would say that the status and prestige of working at a large and
powerful NGO can make up for the difference in pay one might make elsewhere.
There are obviously many people who go into non-profit work for purely
altruistic reasons. I only meant to state that there are plenty of people who
do not. Therefore using the position as a signal of the quality of a person's
character is not valid.

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matt4077
Can’t you just admit you were wrong, instead of moving the goalpost to some
(also wrong) median vs mode argument, and then repeating your other
impossible-to-disprove opinion on NGO worker’s character flaws?

~~~
kokokokoko
Hey Matt, seems like you really got offended by my clarification. I'm
certainly not trying to upset you and my apologies if I did.

I was in fact using "above average" as meaning they tend to be more white
collar jobs that pay more than the median salary.

With that said, this really seems like something that is upsetting you and I
really want you to know that I'm not trying to play a game or trick anyone.
Either way, it's just a web forum. I'm not trying to convince anyone of
anything. There is no prize. Just making internet conversation since I'm a
little bored today.

Please don't get too worked up about it and I wish you well.

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rifung
> The all-male charity, the President’s Club, which raised money for causes
> including children’s hospitals through high-valued auctions, was forced to
> close after the Financial Times uncovered sexual assault and misogyny at its
> annual dinner; executives of Oxfam, a poverty eradication charity, visited
> prostitutes while delivering aid in earthquake-stricken Haiti, and were
> allowed to slink off to other charities, rather than being castigated for
> their actions; and ex-Save the Children executives Brendan Cox and Justin
> Forsyth stepped down from their roles at other charities, after allegations
> of sexual harassment and bullying toward junior female colleagues
> resurfaced.

Maybe I just lack the context but I don't really understand how sexual
harassment is in the same vein as visiting prostitutes. What is morally wrong
about seeing prostitutes? Did it somehow interfere with their jobs? Or were
they using charity funds?

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grawprog
>executives of Oxfam, a poverty eradication charity, visited prostitutes while
delivering aid in earthquake-stricken Haiti,

Hmmm to me it seems like a pretty shitty thing to do. You're an executive at a
charity there helping people after a natural disaster....paying one of those
people for sex seems just ya know...like a bit of a shitty thing to do. Even
if it was their job. I think it's more the context and timing of the situation
that's the problem.

Again...these are executives in a charity...in a disaster stricken
country....supposedly there to help out...having sex with local prostitutes.
I'm sure if it was during their own free time, possibly while not in a
disaster stricken place it would likely be less of a big deal.

Especially because as an executive at a charity devoted to ending poverty you
should probably be trying to help these women find other means to live rather
than encouraging them to sell themselves...especially right after a natural
disaster. Just saying...seems real shitty to me.

They're basically taking advantage of people in a desperate situation despite
supposedly being there to help.

~~~
fuzz4lyfe
The huge power imbalance involved is what makes that gross to me. I may be
wrong I don't imagine Haitian prostitutes to have many other options,
especially during a disaster.

~~~
meruru
Do you also refuse to have your trash taken due to the power imbalance between
the garbage men and their employer? I don't imagine garbage men have many
other options.

~~~
fuzz4lyfe
My garbage man lives in the same country as me and had similar opportunities.
For years my garbage man made much more than I did, only in the last few years
have I made up the difference. So no.

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hannob
It should be noted that some questions have been raised about the underlying
theory of "moral licensing" and there have been replication failures of key
studies: [https://psyarxiv.com/wynjb/](https://psyarxiv.com/wynjb/)

The article imho does a poor job of evaluating how reliable the research that
it quotes is.

~~~
adolph
I first learned of the concept from Malcom Gladwell's podcast:

[http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/01-the-lady-
vanishes/](http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/01-the-lady-vanishes/)

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elicash
It's certainly true that when I work out, my default response is that I should
"reward" myself with bad food. Of course, it's important to ignore that
impulse.

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Brigadirk
This is called the moral credential efffect:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-
licensing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-licensing)

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oldgun
South Park gets it best:
[https://imgflip.com/i/2t3msg](https://imgflip.com/i/2t3msg)

From the episode of "Canada on Strike":
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN_h_HBzZnc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN_h_HBzZnc)

------
gerash
Here's a relevant social experiment:
[https://youtu.be/yZlOw3rsPBM](https://youtu.be/yZlOw3rsPBM)

