YouTuber MrBeast is no stranger to critics, but those criticisms usually come in places you’d expect. Criticisms of his videos or his burger chain, stuff like that. What you wouldn’t expect is to see people pounce on the 25-year-old for providing drinking water to half a million people across Africa, but guess what? it happened.
Now, I’m not super familiar with this MrBeast, if that is his real name (it’s not, it’s Jimmy Donaldson). I basically knew him as the guy who made these extravagant YouTube videos where he bought an island or made people compete in a real-life version of Squid Game.
However, he has also done videos where he ponies up the money for more worthwhile causes. Like the time he paid for 1,000 people to get cataract surgery.
However, this past weekend, MrBeast posted a video that showed him providing 100 wells in nations like Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. These are places where clean drinking water can be tough to come by. This is a problem since people need water to live.
The video with the very on-the-nose title “I Built 100 Wells In Africa” has since gotten a lot of attention.
So, by drilling these wells — and running a fundraiser that raised another $300,000 for local water organizations and charities — Donaldson drastically improved the quality of life for a lot of people.
What problem could people possibly have had with this? A problem that would have MrBeast concerned about getting canceled?
It’s 2023, folks. They found ways.
“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, but we’ve been struggling to continue the work because funding, awareness, and advocacy all take work,” Jones said.
That’s all true. So then she must have been pretty jazzed that MrBeast decided to use his gobs of money to help in this endeavor instead of buying another Island or filling a swimming pool with Fanta or whatever it is he does.
Nope. She told CNN this: “(O)vernight, this person comes along, who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s also understanding the nature of how the world is.”
Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone here. Shouldn’t she be ecstatic that half a million people have access to water and now there’s way more attention brought to it?
First of all, claiming a guy shouldn’t dig wells for people in Africa because he’s white could be the hot take of the century. Possibly the millennium. That’s just unhinged.
Being upset that the guy who paid to dig all these wells is white is wild. If you’re in desperate need of a well, you wouldn’t care who dug it.
However, it was the next line that highlighted the real grudge as far as I see it.
“…all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention.”
If your true mission is to help people, you wouldn’t care who did it. If it was you, awesome, but if it was someone else, that’s also awesome because the result is the same. In this case, people got the water they so desperately needed.
So, being upset that someone else got the credit instead of you, sure gives off the vibe that maybe getting water for people isn’t priority numero uno in your book.
Gaitho argued that the video fueled the stereotype that Africa is “dependent on handouts…and philanthropic intervention.”
I mean… I get that sentiment, but who is going to dig these wells otherwise, Mr. “Aspiring” Politician? Not the government you’re aspiring to be part of, it seems.
Not everyone was delusional enough to get mad about the video, and in fact, some saw it as positive and not just because of that drinking water (which you need to live; can’t recall if I mentioned that or not).
According to CNN, some noted how MrBeast’s video highlighted just how poor of a job these nations’ governments are doing.
Freelance journalist Ferdinand Ormondi approved of MrBeast’s philanthropic endeavors. He pointed out what a bad look it is for the governments in these countries.
“(I)t’s embarrassing that a YouTuber jetted into Kenya on a charity tour to perform tasks our taxes should have completed ages ago,” he said.
Yeah, it is. It really is.
There’s a case to be made about MrBeast using his philanthropic pursuits as click-fodder. However, if it means helping 500,000 people, does it matter?
I’d argue it doesn’t. Sometimes the ends justify the means, and I think this is certainly one of those cases.
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Now, I’m not super familiar with this MrBeast, if that is his real name (it’s not, it’s Jimmy Donaldson). I basically knew him as the guy who made these extravagant YouTube videos where he bought an island or made people compete in a real-life version of Squid Game.
However, he has also done videos where he ponies up the money for more worthwhile causes. Like the time he paid for 1,000 people to get cataract surgery.
However, this past weekend, MrBeast posted a video that showed him providing 100 wells in nations like Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. These are places where clean drinking water can be tough to come by. This is a problem since people need water to live.
The video with the very on-the-nose title “I Built 100 Wells In Africa” has since gotten a lot of attention.
So, by drilling these wells — and running a fundraiser that raised another $300,000 for local water organizations and charities — Donaldson drastically improved the quality of life for a lot of people.
What problem could people possibly have had with this? A problem that would have MrBeast concerned about getting canceled?
It’s 2023, folks. They found ways.
It Seems Tough To Get Upset About Digging Wells, But Where There’s A Willm There’s A Way
Take Saran Kaba Jones, founder and CEO of FACE Africa, for instance. According to CNN, that’s an organization that aims to improve water infrastructure and sanitation in Sub-Saharan Africa.“I’ve been doing this for 15 years, but we’ve been struggling to continue the work because funding, awareness, and advocacy all take work,” Jones said.
That’s all true. So then she must have been pretty jazzed that MrBeast decided to use his gobs of money to help in this endeavor instead of buying another Island or filling a swimming pool with Fanta or whatever it is he does.
Nope. She told CNN this: “(O)vernight, this person comes along, who happens to be a white male figure with a huge platform, and all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention. It’s kind of frustrating, but it’s also understanding the nature of how the world is.”
Wait, wait, wait. Hold the phone here. Shouldn’t she be ecstatic that half a million people have access to water and now there’s way more attention brought to it?
First of all, claiming a guy shouldn’t dig wells for people in Africa because he’s white could be the hot take of the century. Possibly the millennium. That’s just unhinged.
Being upset that the guy who paid to dig all these wells is white is wild. If you’re in desperate need of a well, you wouldn’t care who dug it.
However, it was the next line that highlighted the real grudge as far as I see it.
“…all of a sudden, he gets all of the attention.”
If your true mission is to help people, you wouldn’t care who did it. If it was you, awesome, but if it was someone else, that’s also awesome because the result is the same. In this case, people got the water they so desperately needed.
So, being upset that someone else got the credit instead of you, sure gives off the vibe that maybe getting water for people isn’t priority numero uno in your book.
Did MrBeast Perpertuate Sterotypes Or Did He Simply Do What Governments Should Have Done Years Ago?
CNN also highlighted a guy named Francis Gaitho who they referred to as an “aspiring Kenyan politician.” That use of the word “aspiring” should make alarm bells go off in your head. Alarm bells letting you know that what follows won’t exactly be the most sensical argument you’ve ever heard.Gaitho argued that the video fueled the stereotype that Africa is “dependent on handouts…and philanthropic intervention.”
I mean… I get that sentiment, but who is going to dig these wells otherwise, Mr. “Aspiring” Politician? Not the government you’re aspiring to be part of, it seems.
Not everyone was delusional enough to get mad about the video, and in fact, some saw it as positive and not just because of that drinking water (which you need to live; can’t recall if I mentioned that or not).
According to CNN, some noted how MrBeast’s video highlighted just how poor of a job these nations’ governments are doing.
Freelance journalist Ferdinand Ormondi approved of MrBeast’s philanthropic endeavors. He pointed out what a bad look it is for the governments in these countries.
“(I)t’s embarrassing that a YouTuber jetted into Kenya on a charity tour to perform tasks our taxes should have completed ages ago,” he said.
Yeah, it is. It really is.
There’s a case to be made about MrBeast using his philanthropic pursuits as click-fodder. However, if it means helping 500,000 people, does it matter?
I’d argue it doesn’t. Sometimes the ends justify the means, and I think this is certainly one of those cases.
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