Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio.
This is: Act of Charity , published by jessicata on the LessWrong.
(Cross-posted from my blog)
The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact.
Anonymous
Act I.
Carl walked through the downtown. He came across a charity stall. The charity worker at the stall called out, "Food for the Africans. Helps with local autonomy and environmental sustainability. Have a heart and help them out." Carl glanced at the stall's poster. Along with pictures of emaciated children, it displayed infographics about how global warming would cause problems for African communities' food production, and numbers about how easy it is to help out with money. But something caught Carl's eye. In the top left, in bold font, the poster read, "IT IS ALL AN ACT. ASK FOR DETAILS."
Carl: "It's all an act, huh? What do you mean?"
Worker: "All of it. This charity stall. The information on the poster. The charity itself. All the other charities like us. The whole Western idea of charity, really."
Carl: "Care to clarify?"
Worker: "Sure. This poster contains some correct information. But a lot of it is presented in a misleading fashion, and a lot of it is just lies. We designed the poster this way because it fits with people's idea is of a good charity they should give money to. It's a prop in the act."
Carl: "Wait, the stuff about global warming and food production is a lie?"
Worker: "No, that part is actually true. But in context we're presenting it as some kind of imminent crisis that requires an immediate infusion of resources, when really it's a very long-term problem that will require gradual adjustment of agricultural techniques, locations, and policies."
Carl: "Okay, that doesn't actually sound like more of a lie than most charities tell."
Worker: "Exactly! It's all an act."
Carl: "So why don't you tell the truth anyway?"
Worker: "Like I said before, we're trying to fit with people's idea of what a charity they should give money to looks like. More to the point, we want them to feel compelled to give us money. And they are compelled by some acts, but not by others. The idea of an immediate food crisis creates more moral and social pressure towards immediate action, than the idea that there will be long-term agricultural problems that require adjustments.
Carl: "That sounds...kind of scammy?"
Worker: "Yes, you're starting to get it! The act is about violence! It's all violence!"
Carl: "Now hold on, that seems like a false equivalence. Even if they were scammed by you, they still gave you money of their own free will."
Worker: "Most people, at some level, know we're lying to them. Their eyes glaze over 'IT IS ALL AN ACT' as if it were just a regulatory requirement to put this on charity posters. So why would they give money to a charity that lies to them? Why do you think?"
Carl: "I'm not nearly as sure as you that they know this! Anyway, even if they know at some level it's a lie, that doesn't mean they consciously know, so to their conscious mind it seems like being completely heartless."
Worker: "Exactly, it's emotional blackmail. I even say 'Have a heart and help them out'. So if they don't give us money, there's a really convenient story that says they're heartless, and a lot of them will even start thinking about themselves that way. Having that story told about them opens them up to violence."
Carl: "How?"
Worker: "Remember Martin Shkreli?"
Carl: "Yeah, that asshole who jacked up the Daraprim prices."
Worker: "Right. He ended up going to prison. Nominally, it was for securities fraud. But it's not actually clear that whatever security fraud he did was worse than what others in his industry were doing. Rather, it seems likely that he was especially targeted because he was a heartless asshole."
Carl: "But he still brok...
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