Each week, I’m going to be sharing some things I’ve learned from stuff I’ve read. Topics may range from philosophy to sports and anywhere in between.
In early 2021, an old Chinese woman was attacked on the busiest street in San Francisco. She was eventually able to fight the attacker off with a stick, but only after suffering two black eyes and many other bruises.
I was pissed. At the time, this story was one of many recent examples of violence against Asian-Americans. The old woman was in her 60s, couldn’t speak English, and was just minding her own business until some crazy dude assaulted her.
But there was a silver lining to the attack: a million dollars had been raised for the old woman, thanks to her GoFundMe page, which was set up by her grandson.
Upon seeing that, I exhaled a little bit in relief. Thirty years ago, assault victims would have gotten a headline in the news and no money to show for it. Now, at least some of these victims will end up getting large sums of cash.
But while this slightly improved ending for the victim makes us feel better, it may also detract from the deeper issues.
For example, I had multiple friends message me about the old Chinese woman getting assaulted in San Francisco. And every conversation about the incident would end with some variant of “But did you hear how much money she got on GoFundMe?”
Basically, these GoFundMe campaigns can sometimes steer the conversation away from the underlying social problem at hand (e.g. anti-Asian violence and its causes) and towards the suddenly not-so gloomy prospects of the individual victim (e.g. “But hey, she’s got a million dollars”).
I can’t help but think of myself sighing in relief when I saw that the old Chinese woman had raised a million dollars. Whether I liked it or not, that sigh of relief was me caring just a little less, and I don’t know if that’s good for society.
Now, to be fair, I don’t know how the utilitarian calculus works out. In the case of the old Chinese grandma, it could be that the benefits of her getting a million bucks outweigh the costs of slightly derailing many conversations about anti-Asian violence.
But how does the utilitarian math change when violence continues to happen, and GoFundMe is here to save the day again and again?
Do we eventually become ok with the violence as long as the victims are taken care of?
By this point, I might come across as someone who has a bone to pick with GoFundMe. But the thing is, I actually really like GoFundMe. Who doesn’t want to live in a society where victims of assault get large chunks of money?
I just hope we don’t content ourselves with that outcome.
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