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Comment by PradeetPatel | Hacker News Reader

The biggest risk of exposing youth to MrBeast is that it devalues the concept of money and hard work. But there's no denial that he's doing some good work for those who are in need.

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This may be unpopular, but maybe there’s something to be said for devaluing money and hard work? “Hard Work” is an inherited ethic from Puritanism in the western world. It is often implied that hard work will reap benefits, but the benefits are hit or miss and the rewards are sometimes promised salvation or riches in an afterlife. While I won’t comment on the latter, I think the ethic of hard work is often oversold, and benefits those in power rather than those who issue the effort.

And before someone cries wolf here, this isn’t advocating for laziness or hedonism. I think humans need work. We need to put effort into something whether that’s tilling a field, painting a canvas, or writing a program for a computer. I think everybody needs to experience real challenges to their understanding of life and how other people live. But I don’t think there’s an obvious measuring stick for what that looks like.

As for devaluing money, people need to know how to manage a household, but I think fewer worshippers at the alter of money is a net win.

I was told growing up the measure of good work is that you produce more than you consume. That's how families and communities grow and prosper. If you consume more than you produce, you're a drain on your family and community and that's looked down on.

Maybe that is Puritan but my own observations have reinforced that and I think if everyone strived for it, our world would be a better place to live.

productivity above all else for every human is pretty disastrous and unappealing. and when that hard work mostly goes toward the profit of some man?

A mindset of producing more than you consume has taken western cultures to where they are now - less poverty and more abundance than ever before in human history. We live freer and eat better and live longer than any of our ancestors. Why do you see it as "disastrous and unappealing"?

What's the alternative? If everyone consumes more than they produce, we all end up in poverty and hunger. That sounds truly disastrous and unappealing.

Most of that hard work goes to the profit of the one doing the work. History shows that arch clearly. Not many surfs or feudal lords about anymore. Your children aren't properly of your owner because you have no owner. Don't buy into the "inequality" BS that's being pushed about. It's not to the benefit of you or the generations that come after you.

you have a mythologized and outdated understanding of history

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36276100

we may not have literal serfs (well, we do still) but hierarchical command under threat of violence is alive and kicking

Pretty much any influencer/YouTuber you can find across social media... The successful ones make it look like it's an easy work, and while some of them might have put up the hours tk grow their brand, a bunch of them are still chasing their dream of breaking through.

At the end of the day I'd say it's luck + marketing/attention grabbing. If the algorithm doesn't show your content and the content itself is boring or doesn't have a market you won't make it through

Gotta start them early so they're not surprised later!

Don't worry, when they learn about billionaires, hereditary wealth and the global south. They'll have to reconcile sometimes all the hard work in the world leads to what you have now.

Sounds great

not so sure about that. I think most kids see it as fun and nothing more .

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