Royal Society of Arts
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 7 months, 2011–2022
10:57 · 1.9M views · Jul 28, 2010
An RSA Animate adaptation of a Slavoj Zizek talk on charitable giving and ethical consumerism. It argues that buying products that bundle a charity donation can sustain the system that causes the problems.
Frequently linked in threads on philanthropy, ethical consumption and billionaire giving as a short, approachable critique of charity.
7 comments from Hacker News
This charity-as-part-of-consumerism is the topic of Zizek's talk First as Tragedy, Then as Farce ; well worth a watch (10 minutes) and approachable by those without philosophical backgrounds: this video
Slavoj Zizek discusses this idea of "ethical consumerism" in a beautifully illustrated talk here: this video Needless to say, the idea that you are "supporting" something by voluntary exchange (how do you know that they aren't supporting you ?) is a relatively recent development, and is of course completely unworkable. It's just another form of retail therapy.
>I know many people who buy into these 'good feelings' products. Good, quick talk by Zizek on this phenomenon: this video
The manufactures that put Android on their devices are not mom and pop electronics firms. So the implication that this is somehow shifting money to poorer people is kind of ridiculous. Unless you mean the top 1% richest people in those countries. Because I don't think the manufacturers will go to their labourers and pay them any more money just because some hardware was designed in house (hardware design doesn't employ many people either). It's not Tom's shoes. In fact I find it hard to believe that even Tom's shoes are Tom's shoes. this video
Slightly off-topic, but your post reminded me of Slavoj Zizek's fiery verbal attack on charity[1], especially the line at the very end: "It's horrible to see a child whose life is ruined because of an operation that costs 20$. .. (but) If you operate the child, they will live a little bit better, but in the same situation that produced them" Just an interesting side-note on this debate. [1] this video