Sayantani DasGupta’s article “#InstragrammingAfrica: The Narcissism of Global Voluntourism” argues on the immorality of publishing pictures on social media of one’s service work. This paper argues that due to the self-advertising nature of social media, publishing a photograph of service work on social media diminishes the value of charitable work performed as the photographs often promote the volunteer, their individual contribution, and their social status. Since original posts on social media are not prompted, the account holder publishes the post with the explicit intention that they want their subscribers to know something about their life thus advertising themselves. Original posts on social media are not prompted since they are
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One should not inflate their own moral worth on account of their self-sacrifice in charity because it creates a ladder of moral hierarchy or as DasGupta incorporated it in her article it creates the “White Savior Industrial Complex” (DasGupta 3). The White Savior Industrial Complex speaks about the larger issue of elevating one’s own morality due to their self sacrifice. The ability to sacrifice time and money do not warrant one to inflate their moral worth. Broadcasting individual achievement in charitable work on social media engages in the hubristic action of inflating one’s moral worth because it is the promotion of oneself and their accomplishments on a platform for other people to see and respond with electronic likes and comments. DasGupta’s article exhibits by referring to an Onion article that was “joking that a six-day visit to a rural African village can “completely change a woman’s Facebook profile picture”” (DasGupta 1). The quote demonstrates the concept of advertising self- sacrifice, as the woman in this example voluntarily gave up six days of her life to do charity, but then consciously choose broadcast how she volunteered her time to do charity, which once again draws attention to the volunteer. Charity at its core should be catered towards improving the lives of those in need of charity. It is also important to …show more content…
By virtue of broadcasting one’s individual charitable work on social media, it is clear that the volunteer did the work without the intention to help the needy, but to market themselves. The premise for doing charity on the basis of the goodness in one’s heart does not exist in a vacuum nor is it a high moral standard, it is one that is etched into humanity’s institutions. For example, the Abrahamic faiths instruct their followers to do charitable deeds from the goodness of their character and that their intentions matter when they perform charitable deeds. Sura 101:6-9 from the Quran substantiate that claim. The excerpt is: “As for whose scales are heavy, he shall enjoy a life contenting. And as for one whose scales are light, an abyss shall be his mother.” The commentary for this excerpt explains that the “character and intention behind deeds establish their true weight” (Nasr 1552). The principle applies in this argument. The intention of the charitable deed is important because it shows whether it was performed for the purposes of legitimate kind heartedness or promotion of oneself. Ultimately, the intention of performing charity is a reflection of the morality of volunteer, hence why the value of the deed decreases if it performed with the wrong intention. It is
One should not inflate their own moral worth on account of their self-sacrifice in charity because it creates a ladder of moral hierarchy or as DasGupta incorporated it in her article it creates the “White Savior Industrial Complex” (DasGupta 3). The White Savior Industrial Complex speaks about the larger issue of elevating one’s own morality due to their self sacrifice. The ability to sacrifice time and money do not warrant one to inflate their moral worth. Broadcasting individual achievement in charitable work on social media engages in the hubristic action of inflating one’s moral worth because it is the promotion of oneself and their accomplishments on a platform for other people to see and respond with electronic likes and comments. DasGupta’s article exhibits by referring to an Onion article that was “joking that a six-day visit to a rural African village can “completely change a woman’s Facebook profile picture”” (DasGupta 1). The quote demonstrates the concept of advertising self- sacrifice, as the woman in this example voluntarily gave up six days of her life to do charity, but then consciously choose broadcast how she volunteered her time to do charity, which once again draws attention to the volunteer. Charity at its core should be catered towards improving the lives of those in need of charity. It is also important to …show more content…
By virtue of broadcasting one’s individual charitable work on social media, it is clear that the volunteer did the work without the intention to help the needy, but to market themselves. The premise for doing charity on the basis of the goodness in one’s heart does not exist in a vacuum nor is it a high moral standard, it is one that is etched into humanity’s institutions. For example, the Abrahamic faiths instruct their followers to do charitable deeds from the goodness of their character and that their intentions matter when they perform charitable deeds. Sura 101:6-9 from the Quran substantiate that claim. The excerpt is: “As for whose scales are heavy, he shall enjoy a life contenting. And as for one whose scales are light, an abyss shall be his mother.” The commentary for this excerpt explains that the “character and intention behind deeds establish their true weight” (Nasr 1552). The principle applies in this argument. The intention of the charitable deed is important because it shows whether it was performed for the purposes of legitimate kind heartedness or promotion of oneself. Ultimately, the intention of performing charity is a reflection of the morality of volunteer, hence why the value of the deed decreases if it performed with the wrong intention. It is