A popular YouTuber recently uploaded a video showcasing his philanthropic endeavor to cure 1,000 people of their blindness. Jimmy Donaldson, who runs the popular YouTube channel “MrBeast,” paid for the thousand cataract surgeries using his considerable personal wealth generated by uploading content to the internet.
While some viewers commended him for such a selfless act of goodwill and generosity, others took issue with the presentation of the endeavor. Some pointed out that charitable giving done in front of cameras for the express purpose of generating ad revenue for a YouTube channel is less than altruistic. But does it matter to the people who received the “gift of sight”?
Curing the Blind
Donaldson’s channel is characterized by videos that chronicle his philanthropic endeavors, as well as gaming content and general comedy videos. Donaldson’s team reached out to surgeon Jeff Levenson for the cataract removal video after finding that Levenson operates a charity called “Gift of Sight.”
Gift of Sight offers free cataract surgeries for people who are blind or near blind. The surgeon started the program after he received his own cataract surgery, restoring his sight. “In the days and weeks after my own cataract surgery, I was stunned by how bright and beautiful and vivid the world was,” Levenson says in the YouTube video. “But I was shocked by the idea that there are hundreds of millions, probably 200 million people around the world, who are blind or nearly blind from cataracts and who don’t have access to the surgery.”
Controversy and Criticism
Many commenters online pointed out that, while the Gift of Sight program is unambiguously good, Donaldson profiting off of charitable works is somewhat troubling. The topic of affordable healthcare has become a flashpoint in the United States as working-class people face sky-high hospital bills for routine procedures. The issue is a sticking point for many voters, too, with political candidates fielding questions about their position with regard to health insurance.
Others have defended Donaldson, saying that there’s no reason to get angry with a philanthropist for raising awareness about a medical issue. “If MrBeast can light a fire, and if we can get governmental and private support behind it, we can end half of all the blindness in the world,” Levenson argued. Levenson points out that cataract surgery takes only around ten minutes and is comparatively affordable. He notes that world governments could fund similar programs “[w]ithout all that much cost, and with incredible gains in human productivity and human potential.”
