Good for you, good for me, good for everyone!

In class this week, a large emphasis was placed on the sincerity of charitable acts, with a focus on Justin Bieber. Not to beat anyone over the head with more talk of Bieber, I found this discussion to be very interesting. It just so happens that a good friend of mine is a self proclaimed 'belieber'. I told her that we spoke about him in my Christianity and culture class and her response was "oh that’s so good! He actually does soooo much for charity." I don't know if she said this in an effort to convert the non-belieber, but it struck me that that was the first thing she had to say. Yes I do give credit to Justin Bieber as he does do many charitable acts. Yet when a fan justifies liking someone based on their 'goodness' does this not add to the idea that he, or many other celebrities to not attack "the biebs", does these good acts in order to add to his appearance?

As was brought up in class, any charity is good charity for at the end of the day someone in need is receiving help. Yet people, myself included, are quick to question the sincerity of a charitable act, especially when done by a celebrity and said celebrity emphasizes 'good doing". However, should the intentions of the act be so focused upon when the end result is still a positive action?

While looking for pictures to include in this post, I happened to stumble upon a website which provides a list of celebrities who have helped or are helping a charity. Again, this website leads the viewer to question how generous and selfless is an act of charity if such recognition is given.

www.looktothestars.org

Furthermore, one can also assume that people are quicker to judge people whom they do not like. In class, before many people spoke they said that they were not fans of Bieber, and I probably would have done the same. Why make this distinction? One can make the argument that socially, being pro or against Bieber is an important decision to make. Why is this distinction important? Because people often assume that one views something more critical when one already has an opinion on it. I am not saying it is impossible to be unbiased, but I know for a fact that when Ellen Degeneres does good I don’t look at her with such skepticism as when Justin Bieber does good, simply because I like Ellen and don’t like Bieber.

It is with that idea that I think we need to be aware of and try to look beyond whether or not you believe the celebrity is being sincere. Yes it is annoying for a celebrity to do something for their self-gain, but as a celebrity is produced and marketed, much of their actions are for self-promotion. It, however, is important that not all people do things for good reasons but also that sometimes the benefit of the doubt should be given. Justin Bieber, Ellen Degeneres, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Gates all have done charitable acts. Who knows what the real intent of their actions were, but I believe it is a good thing that regardless of intent, some good was done. Yet, this is hard to do as many often search for the authenticity of a celebrity, such as was presented in the article about Lady Gaga.

Who knows, maybe these celebrities do really care about the charities that they are helping, but we may never find out.