Is it though?

Pop-Tarts Bowl Shenanigans (2/2)

I agree on the concept. Just not that the approach is a half-assed thing.

But we probably just won’t agree on it, which is fine.

“I think it’s good to improve people’s day and/or lives, but this isn’t as straightforward or simple as it looks from the outside. This might be working for Kat, but that doesn’t mean every campaign/candidate will be equipped to do it,” and move on.

But that wouldn’t have gotten reaction so 🤷

Exactly. And in that scenario, literally 0 people’s day was improved.

Will doesn’t like nuance bc it doesn’t get reactions (like him or not, he’s smart enough to be nuanced if he wanted to).

He could easily have said (or just now say)…

But, that’s where my head was.

You’re 100% right (again, IMO, I’m kind of a dummy) that there’s a wrong way to help.

And I think that’s the nuance that Will isn’t addressing.

…the short term help is outweighed by the dip/downturn/whatever after that’s gone.

My assumption (and could be WAY off) is that she’s doing things that make “today” better while someone is still trying to scrape and claw their way to a better situation. Again, that could be Pollyanna.

Yeah, I get that.

And I could have rose-tinted glasses on the fine points of how she’s helping (I’m a thousand miles away).

I hadn’t been thinking about it being done in a way that encouraged (explicitly or implicitly) dependence on what she’s doing. You’re right, in that scenario…

And because there’s so much need (it sounds like we agree on that), like many big problems, there’s room for lots of different attempts at a solution.

Brother in law lost his job? Don’t give him money to cover groceries for his family, donate to a job readiness company instead.

To me, there’s more than enough need to go around. If some good can be done, even temporary, it’s worth doing (again, IMO).

Person at your church going through a hard time? Don’t take up a collection to help her make rent, donate to a county-wide organization that might have the bandwidth to help her (or might have a waiting list).

I can kind of see that—I just don’t see it as zero sum.

That $5 could produce five meals, sure, instead of the one meal for $5. But, by that logic people shouldn’t do anything except through long-standing orgs who have stable funding and will never fold.

We’ll just agree to disagree