[ SECRET POST #6045 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6045 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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[Xanth]



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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 21 secrets from Secret Submission Post #864.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think this is a politically productive approach.

[(Anonymous)]

It's not about what's politically productive sometimes.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I think right now, it's got to be. 2024 is right around the corner.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think arguments about whether or not people should shake Trump's hand are going to play a meaningful role in peoples' voting decisions, one way or the other.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I think they have the potential to, in that they're another frame in a particular political story. There's a segment of the population who tend to distrust both parties, and whether and for whom they vote in 2024 is going to partially come down to which bloc of fellow voters seem less "crazy" to them -- and from their perspective, the reaction to this photo looks crazy. That's not good!

[(Anonymous)]

It is if you are a philanthropist. Even if one person can't help they might know others who would.

[(Anonymous)]

I do not understand what this comment means, sorry!

[(Anonymous)]

Guy Fieri is a huge philanthropist. He has donated millions of time, dollars, and food to people. A lot of that has been writing and meeting with billionaires to get them to donate to causes.

[(Anonymous)]

Even if that were the reason that Fieri was gladhanding with Trump, it's not a good reason, because Trump is notorious for not giving money to charity. Even when he says he's going to give money to charity, he just lies about it.

[(Anonymous)]

This is going to be a little...well, controversial, but Guy Fieri has likely done more to help actual people than anyone complaining about the photograph has ever done. Most people mad about it are just...mad on the internet about things. They don't donate; they don't volunteer; they don't get involved in direct political action. They sit on the internet and declare that they're mad, and then pat themselves on the back for "spreading the word" or whatever.

To qualify this: no, I don't think that's the case for everyone who's mad. I'm sure some of them are people who are doing some things that actually make a difference. And no, doing good things doesn't mean you're completely immune from criticism; and political inaction doesn't mean you're not allowed to have an opinion on something. But I think it's very easy for people to really caught up in their outrage and their sense that the outrage itself is very important, and to lose perspective. Not a single person on this planet does the right thing 100% of the time. If someone's doing the right thing often enough to make a dent in the shit of the world, well... I don't know. I don't think shaking one asshole's hand is enough to wipe that out.

+ 10 million

[(Anonymous)]

I don't want to excuse anything but I feel like this is finally the moment where no amount of armchair quarterbacking is going to be right about what did or didn't happen here. Everything you say is dead on, anon. Best and most honest take.

If he gets asked, publicly, about this moment, and he comes out saying anything good about Trump, that's different. For now, all we have is the vaguery of photography at a very, very public event. We can't interpret that and be right about it without Guy's word for it. At the same time, he's done more for LGBT, indigenous, immigrant, and other causes than I've ever had time to do. I can't fault that. So I'm going to just not judge him until he says anything that needs to be judged.

[(Anonymous)]

This seems like a good perspective, IMO. Like yes, my initial reaction to that photo was to mistrust anyone who would shake Trump's hand while looking overtly friendly. But then I thought about how many factors there are in this situation. And if Guy Fieri is really as active for as many good (and progressive) causes as people ITT are saying he is, then that absolutely should count for far, far more than this momentary, probably hollow-ass gesture.

Also, as a public figure who is apparently quite active with humanitarian causes, it honestly would've been risky, if not downright foolish of him to snub Trump directly. Trump is powerful, petty, and vindictive. You don't snub someone like that to their face if you have important humanitarian goals that can be ascertained and obstructed. That's not to say Guy Fieri definitely couldn't have avoided coming face to face with Trump in the first place. Maybe he could have or maybe he couldn't have. We really don't know. At the end of the day, it shouldn't matter all that much, when the good he does is so much more meaningful and is in pretty direct opposition to the values of the cretin whose hand he's shaking.

[(Anonymous)]

Yup. I'm sure Trump has many cronies who love donating generously to people in need.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, you can absolutely bet that he does. Wealthy people love donating to charity; it gets them good press and great tax write-offs.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah. He probably knows lots of politicians who want to look good by donating to a public cause.

[meadowphoenix]

Strictly speaking this isn't necessarily true. Philanthropists and their philanthropic efforts have brands just like other public figures. You can absolutely ruin your brand, and therefore your ability to raise money, with the wrong photo-op.

Socially I, of course, think philanthropy is reputation laundering for multi-millionaires anyway. It's great they do it, since the state won't (and some of them lobby to make sure the state won't), but it doesn't actually make up for exploitation from which they received their money, the proportional lack of taxes they pay on it, and they don't deserve defense of who they associate with over it.