Secondary Benevolence

A sadly common by-product in our society: Good deeds are done, but not by your friendly neighbourhood Samaritan...these benevolent acts, though possibly benefiting the intended benefactor, are in fact selfish acts; the primary reason and REAL intention behind the act is to improve the status/image/reputation of the person committing them, the "benefactor". Their primary reason in being benevolent is to increase their own image in the eyes of others; the benevolence is secondary to them, an added bonus.

Adele wants to be recognised in the community. She wants fodder for facebook posts and tweets, to be able to post how much she is doing for the community, and why can't more people be like her, LOOK at ME, LOOK at ME!! All this, so that she can in turn receive countless posts on her wall, exclaiming how great she is, how much she does for the community, how more people should, indeed, be like her. She creates a fundraising event for 'insert community project here' and proceeds to collect some monies for said charity. Monies are collected and donated, all in the public domain, and the charity benefits, but the primary intention of this benefactor was improving self-image, and benevolence was secondary - secondary benevolence.

Secondary Benevolence by calidomo January 14, 2014