When ‘Good Stories’ Happen for Bad Reasons

Good grief, no good deed shall go uncriticized. Government provided utopia may be the answer, but while you’re waiting individual acts of kindness are questioned? What is it with the media condemning whole populations of people because a few nut cases who commit hate crimes have some shared beliefs, and now when individuals and like groups commit acts of community and caring, it’s suspect behavior and an emblematic of society’s shortcomings? Some gloomy glasses you’re wearing. As an aside, my near 70 years of living throughout the US and beyond, I have observed far more acts of human kindness than that of hatred. And that relatively, US folk have built and live lives of cooperation and economic health that exceeds that of the rest of the world. Surely systemic issues will be better dealt with by both individuals as well as government, with an emphasis on individuals. An ageless media adage — simplify, magnify, amplify. These acts of kindness are only news because the narrative has been cast of a dysfunctional evil society.

No one gets interviewed on the evening news after voting in favor of extending health care coverage or funding public transportation. We're turning need into entertainment. No one should have to trade personal privacy and dignity for necessities. It's not heart warming, it's stomach turning.

The situation is a bit more complex than the article suggests because it leaves the alternative unspoken: coorced kindness. When kindness and generosity become policy (and, thus, no longer anecdotal), society at large becomes the source of the largess. A Robin Hood culture, which, of course, we, to an extent, have now (e.g. grants, welfare, social programs, etc). The question this article is really asking is what kindnesses are actually rights? Once a kindness becomes a right, we all are compelled to provide it. And that is how it should be. History is clear that societies left to the consciousnesses of their individual members are nasty places.

An article about Betsy DeVos and her mission to expand charter schools came to mind reading this. All the damage she has done and continues to do to public schools can be swept under the rug by a single simple feel-good story and an interview with a single young, poor, black girl she helped by employing a housekeeper and sponsord to attend a charter school. But there aren't enough sponsors with enough money to simply replace public schools and fill them with poor black kids. Not to mention the obvious throwback to indentured servitude and hiring and housing young poor people as servants making less than minimum wage. Everybody likes a feel-good story. Especially those who want to change the narrative to suit their personal class interests.

I agree with the premise of this article while at the same time, appreciating the random acts of kindness. The fundamental problem is that random acts of kindness do not scale and will never be an antidote to failed public policy.

After reading the comments, I see that a lot of people missed the point. It is not that it is bad to do good things, to be charitable, to kind or helpful. The problems is these types of stories give the impression that all we have to do is to help one or two people and the problem is solved. Its like pulling one person out of the sea into a lifeboat then celebrating that we did that, while all around us are drowning people.

What's the point of this article? The world is bad so let's kill the good men? I don't see any connections between the random act of kindness and malfunction of the real world. If you can not help others, just shut up instead of saying it's not worth doing.

Why does the NYT have The Neediest Cases if it feels this way?

Thanks, NYT, for this long-overdue article. I've been telling folks for many years that all these heartwarming stories about good people reaching out to lend a hand to struggling individuals is simply an ongoing con job to hide the underlying reasons these poor souls were struggling in the first place. I'd end by saying, "For every cute kid or struggling single mom who gets 'rescued' by the 'kindness of strangers' - there are several hundred more equally-desperate (and equally-deserving) people facing the same (or worse) obstacles, but who are not photogenic or plucky or clever or appear sympathetic enough to catch the attention of some initial benefactor(s) - and then manage to get their plight featured on the local 5:00 PM television news." As this article quotes Seth Moulton as saying, such random acts of kindness are "awesome" but, “It’s horrifying that they had to.” (i.e. plug one of the thousands of holes in the crumbling dike that is our ragged, grossly-underfunded and hideously haphazard social safety net). It's the same dynamic at work whenever folks are urged to collect clothes, canned goods and school supplies for victims of natural disasters or simply for "the less fortunate". A "thousand points of light" is a woefully inefficient way to provide mass assistance to those in need. Americans are a generous folk. But it's pitiful and shameful that we are urged to constantly keep putting our fingers in the dike, instead of just building a solid dike for everyone.

When I was growing up, most people considered it shameful to “take charity.” But then, we had the NHS for all healthcare needs. It didn’t solve all our problems, but not having to worry about whether or not we could afford to go to the doctor- or take our kids to the doctor- or pay for medications, or pay off massive medical debt, or get insurance, was pretty huge. I never understood HOW huge until I moved to the US.

This on top of the story in the “California Today” section where the city of San Francisco is opening a lot for people who live in their RV’s so they can have a safe place to park overnight or take a shower, amid a storm of opposition by neighborhood groups. If we can’t provide for the least of us, how do we survive as a nation?

How about if the NYT were to start a series of inspirational stories, celebrating people who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to change public policies for the better?

And let's not forget that sometimes charitable acts, while wonderful, can sometimes humiliate. Imagine the child who had his lunch debt paid by another kid's allowance money. Don't tell me everyone doesn't know who it is. The shame he must feel, even if he feels relief at the same time.

This country was founded on Puritan beliefs, one of which was "predestination": There must be rich and there must be poor people in the world. Mutual respect of the rich and the poor, but each in his own place. Everyone is born into his position in the world (rich or poor). The Puritans, indeed, felt themselves a separate group, and did not tolerate other views within their midst. Given that mentality, it is easily understood why this society resists so much the idea of government support of those who are in need.

We should let no good news story go uncriticized. At the end of each good news story we could print a paragraph describing the corresponding cultural deficiency that created the need for the described human kindness, lest my momentary roseate view of human nature cloud my vision. And please do follow-up articles on a good news story to determine if there were some hidden mitigating circumstances surrounding the kindness. Otherwise my “Oh, God, ain't it awful out there” world view will be too deeply challenged.

Can this be real? Doing good things is bad? Jesus was just covering up systemic rot by saying "blessed are the children" and healing the sick? What has happened to liberalism? No gray areas. Everything, even kindness, is a political message, with a victim and a perpetrator. And instead of being grateful that human beings can rise about their natures, we should, once again, react with moral outrage.

Thank you so much for writing this article - I have felt this way for a long time. The fact that a 6-year-old should have any kind of debt - especially for lunch should sicken and shame most Americans.

But shouldn't "thoughts and prayers" be enough?

In the Bible, on the day of judgement, Jesus rewards those who " fed the hungry, clothed the naked, " etc. If one is a Christian it would be wise to show kindness when it is needed. Things did not go so well for those who did not. They had to line up behind the goats instead of the lambs.

Very good of The Times to bring up this point.

Right now in America I feel there needs to be an unending flow of feel good stories. Heres one that made me tearful. So inspirational! https://youtu.be/pDPdRYF7hTQ

Wait. Is the impulse to share well-being with particular individuals not connected with a desire that the whole of society should seek our joint well-being? The impulse should be encouraged and broadened, not mocked and discouraged. Desire to help, and the pleasure in the well-being of others, is deep in the human character. Our society baulks these parts of our character, containing our love in narrow domestic walls, or even within our individual skins. We should celebrate anything that pushes and dissolves those walls.

I agree with the overall assertion from this piece, that people must not glaze over the greater context of news stories. However, I yearn for those feel-good pieces--not to white wash societal issues, but rather to provide hope that we can work together in order to improve the status quo.

Love the article. I'd also add that using the charitable deduction is a similar example of a "feel good" action that isn't always positive. Rather than use taxable income to fund education programs or maternity leave, we allow tax payers to deduct donations to non-profits and churches (on a 1 for 1 basis!) Those are good causes, but at the end of the day, tax payers should be funding those programs on their own dime, and paying full tax would allow additional funding to go to federal/state programs that need assistance. This attitude of favoring private action like gofundme or non-profits over government action is baked into our culture, and it's not creating positive outcomes in a lot of instances.

There is a lot to like about these human interest stories, of course: the feel-good response is balm for the nastiness plaguing the rest of the news cycle. I agree that they carry a dark side cast by the shadows of all those not similarly touched by some kind stranger's beneficence. For every overflowing jar of donations on the store counter for some neighbor who can't pay for surgery, there are untold people who can't get get health insurance, or are hounded into bankruptcy for availing themselves of needed care or resources they can't afford. We need a kinder world for all.

I like a heartwarming story, especially these days, but there sometimes the story omits important facts. In the case of the third grader who covered the outstanding bill at his school in California, no one understood that the school district (Napa Valley Unified, I used to each there) wipes out all lunch debt at the end of the school year. No child is turned away for lack of money. In fact, the district is serving free lunches at three different schools this summer, as it did last summer. The third-grader is a kindhearted child, of course. However, the school district is not cruel.

I agree that "Individual acts of kindness don’t solve systemic problems". I do always wonder about all the people who also needed help but weren't cute enough to get it. And I agree that this sort of thing keep the unfair system going - easy to remember the one time it all worked out for one person and never think about all the others. That being said, I too like a feel-good story.

This is exactly how I feel whenever I read one of these stories. It's great to see how generous people can be, but these stories reveal an underlying problem. I also think many people like feeling a direct connection to a specific person. So it's easier for them to donate once than agitate for systemic change. They may also feel change is unlikely in the current political environment.

Since civilization began to be the ideal form of human existence, we have always relied upon random acts of kindness. Do not confuse them with society platforms to help the needy. Social Services and Insurance claims are those things we set up, as a society, to be available when needed. Greed does interfere with their orderly actions of responsibility -- that definitely needs to be fixed BUT Random Acts of Kindness are something else altogether and should be applauded, shared and remembered. Twice in my life I have been the recipient of one of these acts, maybe more, but 2 that stick in my mind. They were so unexpected, and so warmly given, that my heart was happy for several days, and still gets warm just thinking about them. One was when I was buying a sandwich in a shop, for my husband who was in hospital. I could afford the sandwich, but a lady came over and said "I would like to buy your husband's sandwich." She didn't know that I was worried sick; this was tough day for me to get through. It all ended well, but that gift made the journey soooo much easier.

And what about the systemic "feel good" stories that never or almost never get reported. Like the great improvement in the educational system in Mexico over the last generation. Or increases in literacy in low-income countries. Or decreases in child mortality in many countries. And the government policies (and sometimes private or governmental foreign aid) that brought about these real improvements in the world. *These* are the types of stories that the media should cover more often, even regularly, to relieve the gloom that media reports generally spread.

Walkers are very, very inexpensive. It is distressing that (a) his insurance wouldn’t pay for one.... AND (b) that his family couldn’t/wouldn’t obtain one for him by paying for one out of pocket. Kudos to the Home Depot folks, but wow is present day America twisted.

It's the gigantic frame of systemic issues that gives us the need for respite. These actions speak to the wonder human interaction, reminding us of the expansive capacity of the heart. Acts of kindness don't create systemic problems, nor do they gloss over those issues. Vote.

These individual stories are not meant to cure systematic ills and shortfalls that government (and only government can on a big scale, despite what Republicans believe) should resolve. This article does not change my mind about the value of good deeds. It gives individuals the opportunity to do good - even the most benevolent government cannot regulate individual altruistic behavior. Frankly, I am tired of skeptics and cynics because they are boring. They make connections that are unnecessary.I know that good stories don't solve everyone's problems but that is ok. It is also sad that individuals have to step in but that's life. It isn't fair. The story about the one starfish that was thrown back in the ocean by the little boy comes to mind. Be present in the now, do what you can then move on.

Yuck. This is too cynical even for grumpy, old me. I dislike the self-promoting crowing people do on social media when they have done something any decent person would do (“Look at me, I am a good person because I helped an old person cross the street!”). But a parent Tweeting the fact that some wonderful Home Depot employees took it upon themselves to build a specialized walker for her child? That’s the kind of thing that SHOULD be put out there, because it is rooted in pure human kindness. We all need to be reminded that people can be good. It’s too easy to forget that when we read or listen to the headlines. Of course many of these stories arise because there is a failure in the system. That’s an opportunity for news agencies to do a follow-up report on where those failures are, and why. Don’t diminish the importance of a so-called feel-good story (such a belittling term!). They do not make us feel less for the world. They do not numb us to the need for change. Quite the contrary, in fact! These stories remind us that we are all human, and we are on this small planet together. They show us that it is better to work together — to support each other — than it is to close ourselves off in our private bubbles. This is a wonderful and necessary thing. To dismiss one act of kindness with the ridiculous, “What about everyone else?” is a display of arrogance. If someone said that to me, my response would probably be, “And what have you done lately?”.

Jesus stories, without Jesus. What a Country. VOTE on 2020, and vote for Democrats, ONLY.

My grandmother believes government is unnecessary because church and charity care better for people. There's morality in community caring for it's own; the tax man garnished wages. Stories like these harden her resolve. But she doesn't appreciate that bad things in her white community are one-offs (e.g., car accident). She ignores intergenerational poverty and systemic racism. She points out that she comes from poverty, but ignores that she and my grandfather went to white-only universities in Jim Crow South. She also doesn't understand why my generation switches jobs. She sees it as disloyalty. To her, companies fund towns, pay for public services, and pay pensions. She ignores when companies fight unions and extract massive tax credits from cities with a negative return on investment. She cheers the boss who bought his employee a car because it's evidence that companies care about workers. If you're like my grandmother (and countless other Republicans), government is the only reason we never reached the mythical city on the hill. It's why America must be made great again. They ignore how their decisions at the ballot reduced the capacity of communities to help their own and perpetuated the root cause of need. They also willfully ignore any evidence that other developed countries have solved these problems. They also probably tell their kids that King John was a benevolent ruler and had to build castle walls to keep a lawless immigrant named Robin Hood out.

The lauded situation is, just as the article end states, covering up the bigger picture of extreme lack in public health care leave, transportation, lack of school lunch funding, etc. There is the oft repeated mantra advising against hand outs: give a fish, feed for a day, teach to fish, feed for a life time. This has the unfortunate application of being used as a basis for a 'business' chosen or not. The family with an established home only needs to maintain the home, a person stripped of their home and coerced into 'a business' can never overcome the debt of the business costs to regain a home. Even if, in the case of a person being forced to open a body shop in an abandoned building, is patronized by select members of the bureaucracy that just happened to benefit when the individual was stripped of their home prior to being manipulated into a business. How is this different from enslavement? Take the land, and turn the farmer into a tenant that was done after the Civil War. Black land ownership has shrunk to a tiny pittance compared to before and now. Body men are the current targets for asset acquisition specifically because the asset acquirer can 'pretend' they are creating a business which they support in exchange for the generational asset they stole. Slavey and Theft by another name allowed under the guise of 'helping' while the elites have their hand in the pot.

I’m here in Georgia with Americorps setting up free clinics...yet the “Republican Christians” here DESPISED Obama and Obamacare. I’m near the end of my “tour of duty” and was given a dinner to thank me for giving my time, energy, and free medical skills. Instead of graciously accepting a plaque I carefully laid out how both Republicans and Democrats have been trying since Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency to have national health insurance. I went on to say that their Governor Deal refused free Medicaid dollars to help those who could not afford insurance under the Affordable Care Act. When I outlined the ACA and its not allowing health insurance companies to reject any person who had a pre-existing condition, its putting a stop to placing a cap on expensive care, its allowing children to remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26, EVERY person in that room thought the ACA was a GREAT idea! Then I told them that Obamacare WAS the ACA. I said as long as you keep voting for Republicans you will never have adequate health insurance, that your nana will always die in agony of terminal cancer. That you won’t be able to pay for Epi-pens and insulin. I said “Jesus Christ in the bible implores us to care for each other including the poor and those in prison” and recited Matthew 25: 36-40 from memory. “We desperately need health care for everyone not just for the wealthy. I’m leaving and no one is going to take my place. It’s time that y’all voted Democratic to care for all."

Inspiration Porn. It’s a real thing and it devalues all of us.

My mother and I cook food for the homeless with our church. We comment often that we long for a day when they call us up to tell us not to come because the homeless are all in their own homes, cooking their own meals.

Good to be skeptical (truly), so I will follow suit with a little skepticism of the skepticism: sometimes I wonder if what we all really want is a system of government that removes the pain and suffering of actually having to be generous and help other people. It's just so much easier. Like tipping. What an annoyance!

Altruism should be part of our political and social infrastructure.

Thank you for the very thought-provoking insight about a topic that's constantly overlooked. Although I appreciate soup kitchens and clothing drives, I often pause and think about why there is a need for such things. Important to examine the real core of issues related to poverty and inequality.

Great article. Thanks for writing it. I feel the same way about charitable giving. How great that people (including me) will step up to support causes that help others in need. But how sad that people in need must rely on the kindness of strangers rather than a strong social safety net along with adequate access to education and healthcare.

Thank you so much for writing this article. This is some much needed coverage on this topic. Everyday I see posts that are supposedly "feel good," but upon further inspection turn out to be depressing and showing of a system that has failed so many of us.

So very happy you wrote this article. Each of these so-called feel good stories should interrogate the reasons for the need -- and what happens to the thousands of others who don't get help. It's a serious discussion that journalists should be having. Also, I think we need to begin to condition ourselves away from giving kudos to rich people for helping poor people. It's a sad, horrible irony that people who have it all and who benefit from skewed societal structure also get to gloat when they donate a few pennies -- or even a few million. Why not put the names of homeless people on big buildings, and the names of the trampled poor on endowed chairs? Nearly everyone enjoys giving. Not all are privileged enough to be able to.

have felt this way for a long time, especially when reading stories about teachers who are barely scraping by, yet are spending their own money for school supplies.

The fact that incidents of people acting with kindness are considered newsworthy is itself bad news. Acts of kindness should be the norm, not the exception.

I agree with this story 100%. Yes, we should all try to be as personally generous with our money and our time as we can, but individual feel good stories most definitely can mask serious systemic issues. Jeff Glor, the recently departed anchor of the CBS Evening News, would end every single broadcast with a story like this, gushing about how wonderful it was. After a while it seriously got on my nerves because I wanted to yell at him that the issue dealt with shouldn't have had to come down to someone having to take individual initiative in the first place. Think of how mentally ill homeless people are treated in this country. A story about someone doing individual outreach for them locally could certainly be heartwarming, but it shouldn't be necessary in the first place. We as a society need to do a much better job on this and it's just not happening. That's a failing of us all.

I would say this about the Manhattan blackout Saturday as well. While there were a lot of touching stories - Performers in the streets! People directing traffic! - this points to underlying infrastructure issues, particularly as there had been another substantial subway outage a couple of weeks before.

Excellent article. It always struck me, as to how indoctrinated the population was, about just how deficient a Capitalist system -- really is. There are countless examples of this very deficiency that are simply accepted --- as part of life. In fact they are easily solved by the introduction of some basic Socialism. Capitalism with a human face -- is long overdue.

Reading this article, I was so ready for a feel good story from the Times, but alas, you made me a little sad. I had heard of every one of these lovely acts of kindness, generosity; so glad people came forward to help fellow humans. While these feel good stories are great, yet, as you point out, there are major deficiencies in services for fellow citizens, I choose to look at the attitude of the givers and the receivers of these fine acts. Yes, the world is imperfect, yes we need healthcare for every citizen, but as my daughter has taught me, it's the little things, the small acts of kindness, that make life so great.