TheQuartering [1/30/2023]
In a video uploaded on Sunday, YouTuber MrBeast announced that he was going to help “1000 blind people see for the first time” by sponsoring their cataract surgeries. “It’s gonna be crazy,” MrBeast says, in front of an audience of applauding patients. Throughout the video, MrBeast—real name Jimmy Donaldson—talks to people about their blurred eyesight before their surgery. After they emerge from the 10-minute surgery, joyful at their newfound sight, he dishes out lucrative prizes, like $50,000 or gifting a brand new Tesla.
The heartwarming video drew immediate attention, not least because the premise of a life-improving surgery being directly gifted by a wealthy YouTuber in an inspirational viral video seems slightly dystopian. MrBeast has said he spends $8 million a month on his videos and by his estimate, his business’ valuation is $1.5 billion.
“I watch this video and I’m filled with rage that we shut off access to a 10-minute procedure because we paywalled it and decided that only some people can get it,” leftist streamer Hasan Piker said of MrBeast’s video. “It’s so insanely frustrating that it’s up to one YouTube guy to decide to make content out of it, that people who are too poor just can’t fucking see.”
Piker’s point wasn’t lost on MrBeast. Nowhere in the video does MrBeast mention that the inability for someone without means to get cataract surgery in the US is the result of failing healthcare policy or the insurance industry, rather than a lack of access to MrBeast. However, he did point out that the surgeries should just be free on his Twitter account, and wondered why the government doesn’t step in to help.