Before this Mutiny started I took a solo trip to North Dakota to find a suitable location in which to establish our world blogging headquarters. The choice of North Dakota was obvious. There were many existing underground bunkers where we could make a home for ourselves, far away from the prying eyes of “others.” I found one facility in particular that immediately caught my attention and won my heart. I knew I had found our home. It was a fixer-upper though. In addition to being a mess, which took days of back-breaking labor to clean up, it featured some old electronic equipment left behind by the previous residents. Among the bookshelves I found a video cassette which I played out of naked curiosity. In hindsight this was a bad idea. The video said that something horrible would happen unless I pressed a red button (which was embedded into a table in the conference room) every three hours. This helped explain why the previous owner was in such a rush to leave and offered a great deal on the place. This button reminded me of an old Twilight Zone episode I had once seen titled, “Button, button”:
The 1980s revival of the Twilight Zone series featured an episode entitled “Button, button”, based on a short story by Richard Matheson. In the story, a gaunt, black-clad gentleman arrives uninvited at the cramped apartment of a financially destitute couple and presents them with a tempting though somewhat ominous offer. He gives them a simple wooden box with a clear plastic lid overtop a large red button – the type of nondescript contraption teens might build in a high school Woodshop class – and explains their options: 1) Don’t push the button. Nothing happens; the man will come back tomorrow to claim the box. 2) Push the button and get $200,000 – tax free – and someone will die. “Who?” the wife asks. “Someone you don’t know,” the man replies. He then leaves them to think about it. The husband decides it’s unconscionable, but the wife wants to go for it. After all, what is the death of someone they don’t know? People die all the time, don’t they? Maybe a bad person will be the one to die. “And maybe it’ll be someone’s newborn baby,” the husband counters. [Link]
By the time the rest of my fellow mutineers moved in to our bunker I had become obsessed with the red button. Anna makes fun of me. She wants to see what will happen if I don’t push the button. Ennis helps me out from time to time. If I fall asleep he pushes the button for me. Anna is probably right, and nothing will happen. Still, I am both a man of science and a man of faith. Why am I telling you all of this? Because today SM tipster Shashi Kara sent us another button to press and it has got me thinking.
What happens when I click on the “Give Free Food” button? Does it cost me anything?
Two things happen when you click on the button: 1) your click is registered with our computer server and is added to the daily results, and 2) it moves you to the Thank You page where tiles bearing the names of that day’s site sponsors are displayed. There is absolutely no charge to you; the food is fully paid for by the sponsors.How does the site work? Who pays for the food?
The site’s sponsors pay for your daily click. The sponsors purchase tiles on the Thank You page for a certain amount of time. Bhookh.com then tabulates the number of people who click during that time frame and bill the sponsor for the appropriate amount. Bhookh.com donates this money towards food for the hungry.
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p>This idea by Bhookh.com (which translates as “hunger”) is both brilliant and creepy at the same time. By simply clicking a button, according to the website I am donating a meal to someone who is hungry. Someone who I will never meet. I am conflicted. Without a doubt, it is good for me to click the button and I will. I have faith that I will be helping someone as the site’s sponsors claim, and I know they created this site from a selfless place. So why does pushing the button make me feel so guilty? To think that a mindless mouse-click could make a difference in someone’s life is a power that I don’t want and feel I shouldn’t have. I will continue to push this new button though. Perhaps I am more a man of faith.
abhi: i agree..this website is sorta creepy… dunno.. ethical issues galore…
“Poosh the button. Don’t vurrry – ve arre all coming back anyvays.”
Unknown comedian.
I agree the power given is pretty creepy, but what’s even creepier to me is someone who’s given this power and chooses not to press the button. Embrace this creepy globalized internet world we live in!
Your new handle shall be “Unclear on the Concept”. So it is commented, so it shall be.
I clicked and no, it’s not creepy. If this is creepy then several other, older, much more famous sites devoted to world hunger, breast cancer or animals are, too. Please.
“what’s even creepier to me is someone who’s given this power and chooses not to press the button”
Nonsense.
Why do people love to go adrift in a sea of sentimentality? Eh?
The reality, which is more difficult to face than a silly little mouse click, is that small changes in our spending and living habits could make a difference in someone else’s life. I don’t see you selling your car and buying a bicycle.
What’s really creepy is that we’d rather not feel bad, above everything else. If there was a way (and there is) of letting people die horrible deaths without feeling bad about it, we’d make it so. Darfur, anyone? Niger?
But one little guilt-monger on the internet, and everyone turns into a saint. When, in reality, all we worship is our feelings.
In any case, the real bastards here are those who have the money, who are willing to give it, and yet wait for you to click before what they could have done anyway. Those mofos are going to hell.
I won’t click.
Dude, I think you might need to take a brief hiatus from watching LOST. 😉
Exactly. Crap like this is like going to confession for the bourgeois. They get a sadistic thrill of being told to feel guilty. It makes their self-congratulatory laughter/applause after being shouted at by the “Daily Show” or the last Michael Moore documentary seem that much sweeter and sincere.
it’s amazing how an innocent post written with the best intentions can bring out the negative…contrarians will always pipe up with something, i guess.
Om Alone, if you were face to face with a hungry child who would benefit from this site, would you explain to them why they were STILL hungry since you hadn’t clicked? “B/c I shouldn’t have to, the sponsors should’ve fed you without my doing anything, those bastards.” i don’t think you would. my point is, why mire in semantics when something so simple could feed someone.
p.s. please don’t bring up the old “i don’t see you selling your ___” canard. the truth is, none of us knows EVERY person in this community so we have no right to fling such useless accusations.
Yeah, I’m a contrarian and you’ll always be a sucka. Spare us your rectitude.
i’ll gladly take the “rectitude” (ain’t no shame in my mf game) but spare me your insults. if you want to disagree with me, do it well…that is, if you are capable of commenting without being a jerk, which, judging from your last twenty comments (from all of your handles) you are not.
I just clicked. I feel good. I am good.
…and you just proved my point, kitchener. thanks. jerk THIS.
“it’s amazing how an innocent post written with the best intentions can bring out the negative”
That’s true.
But this is not mere semantics, since often it’s the illusion of doing good that prevents real good from being done.
I suppose it would be considered controversial if I say that an excess of foreign aid has seriously underdeveloped certain corners of our world. But it’s made folks in rich countries feel really good about themselves.
I’ll suggest, Anna, that what you find most galling is that someone could disagree so strongly with what, to you, is a no brainer. There are no innocent posts, and we all know the paving uses of best intentions.
(And, for the record, I’m a very rare commenter on these pages, and I have no affiliation with Lord Kitchener.)
Being creeped out by people who use circular anti-corporate arguments to justify their position against encouraging a corporate donation to a charity is far from sentimental.
First, accept how things are. Don’t blame a company for wanting to both give to charity and to advertise at the same time. Perhaps advertising helps them generate more revenue for them to give more to the poor. Who knows what their motives are. Even if they don’t care about the poor and are using this as a ploy to get sentimental consumers on their side, you’re smarter than that, so just make them give a donation.
Second, I agree with Anna, don’t assume anything about any of the posters. I don’t own a car – I sold it a few years ago when I left my high paying cushy job to go into human rights law (and I’ll probably be working in a refugee camp this summer – perhaps even in Darfur).
Perhaps this observation is based on people you know, but I think it’s quite generalized. Most of the people I know would rather feel bad, that gives them the strength to do something about it. And for those that don’t feel bad, it’s our job to shame them until they do. So if you do feel bad, shame all those people you’re talking about. Shame the company who doesn’t become a sponsor on this site. And if you don’t feel bad, and would rather to continue to not click each day, then shame on you for disseminating this apathy disguised as intelligent criticism to other readers.
What is this, your first-yr law student fantasy? It’s an anonymous blog, so I guess you can say anything. I could say I don’t have quite the same level of human rights law experience as you do, but I have worked for years working in environmental law, particularly with regard to the protection of Aboriginal peoples. Anyway, I agree with your arguments, only, if you’re indeed as noble as you proclaim, I doubt that most of the magnanimous “clickers” on that bullshit website are.
an excellent reason to deny starving people food.
Om alone, thanks for your polite response. you’re close, what actually galls me is how people would rather bitch than do. i guess i’ve always been a little “ends justify the means”.
Doing good is difficult, Anna.
Do good as much as you can, the best way you understand how. We agree on that, right?
I hope my initial comment wasn’t too rude: it’s just really important to me not to deceive myself about “saving starving children” out there. And it’s also vital to have so-called “contrarian” positions on these issues. It’s rarely all as cut-and-dried as it might first appear.
For me, clicking the link is self-deception. It might be different for others.
Now, how I spend my free time, how I spend my disposable income, well, that’s my business. But let’s just say doing good, and doing so intelligently, is my lifeblood.
i’m with anna…this is a WEBSITE and on WEBSITES all you can do is read or click… what’s to jump on abhi’s case for bringing this site to our awareness?
and we’re all selfish and elitist and privileged. let’s not forget that we all have that freedom to sit at a computer and type away our random thoughts and reflections while there are always millions of others who do not have that luxury and are consumed with other issues of life and death. if one of us chooses to spend his time to take us out of our space of luxury for a moment with a small post on his reflections, let’s take the opportunity to step out of our e-privilege and think about the spirit behind the post. if you don’t agree with the motives, that’s cool, talk about it, but with respect, please.
This “being polite” shit is more played out than J-Lo’s ass. damn…you guys are right. Anybody know of any quick and easy ways to deliver myself from this moral rot? If only I could just click a button or something…
i know, it does sound a bit cliche, but it’s far from a fantasy. if you don’t believe me, ask cicatrix, she knows me.
Agreed. It is important to question (or be contrary) – to dig beneath all the shiny objects being presented to you. However, it’s also important to understand that with each truth uncovered, yet another is concealed. Thus there is a point at which deeper inquiries diminish their value and action must be taken (for example, people argue that the Nuremburg trials and subsequent war crime tribunals are simply “winner’s justice” – this might be true in some respects, but in the end, while this needs to be taken into account, it shouldn’t, and thankfully doesn’t, stop war criminals from being tried for their alleged crimes).
Does anyone else remember that song? “Push the button” I forgot what the group’s name was..
you can click a button! it’s the small, yet powerful “X” in the upper-right hand corner of the screen. there. problem solved.
This “being polite” shit is more played out than J-Lo’s ass.
Um, I for one still find Madame Lopez’s junk interesting. That shit is everlasting. Please pick a more interesting target. Like Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan or something. Thank you.
Look, i would point out that you’re dissing SM, but I rather just insult you with sex-jokes about your mom. Which I did, before Big Brown Brother deleted it.
Take it from someone who used to run a site about internet hoaxe sites, this site is a hoax (not a very well executed one at that).
Probably meant as a perverse viral marketing tool of sorts for the ‘K webmaker’ thing listed at the bottom of the page.
Its rather sad that you fell for it. As far as hoaxes go this one is pretty tasteless as it trivializes such a serious problem.
Aha!
As I said, doing good is difficult. Saving lives takes real effort.
And everyone knows that the road to hell etc.
Anyway, I laud the humanitarian instinct (however misplaced) of all those who inadvertently donated their internet caches to the hoax site.
Epoch, I say you are wrong. Prove to me that this is a hoax and I will update my post with an apology. My research indicates that this is for real.
Om Alone, keep talking. I noticed on this post as well as my subsequent post that some people assume that you must either be a “do-er” or a “talker.” This website was in fact created to help make do-ers out of talkers (and I think it has been working). Don’t assume you have to be one or the other. It’s fun to be a cynic and accuse people or elitism etc. (I do it all the time) Sure, many people are. You aren’t the first to have that revelation. But while you waste your time chastizing (thus worshiping your own feelings of moral superiority) I will be doing, both by pressing this button and by other activities where I can invest more of myself for the benefit of others.
And maybe THAT is the real reason why I wrote this post. Everybody has to face their button and decide what they want to do for themselves.
how incredibly refined of you. will you similarly disrespect all of our mothers if we are sarcastic?
read the note above the comments section– it’s not “big brother”; it’s a well-established set of guidelines which are equivalent to throwing the rowdy asshole out of the party so the rest of us can get down, drama-free.
:+:
epoch: i went to snopes and didn’t see anything, though they did say that the original hunger site is legit. Bhookh uses the same process for donating food, that’s why my spider sense didn’t tingle. well, that and the fact that i met shashi IRL at the meetup on sunday and he smells honest.
i think probably every person who’s commented on this has a point somewhere
For starters the sponsors list on their thank you pages seems fake –
I find it extraordinary that MSN, Yahoo, google, gmail, hotmail etc… all sponsored a relatively unknown site that would drive them little traffic or positive publicity.
Also general unprofessionalism like the link to ‘gmail’ on their thank you page doesn’t point to the correct url.
(AFAIK Google doesn’t spend money on promoting gmail, it does spend money on promoting its new products like Picasa and Earth as well as its advertising program)
Compare this to the hungersite’s sponsors who are mainly small e-commerce sites. (which is exactly who you would expect to sponsor something like this)
No clear info on how to become a sponsor but to his credit does have contact info.
Maybe the intent is there to add sponsors in the future.
But at this point it seems to me that the sponsors are fake, so unless he is paying for the food out of his own pocket I am guessing the site is not living up to its promise.
I apologize in advance if this is real.
i wonder if he has those specific links there b/c the site recommends that we make bhookh our home page. those are the sort of sites which tend to be people’s home pages, right? how do you combat the objection , “but i neeeed MSN as soon as i log onnnnn?”
put a link to MSN on bhookh.
Pushed the button. Reminds me of the song Galvanize by Chemical brothers. ” The time has come to…. push the button “
I looked at the info that was in “About” link of the site. It mentions a Lt. Nawang Kapadia who became shaheed in Kargil war.
Nawang Kapadia’s family maintains a website memorial where a link to the Bhookh.com site can be found. Also a mention of the person who started Bhookh.com is also mentioned. So looks legit site to me.
Hi,
There have been multiple comments about whether http://www.bhook.com is legit or not. I wanted to put this to rest. I am the brother of Lt. Nawang Kapadia and maintain his web-memorial. The site Bhook.com is a project in his memory by his close friend Vikas Sutaria. It is 100% legit. Since we run this on small budgets and is not a full time job for us, we occasionally might not be able to a rock solid job of professional web-masters. Maybe we are guilty of not having big name sponsors but definitly not guilty of a hoax.
Regards,
Sonam
I think attending the darfur rally yesterday would have been a much more noble cause for south asians. Didn’t see too many brown faces there. And while there were plenty of plenty of Christian and Jewish groups that participated, I didn’t see any official Hindu or Muslim presence.
I dont really see how this works.
Assume a 100,000 people press the button everyday, and one “cup of staple food’ costs around 2 Rupees. That equals Rs. 200,000. And that would mean Rs. 6,000,000 (60 lakhs or 6 million) per month. Is this possible?
yeah. this site is pretty freaky. but i still clicked it. but i wont click it daily. but anyway, the page was not found.