Question for Leo: Why would you refuse a big donation?

[Nightwise]

Hi Leo (and all the rest).

Watching your most recent video (regarding Andrew Tate) has been somewhat sobering, as it did make me realize I thought of Andrew Tate a little bit higher than I should have, although I never considered him to be some sort of god and I was aware of many of his (potential) flaws right from the beginning. I found myself disagreeing with. This point isn't so much about Andrew Tate but rather, it's more about a general principle.

At some point in the video, you mentioned that sometimes you get messages from people willing to offer you a $1000 or more donation without you needing to do anything in return (at least I assume they don't ask for anything in return), and then you happen to decline their offer, saying that it's not necessary and that their biggest repayment of gratitude would be to do the work you're talking about in your videos. You frame it in your video as if you would be leeching off of them if you actually were to accept their donation.

• First of all, I find it strange you would consider it a form of leeching off someone if they offer to donate you that money completely out of their own volition without you pressuring them to do so. To leech off someone is to pressure them in subtle or overt ways to do something in order for your own benefit, and since you did none of that and that they were after all the one initiating the conversation, I don't see in what way you're leeching off of them. The only possible way I can think of is that you're too easily making use of their actions in an overly emotional moment, and that you're unwilling to remind them to stay objective and detached in order to prevent them from making a decision they're going to regret later. May you be leeching off of someone in that way? Possibly, in some way of looking at it. But we'll get back to this point later.

 

• The second thing is that there is a double standard here: Why do you have a Patreon account which you advertise at the end of your videos, yet then refuse someone to make a big donation to you?

 

• The third and probably most important point: Why would you automatically consider this a win-lose situation? I'm not sure if this is one of your reasons you refuse their donation or you're just merely or mainly doing it for the reasons for what you would consider to be integrity, but I do think it's important to elaborate on this point, as there is a very significant misunderstanding here in our culture

People often think that refusing someone's unconditional offer in the form of goods, services or money is the noble and right thing to do and that to accept it would make them a selfish and insensitive person. Yes, there certainly are people out there who accept the gestures, help and donations that other people give without considering the other person at all and simply just caring for what they can get for themselves, but there's also a totally different way of looking at it.

People often just like to be able to help others. To refuse someone's offer is often literally to refuse the possibility of making someone happy by them being able to help or serve you.

An example: Some months ago I was going to a festival with some buddies of mine. I was going to travel by bus to an entry point of a highway, which would be the place these buddies of mine would pick me up with the van they had.

I was talking about this when my neighbour happened to be in my home talking to my mother. This neighbour then offered to give me a ride to the place I needed to be at rather than me taking the bus to get there. I could've acted 'humble' at that moment and refused her offer, saying that it wasn't that much more of an issue to take the bus instead (which it wasn't. It would've only bought me about 10 minutes in time). But instead of doing the 'humble' thing, I accepted her offer and therefore the next morning, she drove me to the point at the entry of the highway I needed to be at.

Why did I accept her offer? Was it only because I merely cared about myself and didn't care about the fact that she needed to sacrifice something?

No. It was because I saw this was going to be a win-win situation. In the words of my mother: "How on earth is that a win-win situation?". I answered her that my neighbour was very glad to be able to offer this service to me, and she enjoyed being able to help me. It wasn't on an emotional level truly something that was a loss or a negative experience, even though she did need to sacrifice time and energy. Just because she needed to sacrifice time and energy doesn't mean I put my neighbour through a negative experience. She liked to do it and I liked to receive her offer. Therefore, it's a win-win.

In fact, even if it were a hypothetical situation where accepting her offer would practically be putting me at a disadvantage, I might have STILL accepted her offer because I would've realized that me accepting this offer would've literally provided her with a pathway to be able to express her heart. I in fact still think to this day that me accepting her offer to help me was probably a greater gift to her than it was for me.

Therefore, refusing someone's offer can in fact be MORE selfish than accepting it at times. Because this sense of nobility you get after refusing someone's offer, making you think about yourself as a good person, can in fact just be another way of the ego to inflate it's own sense of self and superiority. And by acting on your kneejerk reaction to refuse someone's offer to help you, you might lose sight of the big picture and end up disappointing them more than you are being a burden to them.

By the way: I know that the way I'm putting this might sound pretty accusatory right now, Leo, but I'm just making a general point. This is not meant to be an attack.

Something to mention still: It is possible of course that these people who want to donate to you want to do it so out of a moment of emotional infatuation. They might not properly understand the significance of the amount they're about to donate and they may indeed come to regret it later on if they were to follow through on it. This is indeed a proper issue to be wary of, because sometimes people get overly emotional and get in that sense pretty stupid (no offense) and end up doing something that ends up putting them in a very difficult situation later on. That IS indeed something to be careful of and it IS indeed a sign of integrity to be cautious with that and to have preventative measures in place in order to prevent people from making overly hasty decisions.

However, I do think people generally won't end up regretting it and I think that most people who want to donate such amounts consider the money being better off in Leo's wallet than in their own pocket because Leo may end up doing great things with it where as far as themselves are concerned they may not have great plans for it or a great need for it.

Just check in with these people and make sure they don't make overly rushed decisions, that's all. Otherwise, consider that them donating to you, Leo, may end up being a win-win situation for the both of you and that refusing their offer may in some sense even create a lose-lose situation for the both of you. Don't do something like that in the name of 'humility', because doing something like that isn't true humility if it's an action that is not in accord with the bigger picture or the greater good.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Nightwise

[Leo Gura]

The max donation I take is $100.

This is by design. Egos think they are doing good by donating more but actually they are just being egos and I am not gonna feed that kind of behavior.

I don't want your bribes, do the fucking work

Edited January 22, 2023 by Leo Gura

[A_v_E]

  it's ok to send it to me I've heard, instead,
if you got too much.. that you can throw it on others dreams.

Cause I've a big dream too !

 

Edited January 21, 2023 by A_v_E

[lostingenosmaze]

@Leo Gura The devil's face when he slowly donates $5000 to Leo over a period of time in $100 increments:

[Rafael Thundercat]

Maybe Leo could open a new categorie of post called " Speculative questions about Leo's live" 

If the guy want to accept or no donations is up to him. Jesus, he is not Kim Kardaskian or a celebrity to keep recieving this constant questioning about stuff that are personal.

What the brand of Toilet paper do you use Leo?

Why This personality cult all the time. Most part of minucia Leo say in the videos I just ignore. Sometimes people focus on one hair of the elephant and miss the elephant in the room.