Summary Of Extreme Altruism

In the article “Extreme Altruism: Should You Care For Strangers at The Expense of Your Family” by Larissa MacFarquhar, the concept introduced is donating all of the money you do not need to charity because everyone is equal and someone needs it more than you do. The character Julia Wise practices living by the standard of treating everyone as equal has led her to spiral into the deep obis we know as depression. The reason why she has all of this depression is because she has an overwhelming amount of empathy. With everyone being different and having their own views on their life thus having everyone donate all the money they don’t need would not be feasible.
Everyone’s views on life are being established and modified by every group of ideas
Some people in this world are not “do-gooders” and don’t over think about the world's problems but their own. Some people in this world selfishly care about themselves and can’t and won’t do anything about that. For example, suppose you have someone like Donald Trump, someone that lives a materialist life and values their self-worth based on their assets. If someone tried to force theses people into sharing their wealth that they worked their lives for this would drive these people to the same depression that Julia Wise has. Having someone share their wealth should be out of the kindness out of their heart. “She does not get pleasure out of giving money. To her, giving is simply a duty.”(MacFarquhar). Living in pity for people should not be how someone lives their life. Max helps the unfortunate people for the pure enjoyment and the almost paralyzing feeling of excitement to the point tears of joy clutters your vision and the feeling of being proud at the end. Another example of Julia Wise’s lifestyle flaw is that she has major depression due to her starving her selfish side and viewing everyone as deserving the same. “Her depression has made her viscerally conscious of suffering in others in a way that most naturally happy people are not.”(MacFarquhar). Mrs. Wise lives her life caring more about other people in everyday simple decision making to the