Eh, if we are being cynical then we could extrapolate that same cynicism to conclude that there is no such thing as altruism. That any act of kindness is actually motivated by self interest, whether that be being seeking external praise for their deeds or just internal self-aggrandizement.
At the end of the day does the motivation for the good deed really matter? Or is it just more important that a little girl had a great birthday when she may have not been able otherwise. Exploitation is defined by its harm to the person being exploited. If the baker took a picture or named the mother and that led to public shame, then yeah that could be exploitative.
Without anyone experiencing harm in this hypothetical scenario, I don’t really see a reason to think negatively about the situation. It just runs against your subjective preconceived notions of what defines a “good person”, and in reality that’s not really an objective thing you could actually measure.
Eh, if we are being cynical then we could extrapolate that same cynicism to conclude that there is no such thing as altruism. That any act of kindness is actually motivated by self interest, whether that be being seeking external praise for their deeds or just internal self-aggrandizement.
At the end of the day does the motivation for the good deed really matter? Or is it just more important that a little girl had a great birthday when she may have not been able otherwise. Exploitation is defined by its harm to the person being exploited. If the baker took a picture or named the mother and that led to public shame, then yeah that could be exploitative.
Without anyone experiencing harm in this hypothetical scenario, I don’t really see a reason to think negatively about the situation. It just runs against your subjective preconceived notions of what defines a “good person”, and in reality that’s not really an objective thing you could actually measure.