Imagine you’re in a shopping mall, and a random guy walks up to you to ask if you can briefly hold a bouquet of flowers for him — but then, instead of asking for his flowers back, he wishes you a good day and walks away. Now imagine going on social media and seeing a video of that interaction, only to realize that the seemingly intimate moment was secretly being filmed for a TikTok channel with millions of followers and dozens of comments that praise the random guy’s actions and lament the fact that you ‘probably need a hug.’
That’s exactly what happened to a woman in Melbourne, Australia, who told ABC Radio Melbourne she felt the interaction with TikToker Harrison Pawluk (@lifeofharrison) was “dehumanizing” and “patronizing.” But he’s not the only creator on the platform who gets off (and probably gets rich) from supposed good deeds that no one asked for. There’s an entire niche of mostly white men who perform, film, and post “random acts of kindness” that are performative at best and emotionally damaging at worst. It reeks of white savior complex, and it’s time we talk about it.
