(idea) by discofever Sat Nov 13 1999 at 14:14:51
Doing something that is giving and caring in theory, but is often too little, too late, or too stupid to really help. But you still feel like you helped, so you feel better about yourself.

Examples are giving pennies to charity, causing very painful breakups in near-dead relationships, and controlling someone's life to "make sure they don't hurt themselves".

I like it!