Paradoxes of Philanthropy
Tags: Philanthropy, Disillusionment, Charity, Mashups, Quotes

Charity begins at home

Lately, far from being a source of generating true equity, a philanthropic act has become a chip on the shoulder. It is official: philanthropy now has a cool quotient.

Now, I might resemble a grotesque gargoyle spouting rancor and cynicism. Far from it, I do believe that for every four self-serving philanthropists, there is at least one soul who just wants to do their bit of clothing and feeding the poor. For every four corrupt men seeking redemption using this channel, there is at least one honest man who wants to simply help their fellow being. For every four confused MBAs who just want to jump on the service bandwagon, there is at least one person who wants to serve the nation from the bottom of their heart.

But my take on corporate philanthropy is best summed up by a quote by Mark Fisher:

“The ideological blackmail that has been in place since the original Live Aid concerts in 1985 has insisted that ‘caring individuals’ could end famine directly, without the need for any kind of political solution or systemic reorganization. It is necessary to act straight away, we were told; politics has to be suspended in the name of ethical immediacy. Bono’s Product Red brand wanted to dispense even with the philanthropic intermediary. ‘Philanthropy is like hippy music, holding hands’, Bono proclaimed. ‘Red is more like punk rock, hip hop, this should feel like hard commerce’. The point was not to offer an alternative to capitalism — on the contrary, Product Red’s ‘punk rock’ or ‘hip hop’ character consisted in its ‘realistic’ acceptance that capitalism is the only game in town. No, the aim was only to ensure that some of the proceeds of particular transactions went to good causes. The fantasy being that western consumerism, far from being intrinsically implicated in systemic global inequalities, could itself solve them. All we have to do is buy the right products.” ― Mark Fisher

My take on a country’s philanthropic muscle is best summed up by a quote by Reinhold Niebuhr:

“Philanthropy combines genuine pity with the display of power and that the latter element explains why the powerful are more inclined to be generous than to grant social justice.” — Reinhold Niebuhr

My take on the constitution and its arm of justice, the judicial system, dispensing social justice:

“I can conceive of no greater mistake, more disastrous in the end to religion if not to society, than that of trying to make charity do the work of justice.” ― William Jewett Tucker

Finally, I quote Anand Giridharadas on the paradoxes inherent to philanthropy:

“To do a modest bit of good while doing nothing about the larger system is to keep the painting. You are chewing on the fruit of an injustice. You may be working on a prison education program, but you are choosing not to prioritize the pursuit of wage and labor laws that would make people’s lives more stable and perhaps keep some of them out of jail. You may be sponsoring a loan forgiveness initiative for law school students, but you are choosing not to prioritize seeking a tax code that would take more from you and cut their debts. Your management consulting firm may be writing reports about unlocking trillions of dollars’ worth of women’s potential, but it is choosing not to advise its clients to stop lobbying against the social programs that have been shown in other societies to help women achieve the equality fantasized about in consultants’ reports.”

Lest we forget, charity begins at home.