Satan Was the First Philanthropist

[Tyler]

Interesting premise.

I personally see a few issues with modern philanthropy:

1) The mindset has shifted from helping free individuals in need to trying to change their behaviors.  More social engineering than charity.
2) Modern society tries to solve all problems by throwing money at them rather than taking any personal action.  Like purchasing carbon offsets rather than selling the private jet, or stepping over a homeless man to give to the Gates foundation.
3) A general shift away from religion, with a withering spiritual foundation to personal decision making.  Everyone's just a bit more self-centered.  This ends up reinforcing #s 1 and 2 above. 

[Ad Orientem]

Hmmm... Orestes Brownson sounds like an interesting man based on his Wikipedia article.

[MachineGhost]

LOL!

"Big Philanthrophy" is definitely a legacy of the uber fascination with the Industrial Revolution and Communism.  I think the author confuses capitalism's division of labor/resource allocation with the rise of professional philathropy and decline of civic participation.  Misery loves company, but when times are good (living standards are continually improving) we all pursure our own self-interests because there's less stiffling social pressure/disapproval/cultural brainwashing to worry about.

A core problem with charity and welfare is they largely re-inforce the state of victimhood, not reform or prevent.  A temporary fix is transient.  But another core problem is professional "Big Philathrophists" are largely careerists, not humanitarians.  Their job security always comes before any mission.

I would not worry too much though, the entrepreneur geeks of Silicon Valley are disrupting "Big Philanthrophy" among many other things.  Technology has always been our salvation as a civilization.  For instance, P2P charity will undercut "Big Philanthrophy" tyranny just as P2P lending is undercutting bank's stranglehold.  A fond example I recall is Reub's raising of funds on this here forum after Hurricane Sandy to help his dad.

We all have limited time and resources and have to prioritize causes, so blaming a foundation for not temporarily alleviating at best the poverty literally outside its door when there are hundreds of other charities already dedicated to that task just seems like a prudent decision to me.

[murphy_p_t]

referring to Warren Buffett, George Soros, Bill Gates as philantropists is misguided...i feel.

a large part of their poverty reduction work is simply population reduction...and done even thru deception and by using govt to spread this population control forcibly

[madbean]

There was once an email circulating that suggested Bill Gates might be the Antichrist and this was even before he became a philanthropist and started doing his evil deeds ......

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/blgates2.htm

[MachineGhost]

Oh. My. Lord.

[dualstow]

I do think it's ok for some charities to be pushy in certain areas, such as getting Indians to use indoor toilets.
Go to the bathroom indoors? That's disgusting. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to take a shit in the river and maybe do some laundry as well.

That said, I think the article's author is making an excellent point.

[murphy_p_t]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WQtRI7A064

in his own words

[MachineGhost]

Lower infant mortality via vaccination = less breeding.

[MachineGhost]

So if Gates was for killing the world's population, why is he turning shit into electricity and clean water?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-0 ... -says.html

that's a cool idea. i am not sure how producing a self-powered-waste-to-water-system counteracts wanting to impose population control exactly, they don't seem mutually exclusive to me.
some of the best ideas i have heard for fixing the third world are the blindingly simple ones, a ridiculously simple foot or bicycle powered water pump for a subsistence farmer who was hauling water to his crops by hand can increase his farms productivity enough to feed his family with ease, and give him produce to sell that he can use to pay for education, food, shelter and other necessities as well as letting him improve his family's lot in life... who'da thunk it...