{"id":16677,"date":"2018-02-22T15:52:36","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T23:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16677"},"modified":"2018-06-25T09:12:37","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T16:12:37","slug":"the-two-faces-of-philanthropy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-two-faces-of-philanthropy\/","title":{"rendered":"The two faces of philanthropy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cWanna buy a watch?\u201d \u00a0The words were repeated, \u201cWanna buy a watch?\u201d\u00a0 Mumbled under their breath in a stage whisper, Chinese vendors surreptitiously approached us in Beijing\u2019s Tienanmen Square. We stopped to view their wares. One of the many watches for sale contained the image of Mao Tse-Tung, arm waving frantically, uselessly. We laughed at the irony. Here, the image of the father of Chinese communism, whose oppressive face glared down at us from the end of the square, was also looking up at us as a marketing gimmick to sell a cheap Chinese timepiece. Upon further reflection, what appeared as an irony would be likened to a betrayal.<\/p>\n

The same microbetrayals are repeated time and time again in The Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can\u2019t be Jammed<\/em> by Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter of the University of Toronto and l\u2019Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al respectively. Leftist attempts at counterculture resistance end up being coopted by capitalism, become commodified, and end by reinforcing and sustaining the very thing they rail against. The authors pull back the curtain on the surprising myth of the counterculture.\u00a0\u201cThanks to [this] myth…, many of the people who are most opposed to consumerism nevertheless actively participate in the sort of behavior that drives it.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Heath and Potter get personal when they direct their attention to the inconsistencies of Naomi Klein, author of No Logo<\/em> and fellow Torontonian.\u00a0Klein is one of Canada\u2019s more prominent new generation of socialist voices. She is married to Avi Lewis, a filmmaker, who is himself son of Stephen Lewis, former leader of the federal left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP) and former Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations. With this esteemed biography, Klein is a well-known fixture of the political and cultural elite in Canada \u2013 she\u2019s well-connected and influential, and, say the authors, able to find creative ways around zoning to live in a hip textile factory. Her loft, at King and Spadina, is, frankly, where everyone wants to live. Located between the financial and entertainment districts, only someone with connections could live an alternative lifestyle there until the zoning was loosened by the City of Toronto to permit redevelopment.<\/p>\n

Klein\u2019s supporters and radical leftists howled their disapproval of The Rebel Sell<\/em>, critical not only of the authors\u2019 apparent abandonment of key leftist ideology but of outing one of their heroes. Derrick O\u2019Keefe states in Seven Oaks<\/em>, \u201c[Heath and Potter] are, it seems, off to the side of the battle, enjoying an intellectualized mockery of the Left as much as an analysis and criticism of those in power\u2026. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s where\u00a0The Rebel Sell<\/em>\u00a0is coming from, and so I\u2019m not buying.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In constrast, others such as Elisabeth Wasserman in The Atlantic<\/em>, affirm the trajectory of the authors\u2019 logic. She states, \u201cHeath and Potter challenge the followers of Moore, Klein, et al. to abandon their militant fantasies and “make peace with the masses”\u2014turning their energies to the often tedious but far more effective process of political reform in an imperfect world.\u201d[3]<\/a> It\u2019s easier to rush the barricades than it is to lobby for incremental policy change, but Heath and Potter\u2019s proposed solution to the abuses of capitalism involve a commitment to slow legal changes done patiently.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to highlight the duplicity of easy targets like Klein; however, it is important to examine ourselves closely for the log in our eye before picking out the splinter in another\u2019s. This book offers an opportunity for Christian philanthropists to consider how their generosity needs to be consistent with deep theological convictions about the world, and how we operate in it as people of faith. We must align ourselves with integrity and truth.<\/p>\n

There is a need for soul-searching. At times we give to merely pacify our conscience of some grievous societal ill that perhaps our profit-making had a hand in creating. At other times, we let our giving become a political, public statement that is entirely without internal consistency. Unfortunately, I fear this is behind much of what we see in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and big philanthropy. I am aware of an example from many years ago where Barrick Gold, a Canadian mining company, strove to assist communities in Peru affected by their operations by working in partnership with World Vision Canada. What was behind their giving? Perhaps only God knows the motivation.<\/p>\n

L.M. Moncrieff, in Law and Critique,<\/em> exposes this inconsistency in philanthropy by citing Slavoj Zizek[4]<\/a> \u201c[who] describes \u2026 the \u2018two faces of Bill Gates\u2019: the face that publicises a fight against subjective violence (racism, crime, terror) hides another face, which is, in fact, the agent of systemic violence. The businessman\u2026\u2018who gives millions to fund education has ruined the lives of thousands thanks to his financial speculations and in doing so created the conditions for the rise of the intolerance he denounces\u2019.[5]<\/a> While I would not be so harshly dogmatic about the supposed sins of Bill Gates as Zizek, the point is that often we take with one hand and give with another.<\/p>\n

Could this lack of congruency happen also for Christian philanthropy?\u00a0 I am reminded of my friend, Emily Neilsen Jones, co-founder of the Boston-based Imago Dei Fund[6]<\/a>, a faith-inspired foundation with international reach. We first met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in 2010 on a trip where several foundation executives spent two weeks exploring the issue of human trafficking and meeting representatives from many organizations.<\/p>\n

It was Emily\u2019s discernment which began to highlight an inconsistency as our visit together progressed. While many organizations and their donor bases claimed they existed to create positive pathways for women, very few had opened the pathways sufficiently to allow women into leadership of these same organizations. Deeper probing revealed barriers for women in governance or management positions, often due to theological perspectives. Yet these weren\u2019t churches but Christian NGOs. Donors jumped on the bandwagon to liberate women, but in many cases afterwards, the women still weren\u2019t free to exercise their God-given leadership. Emily articulated clearly the inconsistencies of believing that women had value enough to be freed from commodification yet not enough to be trusted in leadership. It was really an opportunity for donors to come alongside and push for changes in the system. Until Emily, this did not happen.<\/p>\n

None of us are perfect in philanthropy. I believe, though, that with hearts softened by prayer and a willingness to change if and when God leads, we will be protected from the worst of hypocrisies and our giving will become better integrated.<\/p>\n

______________________________<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Heath, Joseph, and Andrew Potter. Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can\u2019t Be Jammed<\/em>. Toronto: Harper Perennial, 2005, 132.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> O\u2019Keefe, Derrick. \u201cNot Buying The Rebel Sell: A Critique of a Critique of the Left\u2019s Political Practice.\u201d Seven Oaks<\/em>, June 24, 2005. https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20050624234029\/http:\/\/sevenoaksmag.com\/commentary\/67_comm2.html<\/a>. Accessed on February 22, 2018.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Wasserman, Elizabeth. \u201cRebels Without a Cause.\u201d The Atlantic<\/em>, April 2005. https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2005\/04\/rebels-without-a-cause\/303865\/<\/a>. Accessed on February 22, 2018.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Zizek, Slavoj. 2006. \u201cNobody has to be vile.\u201d London Review of Books<\/em>, 28(7), 10.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Moncrieff, L. M. (2011). The molotov milkshake: Corporate social responsibility and the market.\u00a0Law and Critique,\u00a022<\/em>(3), 273-293. http:\/\/dx.doi.org.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/10.1007\/s10978-011-9092-3<\/a>. Accessed on February 22, 2018.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Imago Dei Fund Website, http:\/\/imagodeifund.org\/<\/a>, Accessed on February 22, 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWanna buy a watch?\u201d \u00a0The words were repeated, \u201cWanna buy a watch?\u201d\u00a0 Mumbled under their breath in a stage whisper, Chinese vendors surreptitiously approached us in Beijing\u2019s Tienanmen Square. We stopped to view their wares. One of the many watches for sale contained the image of Mao Tse-Tung, arm waving frantically, uselessly. We laughed at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[114,363],"class_list":["post-16677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-heath","tag-potter","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16677"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16685,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16677\/revisions\/16685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}