dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Section of this article > Satan was the first philanthropist

What could be wrong with philanthropy?

As Brownson pointed out, philanthropy’s roots lie in a considered, deliberate rejection of mere "charity."

Besides a rather embarrassing association with traditional Christianity; where it was regarded as a

supernatural virtue that could only be fully attained with the aid of grace to, 18th & 19th century

reformers, "charity" was associated with the reactionary view that social evils were ultimately rooted in

human hearts. Philanthropy located such evils in the head.

They were thus amenable to amelioration via technological reason, given sufficient resources. That is why,

explained Brownson, “philanthropy went to work to reform—on a large scale; for philanthropy scorns small

beginnings, and proposes always to commence operations on the masses.”

An orientation toward charity rather than philanthropy might lead one to be too ready to accept certain kinds

of suffering and injustice as inevitable, Brownson conceded. But the philanthropic solution; throwing off the

shackles of charity to pursue systemic social change; often led, at least in its purest forms, to even more

widespread suffering and graver injustice.

“Philanthropy, when acting alone,” Brownson concluded, “seldom fails to make matters worse.” To his

Christian way of thinking, the point of charity was to move hearts toward God, and thus toward neighbors.

That is how real reform proceeds.

Brownson realized that this approach lacked a certain glamor. “Charity, deals not with committees, attends

not meetings, and is seen not on platforms, moving or seconding high-sounding resolutions, but addresses

herself to the heart of man; for charity is not puffed up, and seeks not to make a noise in the world.”

Although the usage of the term philanthropy has undergone some change since Brownson wrote in the middle of

the nineteenth century, it is still true that “philanthropy scorns small beginnings, and proposes always to

commence operations on the masses.”

Today’s Big Philanthropy tends to substitute humanity in general for real, individual human beings as the

primary object of benevolence. This idea lies at the core of the development of the ﬁrst modern philanthropic

foundations.

As William Schambra, among others, has shown, from their beginnings in the late 1800s & early 1900s, the

major charitable foundations (Russell Sage, Rockefeller, and Carnegie) and their progenitors CONSCIOUSLY

sought to abandon old-fashioned attempts to alleviate immediate distress for a more focused scientific,

expert-driven approach that would provide permanent solutions to vexing social problems (via Williams).

At its creation, the Rockefeller Foundation devoted itself to serving the “well-being of mankind throughout

the world.” Rockefeller himself insisted that “the best philanthropy involves a search for cause, an attempt

to cure evils at their source.”

https://www.philanthropydaily.com/20992/#_edn1