Funny stuff over at Gifthub.org on donor intent. Discussions about donor intent are always interesting. If I had a dime for every time I've read or heard a conservative columnist say, "Henry Ford would be rolling in his grave," I'd have a pretty
decent foundation that would live in perpetuity. Of course, some of Henry's true intentions are only referenced by the Ford Foundation's current critics when they want to accuse the foundation of funding terror. Only proper intentions need apply.
Thanks for seeing the humor. Carnival is how the intentions and pretentions of the upper classes are mirrored back to them once a year on Christmas Day, in The Festival of the Ass. Far from subverting hierarchy, such humor provides the harmless vent that keeps subversion in check. Surely, we can poke fun even at the most solemn of donors and their intentions. "No dog in America shall be homeless," is one of my personal favorites. The donor was not herself a dog, by the way. So in perpetuity men with catchnets on poles will prowl every American city stepping over the homeless children to get to the stray dogs. Such is the world in which philanthropy replaces public programs.
That's a promising looking blog. I like the focus on the more eccentric aspects of philanthropy.
Humor and venting also keep us sane in otherwise intolerable conditions. The real subversion is keeping it to one day a year.
Posted by: P.I. Tchitchikoff | January 11, 2006 at 11:31 PM
Message discipline versus water cooler conversations: philanthropy is just one keyhole into the world inside the firewalls of wealth and privilege, but if many of us blogged "the world we know," as well as "the world we want," we might have a carnival that ran concurrently with the Reality Show sponsored by Wealth Bondage.
Posted by: Phil | January 12, 2006 at 08:18 AM