Great essay, thanks. It is indeed hard once one sees through the callow egoism of most of the people i the 'activist set' in the West. The blithe arrogance on display, and the blindness to their own hypocrisy and dishonesty is truly astonishing.
To be sure, plenty of people I met were competent and sincere in their efforts; I would be the worst kind of hypocrite if I didn't think I had the same noble (and definitely naïve) intentions when I started out. But particularly over the last decade, activism and "non-profits" have been completely integrated into Western economies, with every issue of the day becoming a 'cause'. It's cliché, but it's a situation where the road to hell really is being paved with good intentions. It's impossible now to separate the wheat from the chaff - too many are just businesses.
Great essay, thanks. It is indeed hard once one sees through the callow egoism of most of the people i the 'activist set' in the West. The blithe arrogance on display, and the blindness to their own hypocrisy and dishonesty is truly astonishing.
To be sure, plenty of people I met were competent and sincere in their efforts; I would be the worst kind of hypocrite if I didn't think I had the same noble (and definitely naïve) intentions when I started out. But particularly over the last decade, activism and "non-profits" have been completely integrated into Western economies, with every issue of the day becoming a 'cause'. It's cliché, but it's a situation where the road to hell really is being paved with good intentions. It's impossible now to separate the wheat from the chaff - too many are just businesses.