[FRIAM] Patriotic Millionaires

[Eric Charles]

While some of the goals of groups like "Patriotic Millionaires" are
admirable, I can never get past the blatant hypocrisy of it all. Maybe
"hypocrisy" isn't exactly the right term. You could also see the part
that bugs me as a bizarre worship of the benefits of authority over
individual choice. Let me rephrase their primary claim: "I, as a rich
person, recognize that I really *should *give more of my money to certain
causes, but I adamantly refuse to do so unless forced to do so by the
federal legislature."

What is anyone really to make of that position? Is it any different than
trying to look virtuous by saying that you know you should stop using child
labor in your mine, while also publicly refusing to stop unless the
government makes you?


On Thu, Mar 3, 2022 at 3:08 PM glen <gepropella at gmail.com> wrote:

> Obviously, I'm either procrastinating or unclear on how best to do actual
> work today because here is yet another thing I meant to talk about with
> someone, anyone, awhile back:
>
> https://patrioticmillionaires.org/about/
>
> A salon participant recently asked whether "greed" was our most nefarious
> trait as a species. It's a great question for sparking discussion. My
> answer was that the most nefarious trait of *all* species is myopia, the
> inability to reason over externalities, from pond scum to the Trust <
> https://raised-by-wolves.fandom.com/wiki/Trust>. But to de-emphasize what
> people think of as "greed", I said "Trying to ensure you have enough money
> to live out your life in relative comfort is not greed. Greed is, after
> acquiring billions of dollars, you feel the need to acquire more billions
> of dollars."
>
> I found Patriotic Millionaires prior to that conversation. And it seems
> legit ... a set of outwardly greedy people who recognize limits to their
> greed ... a recognition that there's a spectrum of merit, some luck, some
> effort, some systemic infrastructure, etc. Overall, [m|b]illionaire
> philanthropy (and especially effective altruism) seem like jokes to me,
> very postmodern jokes. "Here, let me given you a billion dollars without
> fundamentally rewriting your genetic code." Pffft. Give anyone enough money
> and you'll corrupt them fundamentally, often against their will.
> Philanthropists know this. Effective Altruism is an oxymoron. You can't
> both be coercive and altruistic at the same time. >8^D
>
> Anyway, I'd welcome any opinion on Patriotic Millionaires.
>
> --
> glen
> When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
>
>
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