Chris Blattman

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Look at me! I’m all noblesse oblige!

Princeton bio-ethicist Peter Singer says we need to get over our reluctance to speak openly about the good we do.

Jesus said that we should give alms in private rather than when others are watching. That fits with the commonsense idea that if people only do good in public, they may be motivated by a desire to gain a reputation for generosity. Perhaps when no one is looking, they are not generous at all.

That thought may lead us to disdain the kind of philanthropic graffiti that leads to donors’ names being prominently displayed on concert halls, art museums, and college buildings. Often, names are stuck not only over the entire building, but also on as many constituent parts of it as fundraisers and architects can manage.

According to evolutionary psychologists, such displays of blatant benevolence are the human equivalent of the male peacock’s tail. Just as the peacock signals his strength and fitness by displaying his enormous tail – a sheer waste of resources from a practical point of view – so costly public acts of benevolence signal to potential mates that one possesses enough resources to give so much away.

From an ethical perspective, however, should we care so much about the purity of the motive with which the gift was made? Surely, what matters is that something was given to a good cause. We may well look askance at a lavish new concert hall, but not because the donor’s name is chiseled into the marble façade. Rather, we should question whether, in a world in which 25,000 impoverished children die unnecessarily every day, another concert hall is what the world needs.

I wasn’t aware we were so modest. One of my keenest memories of northern Uganda (and other humanitarian emergencies) is the brought-to-you sign.

“Brought to you by the European Union” remarks a run down set of latrines that the filthiest Frenchman wouldn’t dare to utilizer.

“Brought to you by the American people” proclaim the kazillion tin cans of cooking oil. Long after the American fat has been consumed, the cans are beaten flat into the doors that adorn the horrible EU latrines (a delicious irony).

There’s something harmless, but so tasteless and realpolitik, about these proclamations. They make perfect sense, but I keep picturing the distinguished Congressman from Kansas, who’s idea of winning hearts and minds to America consists of a bill requiring USAid to incessantly remind its unfortunate beneficiaries where their calories come from.

Singer’s in the midst of writing a book on philanthropy and the obligations of the rich to assist the poor. I await it keenly.

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