I sometimes wonder what kind of impact it would have on American politics if high-visibility euergitism was still something we expected and our elite performed - instead of nothing, political activism or (low visibility) 'effective altruism.'
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And if the COVID pandemic has displayed anything, it seems to me one of those things is that the failure of our current elite to build effective reputational capital (particularly outside of political tribes) makes it almost impossible to organize mass responses to problems.
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I should probably be clearer about what I mean by 'high visibility' here - that used to mean 'build prominent public buildings/institutions and name them after yourself so everyone knows who did it.'
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I invite you to imagine the public image consequences of a situation where, say, Jeff Bezos funds the poorest 200 urban high schools in America back up to a tolerable level in exchange for having them named after him. You may well oppose that idea - and for good reasons!
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But it would have some pretty big long term consequences, I am guessing, to the public sense of Bezos in particular but also the wealthy in general if you ended up with a situation where half the country lived in a town with at least one "Jeff Bezos High School.'
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I immediately think of all the universities named for Gilded Age railroad and industrial magnates (or their families). My alma mater of Carnegie-Mellon has a fascinating history in that context.
Kiitos. Käytämme tätä aikajanasi parantamiseen. KumoaKumoa
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