How I Hate "Charity Capitalism"

by max blunt
We live in an age of free market compassion.

If the mystery of the market place is a hidden hand that supposedly makes everything turn out right, then charity is the invisible force that relieves our social conscience for the whole year.

By being nice to our fellow human beings, we show the world that we care.

Most people do not think that charity should be an unconditional activity.

They see it as a product, an integral part of consumption. And like all products, charity is a source of identity. We like our charity optimised as a consumer choice.

Charity Christmas cards, for example, are an institution that says something about who we are. Are you a Christian Aid or a Unicef person? A World Wildlife Funder or Lifeboater?

Or do you actually send off money for the hand- and foot-painted cards that plop through the letter box?

Would you like your favourite charity appended to your credit card, so that every time you spend you also give to charity? Do you choose the design or the cause first?

But it is not enough to share our worldly goods with a good cause. We also have to pass our world-view to our friends.

So we buy our Christmas presents from the merchandising catalogues operated by charities and causes. Colombian coffee grown by co-operatives from the Oxfam catalogue, or pencil sets from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, or Christmas decorations from Barnardo's. LINK