Billion-dollar Lefty Foundation Hears Sharp Criticism

PhilanthropyDaily.com ^ | 8/12/13 | Scott Walter

[Edmunds mom]

Sharp, honest criticism is extremely rare in philanthropy, especially when billions of dollars are sitting nearby. So kudos indeed to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for inviting such criticism [of its social science-based giving].

... put me down with those who think social science will always be, at best, a highly limited tool for anyone—philanthropists, government officials, et al.

... Is “strategic philanthropy” the cutting edge [or is it more like] eugenics? The “science” of eugenics assumed that human beings could be treated like healthy and diseased cells in an animal’s body. Nowadays everyone is embarrassed at such barbarism, but remember that the champions of social science included most of the first giant American philanthropies now celebrating their centenaries....

Nor is our own day devoid of similar “philanthropy”: consider contemporary population control efforts by Hewlett and other foundations.

[Edmunds mom]

Rare as hens' teeth: Hewlett Foundation agrees to hear sharp criticism from a conservative voice.

[arthurus]

Nowadays everyone is embarrassed at such barbarism,

Except, of course, those on the enviroLeft and now spreading slowly through the rest of the Left, who are getting enthusiastic about it again. It is almost "respectable" again.

[GOPJ]

The tax exempt status of nonprofits should be ended. It's one more way liberals milk the system to push their ideas at the expense of the middle class.

And those ‘charity balls’ the rich put on for each other? The ‘charity’ part allows wealthy husbands to write off their wife's museum hobby... Something the rest of us are subsidizing. If the rich want to ‘do good’ let them do it on their own dime - or better yet - not do it at all.

Middle class citizens have to fight the effects of these powerful liberal lobby groups ( AKA - nonprofits) and we're tired of it.

[Don Corleone]

The “science” of eugenics assumed that human beings could be treated like healthy and diseased cells in an animal’s body. Nowadays everyone is embarrassed at such barbarism,...

Not everyone...not everyone. The barbarous practice of ABORTION is rampant in the land.

[Paine in the Neck]

“Social science”. Bah!

Some decades ago a bigwig researcher from a high-tech company (whose name and company I forget) gave a talk at our university. The whole content of his talk has slipped the bonds of my memory except one line that is indelible - “Any field of study that used the word ‘science’ in its name, isn’t”.

[headstamp 2]

“Nowadays everyone is embarrassed at such barbarism,”

Except medical ethicists who seem to have no problem now with killing newborns and disposing of the elderly.