Think tank rails against contemporary 'caring' society
Howard Lake | 26 February 2004 | News
“The three Cs of modern life – compassion, caring and crying in public – show not how altruistic we have become, but how selfish”, says Patrick West in a new report by Civitas.
In “Conspicuous Compassion” author Patrick West argues that wearing coloured ribbons, strapping red noses onto the front of your car, signing online petitions, and carrying banners saying ‘Not In My Name’ are part of “a culture of ostentatious caring which is about feeling good, not doing good.”
Of course, fundraisers know that not all donations are made with the purest of intentions, so does West’s view matter? Many fundraisers will think not, provided enough people continue to channel these attitudes into giving. But West argues that these superficial gestures can do harm. The prevalance of what he calls “grief-lite” and the “compassion inflation” which leads to the traditional two-minute silence growing to a three-minute silence for the victims of the attacks of 11 September 2001, and to a five-minute silence for Milly Dowler, can all turn people away from actually making a genuine difference.
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“People who wear ribbons may think they have done their bit,” he says, “without actually contributing to the charity concerned. Writing off third world debt will make more funds available to dictators who want to buy arms. Internet petitions are often inaccurate. Celebrity endorsements of good causes are sometimes characterised by both ignorance and credulity.”
He certainly succeeds in bursting the bubble of some of the dafter elements of skin-deep compassion and do-gooding. “When a group called Hedgeline calls for a two-minute silence to remember all the “victims” whose neighbours have grown towering hedges, we truly have reached the stage where this gesture has been emptied of meaning.”
West’s analysis endorses traditional volunteering and charitable activity. Countless thousands of people do good every day without show, he argues. His advice is that “if you do genuinely care about the poor and homeless, try talking to them… Don’t just wear an empathy ribbon, give money that might help cure life-threatening diseases… If you want to stop a war, leave your ego at home… get to know your neighbours, talk to your friends and family a bit more. Most of all, next time you profess that you “care” about something, consider your motives and the consequences of your words and actions. Sometimes, the only person you really care about is you.”
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.