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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 3, 2023

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No, that’s pretty much what I had in mind. Maybe “Bailey” isn’t as accurate as “Strawman.” He’s attacking the worst case for charities—trusts that represent the interests of an entrenched PMC—and damning the whole field accordingly.

I went ahead and read it. Even in his just-so story, the Bill Foundation spends $3M on “handshake worthy causes” even as the globalists (coincidentally all women) start to take hold. Assuming everything after the first year is meant to be rubbish, since the author namedrops Soros, the foundation still spent most of its money on causes approved by the founder!

Of course, to Moldbug fans, this is temporary, and Cthulhu will only make the balance worse. So the author concludes caritas delenda est. Don’t bother building something, not if the leftists will benefit from it. Ford’s trust send some money to racial grievance studies? Can’t have shit in Detroit.

As an aside, Mr. Smoke misses the part where the Ford Foundation was set up by Edsel Ford, son of the rather more famous Henry. It spent its first decade funding hospitals and museums and, conveniently, avoiding a 70% inheritance tax. After the war, it pivoted to a stance of global philanthropy. I have to wonder if the author thinks it was A-OK up till that point.

I get the impression that Mr. Smoke has a very low tolerance for leftism. We can’t really put a number on that, because all his real-world examples are assumed rather than proven worthless. A charity has “Muslim” in the name; surely it provides no value other than sucking welfare?

All in all—abysmal article. 3/10.