14 September 2005

Criticizing the critic.

I've been sort of busy since Hurricane Katrina struck, so I really haven't been monitoring the blogworld to see if anyone is commenting on what I write here.

However, today I ran across a blog called To The People, with an article titled "Save My Job!" that was posted in response to something what I wrote here.

Cicero writes:

"Yes, victims of floods and hurricanes shouldn't be helped so that white, upper middle class liberals at nonprofits can keep their jobs. And god damn those selfish Americans that are saving hurricane victims for their own emotional satisfication when they could be saving the spotted owl!"

It's humbling to think that nonprofit professionals have little or no grounds for claiming that they have a clue when it comes to coping with the enormity of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. I've been critical of the nonprofit sector's shortcomings for a while, and I'm not planning to argue that the criticism levelled at me here is entirely misplaced.

At the same time, it's amusing to see that Cicero assumes that I'm white, upper middle class, liberal, and more loyal to my job than to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. (Oh, and male as well. Cicero refers to me as "he.") I may have to revise my self-concept a little.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i think a lot of people in the non-profit world like to cloak themselves in the charitable spirit and passion for "doing good", when they don't really understand the need for professionalization and maintaining transparent processes within their organization. the non-profit community is as equally shrouded in politics and egos, much like everywhere else, but it's really about being accountable to someone rather than just their "passions." why can't people understand that working in a time of crisis isn't where you always want to be? i mean, we certainly wouldn't want situations like hurricane katrina to be the norm. if you really want to make things change --and i mean real change-- it's really about thinking for the long-haul, and thinking about incremental change.

Patricia said...

Consider getting an RSS feed? I'd like to read you on my friends list when you update. Thanks. Or did I miss it somewhere?

NonprofitCurmudgeon said...

Look at the column on the right side of the blog under "Links." The RSS feed is http://nonprofitcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/atom.xml