Publicity-hungry entrepreneurs have special advisors who sit in rooms all day cooking up catchy one-liners that will get them noticed, never mind the incoherence of whatever they have to say.  The latest such is Magatte Wade, a Senegalese skin-care mogul-in-the-waiting married to “bleeding-heart libertarian” Michael Strong, buddy of Whole Foods mogul John Mackey.  She’s connected!  She’s also spent many years living in small villages interacting with development/aid workers.  Not.  But really, she knows all about them!  As she tells us in her op-ed.

I know as a Senegalese that her attitude [a woman questioning how to help the poor from a position of privilege] is precisely what disgusts us about many who work at NGOs. Every year we see thousands of “privileged” young Americans and Europeans eager to come “help the underprivileged”. Don’t they understand how contemptuous that is?

[MK Note- I’ll remember Wade’s spin on the desire to help next time I read the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Contempt!  And BTW, the woman was precisely asking about this issue, so not clear why Wade is disgusted…]

I prefer the humanity of a tough business person in a negotiation in which he or she is trying to make a deal. While there are jerks out there, I want to be engaged in relationships with people who believe that I’m worth struggling with, not just pitying. If you approach me with a worldview in which you are privileged and I need your help, there is no possibility of an authentic relationship. You may as well see yourself as the master and me as the slave.

[Again, not to go on and on about the parables, but this is just like those whining workers at the vineyard wanting to be paid more… Matthew 20!]

I know that there are countless people in the NGO world that have done a great deal of good. But I would like to propose that NGOs either refuse to hire, or simply fire, anyone who has a condescending attitude towards the poor. We need to certify a new class of NGO: “No pity shit” NGOs. Moreover, the problem goes well beyond these organisations. Many from the developed world – in government, multilateral agencies, business, and academia – have a similar attitude. I don’t understand why it is so hard for some humans to see other humans as also human. Your perception of “privilege” is your problem. Get over it.

Completely incoherent.  So no-one is privileged.  Or, some people are privileged, but only libertarians have the right attitude about their privilege… and only their message: poor people should strive to be privileged too just like us…. is a non-racist message.