Eugenics, social science, and philanthropy make famed blogger Albert Ruesga uneasy. He courageously notes and endorses Bill Schambra’s criticism of foundation support for eugenics, but he’s less sure Schambra is right to criticize “root cause” philanthropy and social science. Read his honest wrestling with Schambra’s challenge, and see if you agree with me that Ruesga, now head of the Greater New Orleans Foundation, gives up a lot of ground to Schambra’s arguments.
Ruesga also deserves applause for passing along this amusing quotation from a 1958 political science journal:
The foundations do not know how to receive criticism and those who pay attention to foundations do not know how to give it.… There is altogether too much cringing and fawning by the actual and potential beneficiaries of foundation largesse….
