A Case for Inaction: The Pitfalls of Good Intentions and the “Do Good” Industry
Prefete Duffaut, Navity. Via Haitian Art Society
In a world where action is touted as virtuous and where idleness is considered the devil’s playground, it may seem counterproductive to do nothing, but sometimes it’s the best option. No action is better than uninformed action. Because, while good intentions may be a motivation for helping others, they cannot exist as the sole engine for “doing good”.
It’s Ok Not to Act
There was a girl-boss moment in recent history, a moment where everyone had a summit or a conference or a convocation; personal development was on a quick ascent and thus the capitalization of such—events served as an opportunity to put subject matter experts on a stage and share ambiguous advice that would help the attendees, whether they paid for the event or not, feel as though they’ve walked away with unparalleled inspiration.
I loved it.
As a hoarder of information, I went to all of them. I was there for the postcard sayings that meant everything and nothing all at once. “Keep going” was a reminder I sometimes needed, but it was often tone-deaf. I knew I had the intellect, the work ethic, and the other oft-touted characteristics society tells you are the sole arbiter of one’s success. They may or may not have talked about confounding variables like gender or race, but when they did, it was preachy. Substantive ways to address these barriers to access were never followed.
Nevertheless, I took what I needed and left the rest.
Until the rest became harmful.
I don’t remember which one it was, but I recall watching it comfortably from my bed. A speaker’s closing words were to the effect that everyone should do something to help others, because it was going to make a positive difference ultimately.
“What’s the worst that can happen?” she said.
I genuinely wanted to scream through my laptop, “No!” I was listening almost passively up until that moment, and the echo of her, best case scenario, naivete or, worst case scenario, arrogance, still rings in my ears. It disrupted the illusion that minorities in power would be the salvation. I heard, Do what you want and walk away from the consequences. At least you can say you tried. There was magic in the girl-boss movement. Before the obvious contradictions were analyzed, this panel-led, privilege-filled era made itself clear to me: it might be doing more harm than good.
Going into someone’s community or country and using the population as an experiment under the guise of wanting to help is destructive. Acting first and thinking later is an act of laziness, not love. And claiming good intentions as the only justification for action is a convenient way to evade responsibility.
The Problem of Good Intentions
Teach for America was founded in 1990, one year after the founder proposed the idea in her Princeton thesis. Its goal is to use teaching as a means to address underachievement in America. They position inexperienced teachers as saviors and place them in the highest-need schools for a two-year period. With no actual teaching experience, their desire to do good is supposed to be enough to address long-standing socioeconomic, racist, and additional systemic issues that caused the underachievement in the first place. In addition to the myriad systemic problems it creates…